Read Online Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eleanor Estes
Tags: Ages 9 and up
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ever go away?" Rachel asked, confiding her fears about being like the girl in the fairy tale with the long long lip.
"Oh, yes." Mama laughed. "We'll start right now fixing up that lip."
So all morning Rachel had been bathing her lower lip in something soothing that Mama had prepared. Now it was halfway back to normal. It still felt heavy, but the fact that it was swelling down, not up, was encouraging, to say the least.
Now Rachel had a little bottle of the wash in her hands because she was to keep bathing her lip even though she was going up to the reservoir with the boys. And she was not to go in swimming because of her lip and she was to sit in the shade and mind Ginger while Jerry swam.
It was a long walk to the reservoir. The way led past Speedys' barn, past the last houses straggling up the hills, past the old red mill, and, finally, through a narrow wooded wagon road until there they were at last—at the reservoir! In the middle of the pond the water sparkled in the sunlight, and at the edges where trees and bushes hung low over the water there were lovely shadows.
The children came out of the woods where a little dam separated the upper reservoir from the lower, and a waterfall tumbled over it. In the spring they could not cross the reservoir this way for there would be a regular Niagara here, the water roaring and tearing over the dam. Then they would have to go way around the reservoir to get to the other side. But this was the end of summer and there had not been much rain. The water was not very deep on the dam and the current not swift at all. So they took off their shoes and stockings and waded across the cool brick dam to the far side.
They stopped at their favorite rock, a large flat gray one, that was half in the shade and half out of it and from which Rachel could dangle her legs into the water if she wanted to. Jerry and Dick Badger had their swimming trunks on under their clothes. They lost no time in stripping off their shirts and pants, and into the water they went. Big lumbering Duke went in, too, making a terrible splash and he swam around with the boys for a time, bringing them
sticks to throw. But when Dick began his usual underwater swimming, Duke climbed out of the reservoir and sniffed off into the woods to chase whatever small animals he could find.
Ginger was so excited over seeing all this huge lot of water he kept barking and yapping and whining and quivering the nerves on his legs and forehead. It was all Rachel could do to keep him from jumping in. But after a while he contented himself with nosing acorns about on the rock. Rachel kept soaking her swollen lip and occasionally she studied her reflection in the pond. To her great relief she saw that the swelling was disappearing and by tomorrow it would probably be all right, as Mama said.
By now Ginger was tuckered out and he lay contentedly in Rachel's lap. Sometimes he dozed and sometimes he watched the boys swim, and whenever he heard Jerry's voice his little bit of tail wagged joyously.
Up here at the reservoir it was still and beautiful. Little could be heard but the twittering of birds and the splashing and shouts of the boys. No one else was up here today except, on the far side, a man in blue, sitting on a rock. From here it looked as though he was painting a picture. On his side of the reservoir, for just a few yards, the shining tracks of
the railroad could be seen, and occasionally a train shot by, leaving its trail of white smoke coiling low over the trees.
Rachel had often come to the reservoir with Papa. He liked to come here on quiet Sundays to listen to the birds and watch them. He wouldn't move a muscle and neither would she. And they would see the interesting things the birds did without the birds paying them the slightest attention. Rachel thought of all the smart birds she had ever known; especially she thought of some certain smart sparrows she had seen one day last May.
That day she had been sitting on the
"Oh, yes." Mama laughed. "We'll start right now fixing up that lip."
So all morning Rachel had been bathing her lower lip in something soothing that Mama had prepared. Now it was halfway back to normal. It still felt heavy, but the fact that it was swelling down, not up, was encouraging, to say the least.
Now Rachel had a little bottle of the wash in her hands because she was to keep bathing her lip even though she was going up to the reservoir with the boys. And she was not to go in swimming because of her lip and she was to sit in the shade and mind Ginger while Jerry swam.
It was a long walk to the reservoir. The way led past Speedys' barn, past the last houses straggling up the hills, past the old red mill, and, finally, through a narrow wooded wagon road until there they were at last—at the reservoir! In the middle of the pond the water sparkled in the sunlight, and at the edges where trees and bushes hung low over the water there were lovely shadows.
The children came out of the woods where a little dam separated the upper reservoir from the lower, and a waterfall tumbled over it. In the spring they could not cross the reservoir this way for there would be a regular Niagara here, the water roaring and tearing over the dam. Then they would have to go way around the reservoir to get to the other side. But this was the end of summer and there had not been much rain. The water was not very deep on the dam and the current not swift at all. So they took off their shoes and stockings and waded across the cool brick dam to the far side.
They stopped at their favorite rock, a large flat gray one, that was half in the shade and half out of it and from which Rachel could dangle her legs into the water if she wanted to. Jerry and Dick Badger had their swimming trunks on under their clothes. They lost no time in stripping off their shirts and pants, and into the water they went. Big lumbering Duke went in, too, making a terrible splash and he swam around with the boys for a time, bringing them
sticks to throw. But when Dick began his usual underwater swimming, Duke climbed out of the reservoir and sniffed off into the woods to chase whatever small animals he could find.
Ginger was so excited over seeing all this huge lot of water he kept barking and yapping and whining and quivering the nerves on his legs and forehead. It was all Rachel could do to keep him from jumping in. But after a while he contented himself with nosing acorns about on the rock. Rachel kept soaking her swollen lip and occasionally she studied her reflection in the pond. To her great relief she saw that the swelling was disappearing and by tomorrow it would probably be all right, as Mama said.
By now Ginger was tuckered out and he lay contentedly in Rachel's lap. Sometimes he dozed and sometimes he watched the boys swim, and whenever he heard Jerry's voice his little bit of tail wagged joyously.
Up here at the reservoir it was still and beautiful. Little could be heard but the twittering of birds and the splashing and shouts of the boys. No one else was up here today except, on the far side, a man in blue, sitting on a rock. From here it looked as though he was painting a picture. On his side of the reservoir, for just a few yards, the shining tracks of
the railroad could be seen, and occasionally a train shot by, leaving its trail of white smoke coiling low over the trees.
Rachel had often come to the reservoir with Papa. He liked to come here on quiet Sundays to listen to the birds and watch them. He wouldn't move a muscle and neither would she. And they would see the interesting things the birds did without the birds paying them the slightest attention. Rachel thought of all the smart birds she had ever known; especially she thought of some certain smart sparrows she had seen one day last May.
That day she had been sitting on the
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