Chapter Nineteen

THE STRAW MAN IN SILK • CHORES • BEAR CAVE • ROOTS • THE OLD MAN AND THE BERRIES

WHEN LIONEL crossed the meadow, he noticed that the straw man perched over the garden had changed. He no longer wore the old pants and shirt that Grandpa had originally dressed him in. He now stood watch in the torn ivory silk dress that Beatrice had abandoned.

Lionel returned to the lodge to find a breakfast of smoked venison and canned peaches waiting for him. They ate, and then Grandpa put the children back to work. They gathered firewood, watered the garden, and repaired various neglected items found around the lodge.

Later that day they returned to the stream and followed the bear’s tracks to a small cave about two and a half miles from their meadow. Grandpa felt that it was wise to let the bear be, but wanted the children to know where he was in relation to their new home. Grandpa was confident that as long as Lionel and Beatrice were aware and respectful, they would get along just fine with their neighbor.

They made their way back to the meadow, their grandfather stopping along the way to show them the various roots and berries that were edible and the plants that were not. when they arrived at the stream, their grandfather stopped at a large huckleberry bush with long branches that hung over the bank.

“Did I tell you about the old Man and the berries?” he asked, removing his coat.

“No, you didn’t,” Beatrice answered as Grandpa spread his coat beneath the largest of the berry bushes.

“Lionel, hand me the stick over there.”

Lionel picked up a large stick and handed it to their grandfather.

“One day old Man was out doin’ his travelin’ and he came to a stream, well, kinda like this one. old Man was thirsty, so he lay down on the bank to drink, but, to his surprise, noticed that there were berries all over the rocky bottom.”

Lionel looked into the swilling waters that rushed past them. Unlike in the clear pool where the bear had been fishing, you could not see the bottom; so Lionel did not see any berries.

“The old Man was hungry so he dove into the water to collect the berries. He swam around, diving to the bottom repeatedly, but couldn’t find them. As you might imagine, the old Man got tired and pulled himself back onto the bank and collapsed under the shade of the bushes that grew alongside the stream. He slept in the shade for most of that afternoon, but when he woke, he was looking up into the bush above him. There the old Man saw the berries and realized that their reflection in the water had tricked him.”

“He thought that the berries grew under the water?” Lionel said with a giggle.

“He sure did and felt mighty stupid for doin’ so. He got so mad that he picked up a stick, like this one I got right here,” Grandpa said, raising the small club over his head, “and beat the bushes, I mean he really gave ’em a thrashing.”

Grandpa brought the stick down hard, whacking the shrub mercilessly.

“Well, what do you think happened?” Grandpa continued as he raised the stick again and again. “All of them berries fell to the ground, giving the old Man another lesson to teach his people.”

Lionel watched the berries fall to Grandpa’s coat.

“So, who wants to eat some berries?” Grandfather concluded, throwing a handful into his mouth, then adding, “Close, but not quite ripe.”

That night the children once again gathered around the fire. Lionel didn’t feel well, because once he started to eat the berries, ripe or not, he couldn’t stop and soon ate himself into a stomachache. After several trips to the outhouse, his belly felt better, but he still lay flat on his back in front of the fire, occasionally sitting up to drink some cool water from the stream out of his tin cup.

Grandpa and Beatrice worked the hide from another deer that Grandpa had shot. He had instructed her to chew on it and to work it in her hands to make it soft and easier to cut into the leggings and shirt that he planned to make for them.

Grandpa also cut strips of leather and set them aside, letting Lionel know that these were for him when his hair had grown long enough to warrant them.

Lionel thought that this was the happiest time that he could ever remember. He figured that Beatrice must have agreed, because although she still kept to herself and did not speak much, she was always happy, a smile stretched across her face. Lionel hated to think of having to go back to the school and its dreary, worn-down classrooms. The thought of the school’s gray, tasteless stew compared with what he had eaten since they had arrived at the lodge was enough in itself. He hoped that they never had to leave.