" Mama put her satchel and her Bible
and the other book down on the front bench and took off her
gloves. I walked on over to the heater.
"I'm shivering, Mama."
"You'll get warm in a little while. Aw, I bet there's not a
piece of kindling in this wood box!"
There wasn't, but Mama found some old wadded-up newspapers
and a few splinters down in one corner. She piled them into the
heater and then started stripping crusty hunks of pine bark from
the logs in the box.
"Mama, look! A black grasshopper!"
"Where?"
"There he goes! He just jumped off that bark. Here he is! On
the floor! See?" I grabbed at him, but he jumped again.
"Bandershanks, that's not a grasshopper. That's just a
cricket!"
"Can I have him?"
"Sure, if you can catch him."
I got down on hands and knees and started crawling toward the
cricket; but just as I reached out to get him, he leaped toward
the side of the pump organ. I eased up a little closer and
grabbed again! That just made him jump again, and this time he
landed right at the pedals of the organ.
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