My Year with Grandma

Sheep Shearing Good Time

"Wake up, Buttercup!"  May greeted a little too energetically as she ripped the cover off me.

"Seriously?!  I didn't get to sleep until after two." I whined.

"Neither did Gram but she's been up at least an hour and is downstairs cooking breakfast."

"Well, clearly I'm not her.  I need sleep."

"Too bad, so sad. You'll have to wait for sundown for more of that. Let's go."

"No!" I pulled the cover over my face.

"Okay. The hard way it is."  The cover was removed from me with ease. Again. She then proceeded to throw me over her shoulder and carry me down the stairs kicking and screaming for her to put me down. Only when we reached the dining room and she had a chair pulled out did she comply with my demands. "There ya go, pumpkin. Eat up. We got a long day."

"Didn't I mention you were going to start working with is this morning?" Gram asked as she stared me down with icy grey/blue eyes. Wait. They were violet yesterday. I'm sure of it.

"But, I thought after how late we were..."

"Sleep is overrated for one thing," she interjected. "And life happens whether you get enough sleep or not."

Jimmy was laughing. "Haven't seen a tantrum like that since Backus was a toddler."  More laughing as he poured brown gravy over a stack of pancakes.

"I'm not much of a morning person." I grumbled as I put a pancake on the plate in front of me.

"Clearly," he agreed offering me the gravy. I took it. I have always loved gravy on my pancakes much to my mother's dismay. She said it was gross. I think syrup is. Now that I see my uncle do it, it's clearly a family trait. "You like gravy on pancakes?"

"Yeah. You do too so it can't be that weird," I replied defensively taking a bite. Oh, my goodness, this gravy is good! 

"Your grandfather did that too," offered Gram.  Yes, clearly a family thing.

"Where is my grandfather anyway.  I've heard a lot about him but haven't met him yet."

"And you won't." Gram said coldly. "He died a couple of years ago."

I swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't know."

"There's a lot about this family you don't know yet.  But you will learn." She gave a odd look to Jimmy who returned the look with a glower of his own.

"May I ask what happened?"

Jimmy answered. "Not while we are eating, no."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

Gram leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "gored by bull."  She grimaced as she sat back up. "Wasn't pretty."

I suddenly lost my appetite.

"I said, not while we're eating, Mom!"

"What?" She asked innocently. "It's not like it's a family secret or anything." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"There's a time and place for everything," he explained.

"Indeed," she agreed.

His eyes widened a bit. He abruptly put his fork down and said, "Welp, shearing sheep today. I'd better get after it."

"Good. Take Magpie with you."

"What?  No!  She'll just get in the way."

"That's true!" I hastily agreed. "I'd be more trouble than help."