to the semi-darkness, the smell of salt pork, hams, and venison filling her nostrils as she reached for the shank of meat, laid it on the table, and chopped off enough to cook with the turnips. Picking up the meat, she closed the door behind her and latched it, pausing long enough to breathe the freshness of the summer earth, the honeysuckle growing up beside the kitchen window filling the air with its fragrance. Little tufts of green grass sprouted here and there, making vivid contrasts to the dark mud of he yard. "It's rained nearly every day for a week," Molly thought, as she looked at the boards placed in a crooked line out to the pump. "I couldn't have stood much more of that weather. Pa and Matthew were nearly driving me crazy, what with their coming and going out of the house all day. If it hadn't been dry enough to work in the fields today, I'd have left home." She could hear the chickens in the henhouse cackling noisily and reminded herself she had better gather in the eggs. Molly stood for a moment longer and then walked the few steps to the kitchen door. "Excuse me, ma'am." Molly whirled, startled. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't mean to scare you. I knocked on the front door but nobody answered." "I was in the smokehouse." "I figured somebody must be around here somewhere; I could see the smoke coming out of the chimney. My car's stuck in a mud hole about a quarter of a mile back. I was wonderin' if anybody around here might be able to help me push it out. I sure would appreciate it if they would." Molly stared at him, his black, curly hair falling just above sparkling blue eyes. "He's not from these parts," she thought. "Nobody's here right now," Molly answered shyly. "Pa and Matt and Mark are over workin' in the south forty, but I know they'd be mighty glad to help you when they get home. You can probably see them if you walk out behind the smokehouse. They'll be comin' home for dinner in about two hours; they mostly get here a little before noon." "How far is it to the next farm?" he asked. "I wouldn't try walkin' if I was you," Molly answered. "The next farm anywhere near is the Trough place, and there's no man around there to help you anyway. You'd be best off to come in and wait for Pa." "Thank you, ma'am, but if you don't mind, I'll wait in my car. Might be somebody else passin' and they'd be willing to help get me pushed out." "You can wait if you like," Molly answered, "but more'n likely Pa'll get here 'fore anybody else does. We don't have much traffic out this way." It wasn't until the stranger had walked off that Molly realized what was happening to her. She leaned against the kitchen door she still hadn't opened, her knees weak, feeling she was going to fall. She could feel her heart pounding furiously inside her chest, her breath coming in short gasps. "What's the matter with you, you silly girl?" 42 she asked herself sharply. "Why, you've never even seen that boy before in your life. Anybody that good-lookin' must have a hundred girls chasin' after him. What chance do you think some plain-lookin' little thing like you would have?" Molly yanked the kitchen door open and grabbed the bucket of greens she had washed the night before, still floating in the water to keep them crisp. She peeled the turnips hurriedly and threw them in with the meat and greens, all the while trying to control her pulse from racing from the encounter with the stranger. The greens cooking, Molly filled the teakettle and set it on the stove to boil, then dashed to her bedroom. "He's coming back," she gasped. "He'll have to come back to get Pa to help push him out. Ain't likely anybody else is gonna be passin' here for hours." Her voice sounded loud in the empty room. "He's coming back, but he's not going to look at you, you crazy girl," she cautioned her pounding head. "What can I wear? I don't have a thing! Just that pink organdy the Widow Trough gave me that was too big for Louise. If I put that on, Pa'll think for sure I'm up to something. Well, I don't care. It's all I have." The teakettle began to whistle loudly, and Molly ran to the kitchen, grabbing a dishpan and bar of soap as she moved toward the stove. She washed her hair, toweling it as dry as she could, then bathed in the same rinse water, stopping only long enough to add more water to the pot of greens. "I'm gonna ask him! I am! I'm gonna ask him when he comes back for Pa to help push the car. I'm gonna ask him to the church picnic tomorrow. He'll say yes, I know he will. Why, anybody that would say ma'am to a girl as polite as he did is sure to be nice enough to go on a picnic if the girl asks him," Molly thought. "I can just see that Louise Trough flittin' around him, her eyes poppin' out green as gourds. Why, she's never had a beau as good-lookin' as he was. And Matt! I can see him now, trying to spark Louise and her givin' him the cold shoulder, and there's me with this good-lookin' man. You silly thing, you don't even know what his name is! It doesn't matter, I'll find out at noon when he comes." She glanced at the clock and realized Pa and her brothers would be home in half an hour. Her fingers reached nervously for her old hair brush as she began to run the brush furiously through her hair. Nearly dry, the hair began to pop and crackle with electricity; running her fingers through it, she could feel it squeak. Reaching into the closet, her fingers felt the pink organdy and she slipped it over her head, raising her arms behind her to fasten the buttons. Opening the top dresser drawer, Molly pulled out the tissue-wrapped bow, and, pulling her hair back from her face, making it look rounder still, she fastened the bow in place. She glanced into the mirror; the ribbon was so large she could see the bow sticking out on either side of her ears. She pinched her already flushed cheeks, glanced again at the mirror, and hurried for the kitchen. She could see Mr. Southland and the boys coming through the 43