Cherry Springs

Chapter 6

The next morning, her arms and legs didn't want to move. They were heavy with soreness from the previous day's work and the tree climbing. Still, she had to get up and feed the cattle. How would she manage here? It had seemed so easy when her brothers did it. Darn it, I'm going to have to get more help from that neighbor. After feeding the livestock, she spent some time that morning searching for any evidence of her brother around the ranch.

Her first thought was to speak with the maid, Lucy. But first, she knew she had to write a quick note to her family, informing them of her arrival and her efforts to find Walter. She didn't want to go into all the details, to avoid worrying them, and one never knows who might snoop through her mail. That brief note should reassure them for a while.

All attempts to speak with Belle ended in failure. Belle was busy tending to the chickens, other chores, and supervising her daughters, and was hardly talkative. Anna hoped to find a way to ask about her brother without being too direct, to avoid raising suspicion and getting fired. It seemed best to keep Belle unaware that she was Walter's sister. If Belle's own maid, on the first day, had claimed not to know him, that was reason enough to suspect something was amiss. Belle would no doubt deny any knowledge, and then Anna would be out of a job and clueless.

Fortunately, Duke had agreed to train Buster today. She owed him big time, and she also needed to learn from him, as promised, how to move the cattle between fields on horseback, and how to train a working dog.

In the late morning, she found Lucy among the rows of vegetables in the planting garden, digging up vegetables. A fresh pile lay on the ground beside her, still flecked with dirt.

"Fine morning, Lucy. Can I help you with the cleaning today? I finished my morning chores early."

"Oh, sure, if it's not too much trouble. It would be nice to have some help," she replied in her soft Scottish accent. "You know, where I come from, there's a tradition about vegetables called pulling the stalks."

Anna lifted an eyebrow, intrigued. "What's it about?"

"At the October harvest, eligible young men and women are blindfolded and guided to pluck veggies like these." She held up a twisting kale stalk. "The root of the plant they pull up would...well, tell you things. About your future husband or wife."

Anna grinned, feeling her cheeks warm. "Oh yeah? What kind of things?"

Lucy's voice took on an even more singsong tone as she recited a poem.

"A lad and lassie, hand in hand,

Each pull a stalk of kale;

And like the stalk, is future wife

Or husband, without fail.

If stalk is straight, then so is wife,

If crooked, so is she;

If earth clings to the stalk,

The puller rich will be.

And like the taste of each stem's heart,

The heart of groom or bride;

So, shut your eyes, and pull the stalks,

And let the fates decide."

Anna couldn't help but laugh. She had understood only about half of it. "So, it has to do with the kind of root clumps and the traits they represent?"

"Quite literally, yes. As the tradition goes. And the more dirt, the wealthier he is."

The two women laughed, and Anna closed her eyes, letting Lucy guide her hand to pull up a root. When she opened her eyes, she grinned again. The root was quite straight and well-shaped, with lots of upper body.