Millie Comes to Visit - Part 6

Greetings Faithful Friday Fiction Fans,
  Today is staring off chilly, but the sun is shining and it is supposed to warm up. :)

It's been a busy week and I really haven't gotten much writing done. Last week I ended up with 6k written, but, though that is not as good as 8k, it's still better than 5k. :) Since I spend a very long day at the polls on Tuesday and didn't get home until 9 pm (I got up about 4:10 am), I didn't get any writing done that day. And last night I attended, for the first time, the local writer's guild and ended up staying longer and talking with two very interested people about self-publishing using CreateSpace. :) That was fun.
I'm hoping to get more written tonight and tomorrow night and am going to try to reach 5 thousand words.

This is the last part of this story, so I hope you have enjoyed it. It's a good thing I have two other stories written to post because next week we'll have my two youngest nephews for three and a half days, and I won't have much time to write.

I don't seem to have much to tell you this week. I hope you won't mind just getting right to the last part of

Millie Comes to Visit

Part 6

    The rest of the days flew by. There were no more times of sitting around and wondering what to do. A trip to the farm occupied the whole of one day and Millie was introduced to the barn swing. Allie took one look and returned to the house.
    “She doesn’t like anything that is high up,” Millie informed Ria who was climbing the ladder to show her cousin how to properly swing off of it.
    “Do you like high places?”
    Millie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been on a swing like that before. How do you do it?”
    “Like this, watch.” And Ria, grasping the rope with both hands, suddenly jumped from the ladder and swung out across the barn floor. “Whee!” After several swings, Ria, with the agility of much practice, let go of the rope at just the right time to land in a soft pile of hay. Scrambling to her feet, she laughed. “That is so much fun. You try it now, Millie.”
    Slowly Millie climbed the ladder. “How do I get the rope?” she asked, looking down.
    “You were supposed to take it with you. But I’ll bring it to you.” Ria snatched the rope and mounted the ladder. “Here,” she said, handing the thick rope up. “Just hang on to it above the knot like I did.”
    Holding on to the rope with one hand the rung of the ladder with the other, Millie shook her head. “I don’t think I can do it. I . . . I can’t reach the knot.”
    Ria offered some advice. “Just grab it with your other hand.”
    “But I’ll fall!” Millie protested. “Maybe I should just not try it, Ria.”
    “But you have to!”
    “I can’t. You can do it and I’ll just climb down.” Millie tried to hand the rope back to her cousin but Ria was obstinate.
    “No, you have swing down, Millie. I’m not going to climb down this ladder. You’ll just have to swing off. Come on, you can do it!”
    “Ria,” Millie begged, “just let me climb down. I don’t think I can do it.”
    Not about to give up, Ria glanced around. “Jimmy! Johnny!” she shouted, spying her brothers outside.
    The twins looked around.
    “In the barn!” Ria shouted again, waving her hand.
    “Ria,” pleaded Millie, growing more nervous the longer she remained up on the ladder. “We don’t want them!”
    There was no direct reply from Ria, for her brothers stepped into the barn and looked up.
    “Trying out the swing, Millie?” Jimmy asked.
    Millie shook her head.
    “She would, but she’s afraid to hold on to the rope with both hands,” Ria put in.
    Jimmy motioned with his hand. “Climb down, Ria. I’ll go up and help her."
    “And I’ll be down here to catch you if you need it,” Johnny grinned up at his cousin though his arms remained folded.
    It was a matter of moments for Ria to drop to the barn floor and Jimmy to take her place on the ladder. Feeling more secure with her older cousin behind her, Millie, following Jimmy’s directions, soon took her first breathless ride on the barn swing. Loud were the cheers when she dropped safely into the hay.
    “You did it, Millie!” Ria pulled her cousin up. “Wasn’t it great fun? Don’t you want to do it again? Come on, we’ve got to get out of the way so Jimmy can swing.” Still chattering, Ria drew Millie over to the side where they watched the twins each take a turn.
    Before long Millie was enjoying herself as much as Ria. She was still slower and it always took her a moment to gather her courage before each jump.
    When at last both girls declared that they were tired, they sat in the hay and talked. They were still talking when the dinner bell rang.
    Hand in hand, Ria and Millie raced to the farm house. They were hungry.

    Monday afternoon came all too soon for Ria. She and Millie had been almost inseparable during the visit. With the entire family over to the farm after church, they had stuck close together. Not even the lure of playing baseball with the gang and uncle, or playing tag with the younger boys, had drawn Ria into activities she usually delighted in. “It wouldn’t let us be together as much,” Ria explained to her dad. “I only have Millie for a little bit longer and I don’t want to miss a minute with her.”
    Ria had taken Millie and Allie for one more visit with Mrs. Laningsburg on Monday morning.
    “I did so enjoy our tea party together,” that lady said, hugging each of the girls good bye. “I know Ria is going to miss her two cousins. But you girls come back and visit again.”
    “We will,” Millie promised. “I wish we could move here.”
    It was a hard parting. All the gang had gathered at the Mitchell home to say good bye, but only Uncle Mitch, Aunt Emma, and Ria had gone to the station to see them off.
    “Good bye, Millie!” Ria whispered, fighting to keep back her tears. “Write me as soon as you get home!”
    “I will,” promised Millie, holding her cousin close in a tight embrace. “Oh, Ria, I had so much fun. I don’t want to leave!”
    Ria couldn’t say anything. She knew she would cry if she did.
    “Come, Millie,” Aunt Carrie called. “You can wave to Ria from your seat.”
    Reluctantly Millie pulled away and, with many backward looks, hurried to the train.
    “Good bye, Millie!” Ria shouted, waving her hand when her cousin’s face appeared at a window. “Good bye!” She waved until the train was but a dark object in the distance.
    Mrs. Mitchell put an arm around her daughter. “Come, Ria, it’s time to go home.”
    Heaving a long sigh, Ria turned and trudged towards the waiting car. “Home to a house full of boys.”

Would you have tried the barn swing?

Is it hard for you to say good bye to cousins you hardly ever see?

I have a two part story starting next week.

Will you be here?