“Have you ever been on a farm before?” Danny Morgan asked.
“Not really,” Violet said shyly. “But all of us love animals. That’s why our grandfather gave us this vacation.” She stopped to look at a baby goat, wearing a bell around its neck.
“That’s Jezebel,” Danny said. “She gets along with all the animals, especially the horses. We let her sleep right in the stables with them because it calms them down. You can play with her later, if you want.”
“But first we have to get you settled in the bunkhouse, and then we have to get back to our milking,” Sarah said briskly. “The cows don’t like to be kept waiting.” She led the way across the yard to the long flat building they had spotted from the car.
“This looks just like something out of a cowboy movie,” Benny said happily. The bunkhouse was made out of logs and had a narrow porch with wooden chairs.
Sarah laughed. “It’s not fancy, but our guests seem to like it. The family in the room next to you brought four kids.” She opened a rough oak door with black hinges and everyone trooped inside. The room was small, but cozy, with two sets of bunk beds, two wooden dressers, and a brown-and-orange braided rug. There were Indian blankets on the beds, and Violet noticed several horse prints on the paneled walls. There was a tiny bathroom with a Mexican tile floor connected to the bedroom.
“I love it,” Jessie said, testing one of the beds.
“I get the top bunk,” Benny said, scrambling up the ladder.
“Just don’t fall out of bed in the middle of the night and wake us up,” Henry teased him.
“After a day at Sunny Oaks, nothing will wake you up,” Danny said with a laugh. “We keep our guests really busy, you know.”
“Just come out when you’re ready and Dad will give you your chores for the day,” Sarah said. “We keep the list posted in the kitchen.”
“Danny,” Violet said hesitantly, “do you think I could see one of the horses up close?”
Danny beamed. “Sure. You can help me groom Oliver and clean his hooves.”
After Danny and Sarah left, Benny bounced up and down a few times on his bed. This was going to be one of the best vacations ever!
“You kids look like you’re ready for some hard work,” Mr. Morgan said later that morning. He leaned against a pitchfork and mopped his face with a bandana. He was a tall man with a deep suntan, and he looked at the children carefully. “Now who wants to do what?”
“They’ve never been on a farm before, Dad,” Sarah said quickly. “Maybe we better pick the chores for them.”
Mr. Morgan rubbed his hands together and squinted at the sun. “Well, let me see. I’d like to finish the plowing before it gets too hot,” he said. “Henry, would you like to ride in the tractor cab with me?”
“You bet!” Henry said eagerly.
Benny’s face fell. Riding in a tractor didn’t sound like a chore. It sounded like fun! “Aw, Henry, you have all the luck.” He ducked his head and scuffed the dirt with the tip of his boot.
Sarah laughed. “Don’t worry, Benny, I’ve got something special for you to do, too.” “You do?” His face lit up.
She nodded. “We’re going to weed the garden together.”
Benny liked gardening. He always helped Mrs. McGregor with the flower beds in Grandfather’s yard. But still, it didn’t sound like as much fun as riding a tractor.
“You’ll like it,” Sarah promised. “Last year, I raised a giant squash that won a ribbon at the state fair.”
“Violet offered to help me with the milking,” Danny spoke up. He looked at Jessie. “If you help us, it will go twice as fast.”
“I’d love to,” Jessie said, pleased.
“And then maybe tomorrow we can all groom Oliver together,” Violet told her. She knew that her sister loved horses almost as much as she did.
The barn was big and airy and smelled like fresh straw. Several black-and-white dairy cows looked up from their stalls and mooed when they saw Danny approaching.
“They know it’s milking time,” Danny explained. He picked up a wooden stool and reached for a strange-looking machine that had a lot of knobs and plastic tubing. “What’s that?” Jessie asked.
“It’s a milking unit. If you hand me that pail over there, I’ll show you how it works.” He plunked himself down next to the nearest cow. “We hook it up like this,” he said, attaching a stainless steel cup to one of the cow’s teats.
“Does that hurt her?” Violet asked worriedly.
Danny looked surprised. “No, it doesn’t hurt her at all. The cup is lined with rubber and you just hook it up to each one of her teats. There’s a vacuum pump in the machine that draws the milk right out.”
“Do you milk her every day?” Jessie spoke up.
“Twice a day.” He stopped to pat the cow on her flanks. “This is Dinah. She’s the oldest cow we have, and she’s my favorite.” Violet watched in amazement as a stream of white liquid flowed through the plastic tubing into the pail. The cow turned her head and rolled her brown eyes at Danny.
“She likes you,” Violet said softly.
A calico cat crawled out from behind a bale of hay and rubbed against Danny’s leg. “Her name is Patches,” he said. “She loves milking time. Just watch what she does.” Suddenly Danny lifted the tubing and milk arced through the air. Patches stood on her hind legs to catch the warm milk in her mouth. “That’s enough, now, Patches,” Danny said, replacing the tubing in the pail. Patches carefully licked the milk off her whiskers and curled up in a patch of sunlight.
“Can we try it now?” Jessie asked.
“It’s all yours.” Danny handed her the stool.
Jessie was very nervous the first time she tried milking Dinah, but it was easier than she thought. Dinah turned around to stare at her, but then she quickly relaxed and went back to munching hay. “You’re next, Violet,” she said to her sister.
Violet milked a cow named Jennifer, who tried to kick over the milk pail. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked in alarm.
“No, that’s just one of Jennifer’s tricks.” Danny shook his head. “She’s been doing that since she was a calf and I’ve never been able to figure out why.”
Violet and Jessie milked eight more cows that morning. When the last one was finished, they looked at each other and smiled. “Well, I learned something new today,” Violet said.
Jessie laughed. “Me, too. I learned it’s easier to get milk out of a bottle.”
At noontime, the Aldens gathered for lunch outdoors with the other farm guests. It was a bright, sunny day, and everyone settled down at long picnic tables in a leafy grove. Jessie and Benny helped Danny and Sarah pass out box lunches, and Benny couldn’t resist taking a peek inside. Fried chicken, potato salad, biscuits, and peach pie! How did Mrs. Morgan know these were his favorite foods?
Sarah put pitchers of iced tea and ice-cold milk on the table, and Jessie made sure there were enough jelly-jar glasses to go around. One of the other guests was a thin, dark-haired woman named Ms. Jefferies. Henry tried to talk to her a couple of times, but she seemed bored by everyone and everything. When Henry asked her how long she had been at Sunny Oaks, she smiled tightly. “Two days. And it feels like two years,” she said coldly.
Violet sat next to a shy little girl named Daisy. Daisy had long blonde pigtails and looked about seven years old. At first, Daisy barely looked up from her lunch, but Violet tried to be friendly.
“Is this your first time on a farm?” Violet asked. Daisy nodded. She seemed very timid, and Violet wondered why she was so nervous. “It’s fun, isn’t it?” Violet went on.
“I guess so.” Daisy looked doubtful. “I wish my parents could have stayed with me, but they had to help Grandma. She’s selling her house and moving into an apartment.” She stared at her plate. “I’m not used to being on my own.”
“What did you do today?” Violet asked, hoping to get her talking.
“I fed the chickens.” She managed a little smile. “The baby chicks are really cute. They live in their own little house until they’re eight weeks old.”
“Maybe I’ll see them tomorrow.” Violet paused. “We did a lot of fun things this morning. I milked some cows, and my brother Henry rode a tractor.”
“A tractor?” Daisy frowned. “That’s very dangerous. You could get in a bad accident and get hurt.”
“He was with Mr. Morgan,” Violet explained. “And I don’t think it was dangerous at all.”
“You never know what can happen,” Daisy insisted. “I went skiing last year and broke my leg in three places. I missed a whole six months of school.” Her eyes welled with tears, and she looked like she might start crying any minute.
“That’s too bad,” Violet said sympathetically. “But there nothing to be afraid of here.”
“But I feel so lonely all by myself,” Daisy said.
“Not anymore,” Violet said gaily. “I’ll make sure you meet my sister and brothers after lunch. Now you have four new friends!”
After an afternoon of hard work, the Aldens were hungry when dinnertime came. Dinner at Sunny Oaks was served family-style, and the farm guests gathered at two long tables set up in the Morgans’ dining room. Benny was happy to see a big bowl of butter beans. “I helped pick those,” he said proudly.
“And the black-eyed peas and tomatoes,” Sarah reminded him. “You’ve had a hard day.”
Benny gave an enormous yawn. “I never thought a vacation could make me this tired,” he said, and everyone laughed.
Mr. Morgan passed a basket of biscuits before sitting down. “How did you like riding on the tractor, Henry?”
“It was great,” Henry said, reaching for a second helping of mashed potatoes. “You feel like you’re up in the sky!”
“I’ll teach you to drive it, before you leave,” Mr. Morgan promised. “Do you remember how many gears it has?”
“Eight forward gears,” Henry said promptly. “And three reverse ones.”
“It sounds scary,” Daisy said in a little voice.
“No, it’s not. There’s a kill button,” Henry told her. “You just press it if something goes wrong, and the tractor stops right away.”
It was early evening when the Aldens finally headed back to the bunkhouse, and Benny was half asleep. “Let’s walk by the stables,” Violet suggested. “Maybe we’ll see Oliver up close.”
“I think all the horses are already in their stalls for the night,” Henry said. “Sarah said her father was going to round them up while we were having dessert.”
“Well, we can at least try,” Violet said. She didn’t want to go to sleep without getting a glimpse of Danny’s horse.
When they swung by the stables, Mr. Morgan was unloading bales of hay from a flatbed truck into the stable. Violet heard some soft whinnying sounds from the half-open door, and she hurried over.
“Mr. Morgan, can we help you?” she pleaded. “We’d love to see the horses.”
For the first time, a frown flitted across Mr. Morgan’s face. “I don’t think so, Violet. You’d best go on to the bunkhouse for a good night’s rest.”
“But we’re not tired, and we could help you,” Jessie said. Benny gave a loud yawn and she nudged him in the shoulder.
“You’ve done enough work for one day,” Mr. Morgan said flatly. He seemed uneasy, and Jessie wondered if something was wrong. After they said good night, she turned to Violet.
“I wonder why Mr. Morgan wouldn’t let us help him with the horses. Do you think we did something to annoy him?”
Violet shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think he’s just tired. Don’t forget, he’s already put in a fifteen-hour day.”
“And he has to do it all over again tomorrow,” Henry chimed in. “Starting bright and early.”
“Poor Mr. Morgan,” Jessie said.
Benny gave another giant yawn and stumbled into the bunkhouse. “Poor us!” he mumbled. “Now I know why they call it a working farm!” |