Listen To Me Honey Read Online Free PDF

for hurrying away.
    While she poured the pail of water
in the half tire, something bumped the back of her leg. She almost
buckled when the pressure hit hard behind her knee.
    Amanda straightened up and whirled
around. A red rooster with a black tail bristled his feathers and
stomped the ground, ready to come at her again. Amanda had half a
pail of water left. She doused the rooster and raced for the
house.
    The screen door slammed behind her
as Amanda stood wild eyed and panting.
    Tansy dropped the dish cloth in the
dish water and came to her. “What's the matter with ya?”
    Amanda accused angrily, “You forgot
to tell me about the mean rooster!”
    Tansy patted her shoulder. “Sorry
about that. I reckon I'm just used to him tryin' to pick a fight
with me. Did he hurt ya?”
    “No, he didn't get a chance to do more than hit me
once in the back of the leg. He meant to pick a fight all right,
but he got the worse end of the deal,” Amanda snapped.
    Tansy eyed Amanda over her glasses.
“Laws a Mercy, what did ya do to my rooster? Y'all didn't kill him,
did ya?”
    Amanda's face reddened and
scrunched up. Grandma was going to side with that old rooster. She
should have known that. “No, I tried to drown him with the water I
was supposed to water the chickens with.”
    Tansy laughed. “Oh, is that all.
Good for y'all. That rooster deserved it. Maybe old Roehoe will
leave ya alone now. I should have told ya about the stick propped
in the lilac bush by the chicken yard. I always carry that with me
to whop him.”
    Amanda was relieved. Grandma wasn't
mad at her after all. She was going to let Amanda hit that mean
rooster when she needed to back him off.
    While Amanda dried dishes, she
remembered to complain about how bad the outhouse smelled. She said
she didn't think she'd ever get used to that odor.
    Tansy stuck the cast iron skillet
in the warm oven to dry it. “I agree. The outhouse shouldn't smell
that bad. I haven't cleaned it for some time. Goodness, I cain't
remember when it was. Been wonderin' what ya and me was goin' to do
today. That's it.”
    Amanda didn't like what she was
hearing. “What's it?”
    Tansy opened the kitchen window and
tossed the dish water outside. “Ya and me will clean the outhouse
this mornin' before the mud daubers stir, and it gets too hot in
there.”
    “Really?” Amanda squeaked, wrinkling her nose at the
thought of washing the smelly outhouse. She was sorry she
complained. “How?”
    “I'll show ya,” Tansy said. “We need a pail of water, a bar
of lye soap, an old rag, and a can of lime.”
    Amanda followed her grandma around
while Tansy collected the soap and rag. Tansy stuffed those things
in her apron pockets. She handed Amanda a tin soup can of lime. “Ya
hang on to this. We use it last.”
    Tansy lifted her wide brimmed straw
hat off a peg on the kitchen wall and put it on. “Now I'm ready to
go.”
    She took one of the brooms down
from the wall of the porch and handed it to Amanda. The mop she
propped over her shoulder after she pumped filled a pail with water
and headed for the outhouse.
    Tansy might think she was ready to
go outside, but she didn't have shoes on when they walked across
the yard.
    Amanda said, “Grandma, you forgot
your shoes.”
    “I
never wear shoes in the summer unless I'm goin' to be out among
people. Like my feet to be free. Besides, keeps me from havin' to
buy new shoes so often. That's one way to save money,” Tansy said,
looking out of the corner of her eyes at Amanda.
    “Don't the rocks hurt when you walk on them?” Amanda
asked
    “Yer
feet toughen in if you're born goin' barefoot like everyone around
here is. Give it a try sometime. Y'all might like goin' bare foot,”
Tansy encouraged
    As they headed toward the outhouse,
Amanda looked around for her grandpa. She hoped he could think of a
way to get her out of this work detail. “Where is Grandpa this
morning?”
    “Fixin' fence. Every so often he has to go around our fence
line and fix