To the Farm - Part 8

Hello Friday Fiction Fans,
Are you still in summer, or has autumn come to stay? Or are you like us and have autumn for a few days and then summer returns as though it can't stand to leave us just yet. :)

It's been quite a week. From not having the right papers to get my car license renewed on Monday, to working in the nursery on Wednesday night with 11 little ones, to getting stuck on my new book, to getting unstuck again. And everything in-between. :) All in all, it's been a busy week. Last Saturday we took the four oldest grandchildren to George Washington Carver National Historic Site (That's quite a mouthful!)'s prairie days. We had fun. Each of the kids earned their Jr. Ranger badge and had a bag of things to take home. We attended a wedding that evening which was outdoors and the weather was just beautiful!

This book I'm working on is still moving. Last night I did get stuck. It had slowed down and then picked up speed a little until it came to a grinding halt. I couldn't go forward, and wasn't sure where to go if I took some things out. But, after backing up about 400 words, I switched tracks and we were off again. I ended up writing 1,231 words in 50 minutes! Not usual, though it's really fun when it happens. I'm starting to look for pictures for the cover. Right now I need a picture of a blond girl who is about 14 with either a shy smile or a sober look. The story is a winter one so she should have on a sweater or something that doesn't look summery. :) Any suggestions? Anyone know of anyone who wouldn't mind being a model?

Here's the next part of Ria and the Gang. You never know what they are going to do next. :)

To the Farm

Part 8

    “You’re it!” a voice exclaimed and a small hand slapped Fred’s arm before his younger brother Henry darted away.
    “Hey,” Phil protested, “Ria can’t play tag, so–”
    But Ria interrupted him. “Yes, I can! Oh, that will be so fun!”
    Al put a hand on his excited cousin’s arm. “Ria,” he chided, “you can’t play tag with that ankle.”
    “Yes I can. If all of the gang has to hop on one foot.” She giggled. “I might actually get to tag more than one of you because I’d have the advantage of crutches.” The picture of her tall cousins all hopping about the yard sent her into such a merry laugh that it brought the other lads over to join them.
    There was some debate about Ria’s idea. Al, Fred and Ed were opposed to the idea, while several of the others, the younger boys who were not a part of ‘the gang’ especially, thought it a fine one and the rest were unsure but ready to be persuaded one way or the other.
    “Why not, Ed?” Jack asked, folding his arms and preparing for an argument. “If we’re all hopping around, Ria isn’t going to have to go far or fast.”
    “Please, Ed,” begged Ria, looking pleadingly at her oldest brother. “I’ll be careful and I just have to do something! If I can’t do this I might–climb a tree!”
    “Feeling a might desperate, are you cousin?” Tom leaned over to whisper, and Ria nodded.
    With a sigh and a shake of his head, Ed gave in and put it to a vote on the condition that all promised not to run into Ria or knock her down. He knew how rough games of tag could be with two dozen boys all playing.
    He needn’t have worried about a rough game, for everyone was having such a difficult time hopping on one foot that the game was over in fifteen minutes. Collapsing on the porch steps or on the grass, the boys, young and old alike, indulged in a hearty burst of laughter. The sight had been so comical that it was sometime before the laughter died down and the younger boys ran off to play another game.
    “Ria,” Jimmy said, lounging back on the steps and looking up at his sister who sat on a wicker chair on the porch. “I hope you got some of your energy out because I’m not hopping around all day on one foot. It’s too exhausting.”
    Giggling, Ria nodded. “Yes, I did. You can all go along now. Thank you for playing. I think I’ll go help Grandma.” And Ria stood up and crutched her way to the door. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was tired and her ankle was really starting to ache. Perhaps playing tag hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
    Arriving later, Dr. Earl noticed how slowly Ria was moving and the slight frown on her face. “What have you been up to this morning, Ria?” he asked sitting down beside her on the sofa. No one else was in the cool room except the two of them, for the outdoors was more alluring.
    “I helped Grandma snap beans,” she said, feeling a flush creep up her neck and wishing that it were anyone else asking besides her doctor uncle.
    Earl noticed and knit his brows though his eyes twinkled. “And what else have you been doing that makes you so tired and has given a pucker to that pretty face?” When she didn’t answer right away he said, “Come on, fess up.”
    Glancing over at him, she replied, a smile curving her lips and a giggle almost escaping her. “I only played tag with the boys for a little while.”
    “Ria!”
    “It was a different kind of tag,” she made haste to explain. “Everyone had to hop on one foot and they kept falling down and grabbing on to each other. It was so funny!” And she burst into laughter, only to catch her breath at the sudden twinge her ankle gave.
    Dr. Earl scooted down on the sofa and patted the place he had vacated. “I want to see that ankle,” he said. “You were supposed to keep off of your foot, you know.”
    Reluctantly, Ria shifted and placed her injured leg on the sofa. “I did stay off of it,” she protested. “I didn’t put any weight on it. Honest. I used my–” She caught her breath as the pain raced up her leg at his first touch. “My crutches, and the others were careful around me.”
    “Humph.” Earl frowned as his skilled hands rapidly undid the last of the bandages and he looked at the swollen ankle. Glancing over at his niece, he shook his head. “Ria, Ria,” was all he said, but he reached into his bag and pulled out some fresh bandages.
    Several times Ria frowned in pain, and once she turned her head away so that her uncle wouldn’t see the tears which came as he re-bandaged the injured limb. She wouldn’t cry! The gang wouldn’t have a chance to call her a baby, but oh, how it hurt!
    Once the new bandage was on, Dr. Earl reached for a cushion and gently settled Ria’s foot upon it. “Now, I don’t want you up and moving about unless it is absolutely necessary, young lady” he ordered quietly. “Not unless you want to stay on crutches for weeks longer.” He rose.
    “But–” protested Ria, her eyes widening and feeling a sudden loss for words as she stared at her bandaged foot.
    Her uncle tipped her chin up and looked into her face. “I’m sorry, but I did tell you to take it easy and not to overdo it. I think you may have been doing a bit more at home than you should have, and this game of tag wasn’t a good idea. I’m sure you won’t be stuck here alone all day, and if someone will carry you, you can even go outside, but only if that foot remains up.”

Would you have voted for or against Ria's idea?

Have you ever played one-legged tag?

There are 2 parts left, will you be back?