Why, shes been deader than Ill be when Ive
beenunder the sod for a century! Get your picturebook and sit down,
child.
If you dont believethings youll never have any
fun.
Shehad never seen Old Grandmother up in her
life.
Alec sat in a cornerand talked to Mary all the
evening. Frank and Hilda came out to the buggy together. Itwas like a sore tooth you
HAD to bite on. But she would not turnround to look at her. How they had all laughed
and how ashamed she had been. Marigold didnt know what jiltedwas, but whatever it
was she hated Hilda for doing it to Frank.
She wasperfectly sure that she and Old Grandmother
were not alone in theorchard. I was only six, but Iknew what that meant. The second
was to keep a tryst with the years.
Marigold knew nothing of their respective dates, of
course.
I dont mean that kind of sorriness, said Old
Grandmother. She thinks starving her guests is living the simplelife.
Can youimagine ME being seven years old and having
two little boys sweeton me? As for dying, Im not going to die till I get good and
ready. And that man-hole she had seen in theceiling before Aunt Flora took the light
out?
I think Frank had better hitch up and take her
home. I kicked them off under the table for a bit ofease.
Guess you can eat these fellows now without
choking, he said. But she was one of The ThingsThat Always Have Been. The bitterness
had gone outof her mouth and she was smiling.
It seems to me the girls look likesticks nowadays.
She didntbelieve Old Grandmother had any idea of dying. I always believed hedid it
on purpose because he didnt like the dress. She KNEW that people couldnt help
looking at her andadmiring her even though they hated her. Get me my clothes and
stockings, she ordered. Be off, both of you, and send Marigold in.
Its a promotion shes not anxious for,she told
Marigold, who had come reluctantly in.