Dollar Runaways

Chapter 9: Explorations

THE NEXT MORNING, I was prodded awake by my mom, "Ashley, wake up Princess."

I wiped my eyes and looked up at my mom looking like a real cowgirl. "Morning," I said sleepily.

"And good morning to you too. Come on let's get you dressed for your chores."

It was then that I remembered I had to feed the chickens. I looked at the alarm clock and realized it was only six in the morning and still dark outside. "Ugh..." I said and climbed out of bed.

"Here, wear these," Mom pointed to a pair of jeans, a Hello Kitty shirt, and a pair of long socks that would go with my boots. It was tough to get myself together before going outside, but eventually I recovered my boots from the mudroom and went out to the barn to fill the buckets of feed for the chickens and turkeys.

I had just finished when I noticed Gloria watching me, "You did a great job!" She told me and gave me a squeeze on my shoulder.

"Thank you," I told her and then noticed the peacocks, "what do they eat?"

"The peacocks? They mostly fend for themselves, but I do leave a bit of feed out in a bin over there for them each afternoon," she pointed out to me.

"Oh," I said.

"Are you volunteering to feed them?" She asked with a laugh.

"I hate them, I might not be the best person to do that..." I admitted.

Gloria laughed again and said, "Don't worry about it, that's on my list. Since you've gotten all of this done why don't you go and see if Consetta needs help with breakfast?"

"Okay!" I said excitedly. I liked Consetta a lot! I hurried to the house, took my boots off in the mudroom, and then headed into the kitchen.

"Good morning," I said to her brightly.

"Buenos dias mija," she said to me and gave me a hug.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You are a sweet thing, aren't you?"

I blushed.

"Why don't you take those juice pitchers out there for me." She suggested, "Be careful they're pretty heavy."

I was a bit embarrassed to say they were pretty heavy for me, but I managed to do it without spilling a drop. I was pretty proud of myself! She had me do a few other things, but most of the work had already been done. "Go ahead and get your food," Consetta insisted to me.

"I can wait until the others get here," I tried to say.

"You can eat with me," she insisted.

"Okay..." I gave in.

I was hungry though, so it wasn't like she had to twist my arm that hard. "Here, do you like chocolate chips?" She asked me as she motioned towards pancakes.

"Of course," I said.

"Well, here you go, you're the only one that's lucky enough to get these," she said with a smile to me as she put two chocolate chip pancakes on my plate. I took a little bit of eggs and a slice of bacon and sat down at the table. She sat across from me just as everyone made their entrance and Mom came and sat next to me after she got her plate.

"You got chocolate chips?" She asked incredulously.

I just smiled, "Yep! I'm 'cause special!"

"Uh-huh... Sure you are..." Mom said making a funny face at me. She turned to Consetta, "You're going to totally spoil her you know."