Judy's Journey Read Online Free PDF Page B

side of the lake, and there in a clear place among the saw palmettos he had pitched camp. Scrub oaks grew on all sides and tall pines in the distance. “Nobody’ll see us here so far from the road,” Papa said. “We’ll take our peace and rest a while.”
    The children paddled and splashed. Papa found the wreck of an old boat buried in weeds and grass at one side of the lake. He pulled it up on the bank and said he would fix it in the morning. Then all of a sudden darkness fell and they hurried to bed.
    â€œWe’ll go fishin’, Papa,” said Joe Bob the next morning.
    â€œBet your life we will,” said Papa.
    â€œAll our vittles is gone, Jim,” said Mama.
    â€œWe’ll eat fish and I’ll set a line for cooters,” said Papa. “How about cooter turtle soup?”
    Papa fixed up the holes in the boat, baited a line and strung it from one side of the lake to the other. The sun came out, pleasantly warm. Judy spread a quilt on the lake shore and Papa stretched out to rest. While the children splashed in the water and played with the boat, and Mama fussed with the clothes and supplies, Judy sat down beside Papa.
    â€œLet’s name it,” she said. “We’ll call it the ‘Mirror of the Sky.’ Down in the water you can see the white clouds and the blue sky and the trees and birds flying over. The lake is a looking-glass, and everything is upside down.”
    They propped their heads on their hands and looked down, then up.
    â€œMirror of the Sky—that’s a nice idea, honey,” said Papa. Papa poked a crawling ant with a blade of grass and they watched it for a long time. Mama came and sat down too and little Lonnie crawled on the quilt. He looked better and seemed more active.
    â€œNothin’ like bein’ outdoors,” said Papa thoughtfully. “I’d hate to work all day long in a factory, sittin’ by a roarin’ machine and feedin’ something into it, and rushin’ and hustlin’ to keep up with the blamed thing. Nothin’ worse than bein’ whistled in and whistled out. Machine’s a big monster tryin’ to gobble a feller up and break his spirit. Even when you’re a sharecropper, you can be outdoors.”
    â€œBut you can’t call your soul your own,” said Mama.
    â€œThere’s no hope of gettin’ ahead if a man can’t be his own boss,” Papa agreed. “Whatever happens, I’m proud I had the spunk to light out when I did.”
    â€œWhatever happens,” said Mama, “we can’t worst ourselves much.”
    â€œA little piece of land is all I want,” Papa went on. “This is the only country in the world where all men are free and equal—that’s what we stand for, anyway. The first settlers come here to git land, and for a long time everybody went west to git land. This country’s always been a place where a man had the right to own a little piece of land.”
    â€œMaybe there ain’t land enough to go round any more,” said Mama. “So many big companies buyin’ it up, a lone man ain’t got a chance.”
    â€œThere must be some places left .…” said Papa. “Well, look what’s comin’—”
    Several cows appeared, and soon the lake was surrounded by a large herd. The children took sticks and tried to chase them away.
    â€œWoods cows,” said Papa.
    â€œCan we milk ’em and git us some milk?” asked Judy.
    â€œThem skinny things?” laughed Papa. “Most of ’em’s beef cattle, not milk cows, but don’t give me a T-bone steak.”
    That afternoon the children took a long walk. A quarter of a mile away, they came to a large citrus grove. The trees were loaded with beautiful golden fruit and more fruit lay on the ground, starting to rot.
    â€œWe’ll git us some oranges and tote ’em back,” said Judy.
    They began to pick them