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Back Porch
21
From Sunrise to Sunset
by Margaret Gipson
Any afternoon just before sundown, you can see them, the Old Lady and the three small boys. They are heading to the Fish Pond, not to fish, just to be together. The Old Lady moves more slowly as the pain in her back grows worse each day.
Hie two oldest run on ahead with Michael shouting back, “Hey, see that turtle? Oops, he’s gone already!”
“Look, that’s the biggest frog I ever saw. Come see, quick,” Kristen calls. “Aw, you missed him He jumped.”
“Did you see that snake swimming away?”
The Old Lady listens to the chatter of boys looking for real adventure. As she and the youngest arrive, he takes off after the others, trying to do and say everything they do.
Kristen, six, is leader of this gang, and wherever he leads they follow. Whatever monstrous thing he sees, Michael and Kerry see, too.
The Old Lady sits in her favorite spot by the persimmon tree as the boys wander off to play.
She hears Kristen shouting, “Come on, let’s climb the fence and go down mto the trees.”
"Be quiet now and watch for the squirrels, he cautions. But Michael moves among the trees and then yells, *1 see one!” and the squirrel is gone in a flash.
“Oh, you’re just too noisy, acting Bte kids! We might as well go back You’ve scared everything away,” he say’s with all the disgust a six year old can muster.
They come to sit by the Old Lady, one on each side. She spreads he legs for Kerry to at in front. “Look a the white birds over by the dam,” she points out to them “Did you know they are called cow birds? See, they are waiting for the cows to get a drink and then they’ll move on to the pasture.”
All heads turn to watch the birds as they gracefully parade to the far side of the pond to await the cows.
Suddenly Kristen screams. “Oh, no! Mamaw, look how deep the water is. The cows will never make it. I can’t look They’ll die,” So dramatic.
“They won’t die,” says MichaeL “They may drown though.”
Suddenly Kristen shouts, “Look, I see a Hon in the clouds.” All eyes turn skyward, and each one looks for an animal picture in the clouds. “What are clouds? Where do they come from?” Kristen asks.
“God made clouds so you could pick out pictures and to send us rain,” the Old Lady tells him
“Just how does He make rain?” Kristen asks.
Michael says seriously, ‘1 know. He has a big water hose and a giant sprinkler.” And his answer seems to satisfy the boys.
It’s almost time to go, but neither the boys nor the Old Lady is ready. “Let’s stay a little longer, Mamaw,” they cry.
But it is now almost dusk and time to take one last look as the pond forms a giant picture frame for reflections of the beautiful sunset, tall trees, and the cows moving ever so slowly up the hill.
They head for home, the Old Lady and three small boys.
She watches as they run on ahead, and sadness fills her as she thinks of the shortness of childhood and how much too soon they will be grown and these same joys will not come her way again. But she is thankful for this afternoon and all of the afternoons die spends
with them. She thinks
of each child and what hopes and
aspirations she has for them
Kristen, so like his mother, too sensitive for a rough and tumble boy. With a loving nature, he loves the Old Lady with all his being.
Michael, so like his Papaw, in looks as well as ways. So independent and stubborn. “Don’t hold my hand.” “I can do it myself” The Old Lady smiles, remembering Michael’s mother as a child and how she hated clothes the summer she was two! She, too had a streak of stubbornness. The Old Lady chuckles about the escapades of her children while realizing anew what a blessing they are.
Then there is Kerry. It is not that the Old Lady loves him more than the others, for each has his own special place in her heart, but each one is so different. They each require different ways to be shown love.
Kerry is growing so fast. Soon he will be three. She remembers how, with blue eyes flashing and a temper to match his red hair, he would get so angry, fold his arms across his chest, pooch out his Kps and stalk away by himself^ waiting for someone to come and coax him out of his mad. But if no one came, he would soon be back at play, completely happy. Now he just
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