ATOW Chapter Eight

“There's an old spinning wheel in the parlor, 

Spinning dreams of the long, long ago.

Spinning dreams of an old fashioned garden, 

And a maid with her old fashioned beau…”

Emma wandered slowly down the hill with a basket in one hand and a brown paper package clutched tightly in the other. She was going slowly because she had promised her mother, albeit reluctantly, that she wouldn’t “fly in like a harum-scarum”. Inwardly she was turning cartwheels and jumping jacks, but outwardly she walked slowly and, consequently, sang slowly. She had heard the song on the radio just the night before and, having fallen in love with it, had written down as many of the words as she could… but so far, four lines were all she could remember. And so directly after visiting Myra and meeting the baby, she would be running down the road to town to find Lissy and ask her if she knew any more words. 

“There's an old spinning wheel in the parlor, 

Spinning dreams of the long, long ago.

Spinning dreams of an old fashioned garden, 

And a maid with her old fashioned beau…”

She frowned to herself as she reached the bottom of the hill and passed through the orchard, leafy green branches laden with tiny baby apples.

“A maid with her old fashioned beau…” she tried again, hoping desperately to remember more words. But alas, they all escaped her. It seemed as if just when she was about to catch the words flitting through her mind, they slipped away like sand through her fingers. She sighed and shook her head. Seeing the Hayes’ house just up ahead, she couldn’t resist a few skips of excitement, then took a deep breath to settle herself, threw her head back, and trooped up to the porch to knock on the door.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Myra laughed, calling out through the screen door from where she sat at the kitchen table, chopping up some of that year’s early asparagus. “Come in, Emma! Why… where’s the cavalry?”

“Mama made us promise to only come one at a time so we wouldn’t overwhelm you,” Emma grinned. “I insisted on coming first because I just plain can’t wait any more? Where’s the baby? What’s his name… what does he look like? And can I please, please hold him?”

“Gracious, what a lot of questions! To answer them all, he’s outside with Rob, his name is Joshua, he’s dark with green eyes, and no, you can’t hold him.”

“What? Why?” Emma stared at Myra, thoroughly confused. Myra took pity on her and explained.

“Fact is, there was a mistake.” She set down her paring knife and stood, wiping her hands on her apron before slipping the apron off and hanging it on a peg beside the cupboard. “We thought we were getting a boy thirteen months old, but what we got was a boy thirteen years old.”

“I don’t understand,” Emma said blankly. 

“Well, come on and I’ll show you then,” Myra gestured towards the back door. “I think they’re in the barn.”

Joshua was a fast learner. With his help, Rob had managed to finish the chores in record time. Not even lunchtime and they had the tractor engine in pieces over the floor. It had been needing repairing for a long while and, due to Josh’s interest, Rob had decided to stop putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. Both were kneeling on the barn floor, talking busily as they arranged and rearranged pieces, cleaning each carefully. Seeming to have forgotten his shyness, at least momentarily, Josh was sitting back on his heels, gesturing wildly and speaking so quickly his words were tumbling over each other as he tried to explain the car engine they had taken apart and put back together at the orphanage as a sort of educational experiment. He had been fascinated with the inner workings of machinery ever since.

“Excuse me, boys,” Myra grinned, her heart warming to see the two of them together. It was a bit sooner than she had expected it, of course, having planned on a baby, but here was a scene she had always hoped and prayed to see. They both turned at her words, Rob rising slowly while Josh scrambled quickly to his feet. His face had lost its animation and he only stared at Emma, his expression unreadable.

“Joshua, this is Emma Stewart from next door. She’s the second oldest of the family I was telling you about. Emma, Joshua Campbell, our new boy.”

“Glad to meet you, Joshua,” Emma said shyly, extending her hand. He seemed not to notice it, ducking his head as he answered.

“ 'M just Josh.”

“Okay then,” Emma regained her composure quickly. “Josh. I… uh… well, was expecting someone younger but… you might like it anyway…” she was holding out the brown paper package, somewhat dubiously. “I made it for you.”

“For me?” Josh looked at her askance as he reached for the package, hesitantly. “Well… thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma grinned, shifting to the other foot as she fidgeted nervously. “I’ll tell Ronnie what happened, he’ll think it just swell to have another boy around his age. Well, almost his age. He’s fourteen. Well… I would stay, but I’ve got to go see Lissie now.”

“You’d better be making tracks then,” Rob chuckled. “The two of you probably have hours of catching up to do, I don’t think you’ve seen each other since church last Sunday. Practically forever to you.”

As Emma skipped off, Josh unwrapped the package to find a blue stuffed dog, made carefully with neat, tiny stitches. 

“Oh, it’s adorable!” Myra cried, laughing as Josh looked at it askance. “Aw, don’t be like that, Josh. She made it for you!”

He only grinned, but Myra detected something in his expression that hadn’t been there before. As if something inside of him had suddenly clicked with his new life.

✯✯✯

“You have a radio!” Josh’s voice was full of awe as he twisted in his chair at the kitchen table to peer through the living room door. From that angle, it was barely visible, sitting on the coffee table next to the couch. 

“It’s a pretty old one,” Myra set a plate of molasses crinkle cookies, still warm from the oven, on the table. Late afternoon had brought with it a bright sun and rather warm temperatures for spring. She had called in “her boys”, as she was already starting to call them, for an afternoon snack. Judging from the nod and smile Rob had given her when they came into the kitchen, scraping their boots, Josh was doing well. He certainly looked it, his face alight with excitement. 

“We had one at the orphanage, but we could only listen to it on holidays. My favorite is The Lone Ranger, but I like Sherlock Holmes pretty well.”

“Emma will be glad to hear that,” Myra pulled milk from the icebox and poured a glass, setting it in front of Josh. “Sherlock Holmes is one of her favorites.”

“Hm. It isn’t girl stuff. Say, that tractor’s pretty swell, Mr. Hayes. Never seen nothing like that before! I…”

“Anything,” Myra interposed quietly. 

“Huh?”

“Never seen anything like that before. ‘Never seen nothing’ is incorrect grammar.”

“Oh.” Flushing, Josh lifted his glass and drained it in a few gulps. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he began devouring cookies at an almost alarming rate. Myra opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again as Rob glanced at her. His eyes were dancing with merriment. Dropping into her chair, Myra took a cookie herself, hiding her smile behind her own glass of milk. It would certainly be livening things up to have a boy around the house. She was relieved to be discovering that he was a genuine, bona fide kid after all he had been through. 

“The Lone Ranger show comes on at seven thirty tonight,” Rob turned to Josh. “We can listen to it after supper, if you want.”

“Oh boy, d’you mean it?” Josh looked up at him, his eyes shining eagerly. 

“You bet I do. We can listen to it every time it’s on from now on. Providing that you get your homework and chores done, that is.” 

"Homework..." Josh groaned, plopping his chin in his hands with a grimace.

"Ronnie's on his way over now " Myra announced, glancing out through the back window. "My, how that boy is growing! Only fourteen and nearly as tall as Jim!" She moved to the back door, opening it to call out a hello.

"Hey, Ronnie," Rob spoke up as the boy reached the door, pausing to scrape his boots on the mat. "Need you to ask your dad if I could borrow his lawn mower. Mine's on the fritz."

"Sure thing, Mr. Hayes," Ronnie answered cheerfully. "Just cut our grass this morning, so it's yours for the taking, anytime you want it."

"A lawn mower?" Josh jerked his head up in interest, the cookies forgotten. "Can I try it, Mr. Hayes? They wouldn't let us do it at the orphanage, but I've watched plenty of times!"

"We'll, it's just an old reel mower, but I'll show you how to do it and we'll see. If you do well with it, cutting the grass can be one of your summer chores."

"Not to interrupt," Myra spoke up, "But Ronnie, you haven't met Josh yet. He's thirteen, almost your age. And Josh, this is the boy from next door… Emma's brother. His name is actually Ronald but I don't think I've ever heard anyone call him that."

"Nah, everyone calls me Ronnie." He stepped forward, offering his hand. "Emma told me what happened and I'm glad of it. Babies are cute, but I'd rather have someone to play ball and go hunting with. You play baseball?"

"What kinda question is that?" Josh grinned. "I love baseball!"

"Swell. Me and some of the other guys are meeting up in Jefferson park for a game. Wanna come?"

"You bet!" Josh bolted up from his chair so quickly, he nearly knocked it over. 

"Wait a minute, Josh." Rob called him back. "We haven't discussed all the ground rules yet, and we'll get to them, but here are two I need you to know before you leave. First of all, always ask for permission before going anywhere. And secondly, remember to be home by seven. That's suppertime. Okay?"

"Home," Josh repeated softly, as if to himself. "Okay, Mr. Hayes." He moved towards the door again, then paused. "Uh…can I go?"

"You bet." Rob's eyes sparkled as he watched the boys rush off together. Ronnie was offering to loan Josh a bat and glove and Josh was chattering excitedly about a big league game he had once seen in Cincinnati. Turning back to the table, he eyed the half-eaten pile of cookies.

"Uh-oh, I know that look," Myra laughed. 

"Yup. Slide that plate of cookies on over here."

✯✯✯

Jefferson Park was a rather prestigious name for what was only the green at the center of town. One corner had been sectioned off for a sort of makeshift ball field… a temporary situation until the town could afford to finish the real field they had started behind the elementary school. The youngsters didn't seem to care where they played, just as long as they got a chance. Free time was precious and scarce in those hard days.

The park was faced on one side by Ashtabula county courthouse, flanked by the bank and doctor's office and on the other side by the barber, the drugstore, the shoe store, and the general store. Ronnie pointed each building out in turn, listing them off.

"The doctor's office," he added. "That's probably where Emma is now. She's best friends with his daughter Melissa… we call her Lissie. Emma fascinated with what the doctor does and Lissie hates it." He laughed. "Sometimes I wonder why they're friends. They're so different." 

A small group of boys of all sizes where already milling around the green when Josh and Ronnie arrived. A sort of friendly fight had broken out in one corner and two boys were rolling around on top of each other, determination making up for lack of skill as each tried to pin the other to the ground. 

"That's Jerry." Ronnie jerked his thumb toward the boy who appeared to be beating his opponent. "He's always picking a fight about something or other. He's the Minister's son. And Max is the one getting the worst of it. George is the one in the corner, with the glasses. He's our resident nerd. The other boys pick on him, but he can hold his own. Only thing is, he won't fight. Tommy is the little one. He's thirteen, but kinda short. And scared of everything." He grinned. "Lyle is the tall scrawny one. We call him Bud. Charlie is the biggest one and John, he's the one with the leg braces. He had polio when he was younger." 

The game fell into order quickly, the boys instantly accepting Josh as one of their own. They unanimously insisted he bat first and Ronnie took position as pitcher.

"I'll give her ten seconds," he called as Lyle tossed him the ball.

"Huh? Who?" Josh frowned.

"Emma. Soon's she realizes there's a game going on, she'll head over here on the double." Drawing his arm back, he threw a perfect fast ball and Josh rose to the challenge immediately, hitting a home run. As the boys cheered wildly, Emma came bolting from the doctor's office right on cue, two other girls following. Josh slid into home plate breathlessly, Jerry close on his heels with the ball.

"That was a good one," Jerry grinned in good spirits as Josh picked himself up, wiping his already-dirty face on his sleeve. 

"Thanks. Who's with Emma?"

"Oh, that's Lissie and Katie. Katie, the little one, that's her sister. And Lissie, now don't tell anyone I said it, but Ronnie's sweet on her." He winked conspiratorially and tossed Ronnie the ball.

"Alright, Emma's up!" Ronnie acquiesced as the girl seized George's bat left lying in the grass and took her place at home plate.

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