Elsie pushed the screen door open, stretched and ran across the long front porch. She listened to the chirp of the tee-tee bird in the big sycamore tree. The sound of old Bullet, the pet dog was so sweet to her ears. She jumped from the high porch and hugged Bullet so tight until he said yelp and buried his head in her shoulder.

           Douglas, Elsie's brother, got out of bed and walked to the front porch to join his sister. His excitement did not appear to be the same as Elsie's, but they both had one thing in common. Today, the children will go to the country to pick wild fruit with their aunt Nan. Their aunt was playful and always ready to do things with the children to make them happy. Before beginning their journey to the forest, Nan protected her legs with a long dress and rubber boots. Elsie always mimicked Nan and wore rubber boots also, while Doug had on long pants caught up with suspenders. His feet were covered with tennis shoes.

           Before leaving for the forest their mother made them a basket lunch of thick slices of homemade bread with thick slices of bologna between the bread. The bread was spread with homemade mayonnaise that Nan made with eggs, vinegar and other ingredients. Mother made a few jelly and butter sandwiches also.

           Mother chipped away on the block of ice in the old wooden refrigerator until she had enough ice to fill a wide mouth pickle jar full of ice and water.

           The three adventure seekers left to gather fruit about 6:30 in the morning. They picked berries along the country trails until they reached their destination. They walked about five miles before they came to a spot where there were wild cherries, blackberries and plums in the same vicinity. Each of the children and their aunt protected their heads with straw hats.

           Douglas would always roll the wheelbarrow on these long trips to bring back the fruit that they would pick. The trip would be worth while because all the buckets would be full of fruit. After arriving at their destination, Nan said they should rest and drink water before selecting a spot to pick fruit. Sometimes Elsie and Doug would eat a sandwich before they begin to pick fruit.

           Nan would always warn the children not to wonder off too far. She reminded them that strangers would sometimes be in the woods. At noon, both Elsie and Douglas found Nan because they were hungry and ready to eat. Nan also was ready to give them the noon meal of their bologna sandwiches, jelly and butter sandwiches and some wild fruit they had picked. They drank their water and spread their quilt on the grass and took a nap for an hour. When the children were awaken by Nan, they were in a very talkative mood and tried to out pick each other. At 3:30 in the afternoon, Nan called them back to her, let them rest for about thirty minutes, then they all started on the long hike back to town and home. Nan would always roll the wheelbarrow most of the way back because it would be full of fruit; and sometimes Elsie would have to ride. Elsie never rode too far, because she was too busy picking flowers to take back to Mother, who stayed at home to cook supper and take care of Grandfather.

           The trip always seemed to be shorter on the way back home than when they were going to the woods. At last they were back on the long front porch where it would always be cool after 5:00 because of the shade from the big sycamore tree in the middle of the yard and the China berry tree directly in front of the house.

           Mother always received her flowers with a big smile and a kiss for both children.

           Elsie would whisper to her mother, "You are the prettiest mother I know."

           Mother would laugh heartily and hug Elsie again.

           "Come now," Mother would say and she would lead them to the dinning room where the table would be set with good china and silverware and a nice ironed napkin at each place setting.

           A long bench embraced the back side of the table, while raw hide chairs would be at both ends and a raw hide chair at the front side of the table also. The bench would always be for Elsie and Doug. Grandfather sat at the head of the table, Mother at the other end and Nan at the front of the table. Mother would always cook a garden vegetable, chicken or pork chops, blackberry pie, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers that Grandfather would grow in the garden. They always had sassafras tea. Nan would always dig the sassafras roots when they would take those long trips to gather fruit. She would pick the leaves, dry them and make file' for gumbo that they often cooked in the winter.

           The trip was over, Nan and Mother cleaned and washed the fruit. The next morning, they sent the children to Pernici's grocery store to get sugar to can the fruits. These trips did not seem like work to Elsie and Douglas. They waited patiently until it was, again time to go on another trip.



© 2000 Leola Claiborne Carhee, all rights reserved
 appears here by permission