Entangled Hearts

Chapter 11

The months passed, as the year rolled around until April came again. Laura Mae had been humming a merry tune while she cleared the table and washed all of the supper dishes. She hummed, trying to forget what her father had said at the supper table. She had gone out into the orchard just before supper and had picked a bouquet of apple blossom, she had arranged them neatly in a two-quart fruit jar and set them on the little center table in the parlor, when her father noticed them at mealtime, he had warned her in an ugly cross tone to not pick any more blossoms as they would mean apples to sell in the fall. She loved apple blossoms and now she was not quite sure while she worked, if it were the ones in the parlor that were scenting the kitchen with their fragrance, or if it was the breeze that was carrying the perfume from the whole orchard to her through the open door. The orchard looked like a giant flower garden in full bloom. Wherever the scent came from, it was sweet and pleasant to her nostrils and she welcomed it.

It made her think of the swing she and Martha had when they were little girls. It was down in the orchard under the apple trees. There, they used to take turns; one would swing and the other would push the swing until it went high up among the pretty blossoms in the springtime, and in the fall, when it went high, they could kick down ripe apples to eat. Oh, it was the best fun! For a minute, she wished she was a little girl again, but no; she could not be one. She had to remember that another school year was nearing the end, her senior year.

She had ranked the highest in the class and had been chosen to give the Valedictory Address and Gene was to give the Welcome Address at the Commencement Exercises, his marks had been the highest among the boys of the class. Laura Mae was proud of him, she wished he had been Valedictorian instead of herself. Phil was graduating, too. He had missed all of the last half of the school term the year before on account of his injury, so he had to take another year in which to finish his Senior course.

Laura Mae took the last dish from the draining pan, dried it carefully and set it in its place on the cupboard shelf before she addressed her mother, who was cleaning the kitchen range.

"Do you know, Mother, our class is going on a trip in the morning?" she asked, apparently calm though her heart was pounding.

"Oh, are you? Where are you going?"

"Over the pass to Sulphide Springs, I think." The girl felt just a little timid about letting her mother in on the class secret for fear she might not understand and object to her going.

"But tomorrow is a weekday, Laura Mae, how does it happen they are going to take a trip?" Clara stopped her work and looked at the girl.

"We are going to sneak away from school." Clara looked shocked so Laura Mae continued," It's called Senior Sneak, Mother. Every year before the Seniors graduate, they declare a holiday and sneak away from the other classes and have a picnic or something, don't you see?"

"I see, and I guess it is all right if you are not breaking any rules of the school." The mother was always patient and full of understanding, that was why Laura Mae confided in her, telling her everything that happened at the dances and wherever she happened to go.

"are you going to take lunch along with you?" Clara asked.

"Yes, the girls are to bring sandwiches, cakes, and salad that have to be made at home, and the boys are going to buy pickles and olives and bananas. They offered to bring candy and peanuts, too. We surely will have a feast! The Committee assigned each of us something to take."

"What did you assign to you?"

"A chocolate cake. May I bake one to take, Mother?"

"Yes, but I won't dare let your father know about the affair or he won't let you go. It is about ten miles up to that resort and I shall worry about you all the while you are away." The mother's heart was speaking.

"Oh, please, Mother, don't worry about us. We are all old enough to know how to behave."

"You have to cross the ferry by the north fork in the river and then take the road over the dug-way, don't you?" Clara asked, much concerned.

"Yes, we go that way, but we will be careful. Gene is taking a team and his uncle's big white top buggy. I am going to ride with him. We need three buggies to take the whole class and they are all three seated buggies, too. There will be twenty-six of us with the advisor."

"I am glad you will have a chaperone," Clara said almost under her breath as Laura Mae put more wood on the fire, then went into the pantry to find the ingredients called in her Domestic Science recipe for chocolate cake. She wanted to get it baked before her father came back from the school board meeting.