Sentence of Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page A

as Amy’s brothers took the laden sled into the first paddock. The hungry beasts were on them at once, nosing at the hay and stealing great mouthfuls of it before John and Harry could get the first forkfuls off the sled. ‘Hey, look behind you, you stupid animal,’ Harry yelled at a particularly stubborn cow, who seemed to prefer stolen hay over what was thrown to her. ‘How about you lead the horse while John and I chuck the hay around,’ he said to Amy.
    ‘Where shall I take him?’ Amy asked, giving steady old Blaze a rub on the forehead.
    ‘Right around the paddock—if we leave it all in one spot the cows’ll tread it into muck.’
    ‘A couple of these girls’ll be dropping their calves pretty soon—only another day or so, I’d say,’ John said, casting an eye over the cows as they fed. ‘I hope Pa gets back before they really get into it.’
    ‘I expect he will,’ said Amy. ‘He said he’d only be away for a week or two.’
    ‘Depends how much of a good time he’s having,’ Harry said, but without any real conviction.
    A few days later John and Harry came back from feeding out and reported that the first two calves had been born during the night. By the time Jack had been gone a week, a third of the herd had calved. When the calves were a few days old, they were taken from their mothers. Amy taught them to drink from a bucket, which had been one of her tasks on the farm from the age of five. John and Harry were milking more of the cows every day; in a few more weeks there would be enough milk for Amy to start making butter and cheese to sell at the general store.
    Lizzie came over one afternoon, just after lunch. ‘Come and do some baking with Ma and me. You can do your stuff at our place, and it’s more fun to do it together.’
    ‘All right,’ Amy said, glad of the change of scene. They walked back to Lizzie’s house together.
    ‘I’m making pies,’ Lizzie said, as if she were imparting a great confidence.
    ‘That’s good.’
    ‘Apple pies,’ Lizzie said meaningfully.
    ‘Good.’
    ‘Lots of them.’
    Amy stopped walking. ‘What are you getting at, Lizzie?’
    ‘I’ve been thinking. How well do you think Frank and Ben eat? I mean, two men living together, I bet they just throw a few odds and ends on the table.’
    ‘You’re not really worried about what Ben eats, are you?’
    ‘Of course not,’ said Lizzie. ‘But he lives there too, so he’ll eat some, I suppose.’
    ‘Some what?’
    ‘Pie, of course.’
    ‘The pies you’ve been making for Aunt Edie, you mean?’ Amy assumed a guileless expression.
    ‘There’ll be enough to go round.’
    Aunt Edie was sifting flour into a large bowl, Lizzie’s baby brother on the floor near her feet, when the girls installed themselves in the kitchen.
    ‘I’ll just roll out a bit more pastry,’ Lizzie said. ‘I think I’ll make a couple more of these pies.’
    ‘All right dear,’ her mother said. ‘Oh, Ernie, what are you up to?’ The little boy’s mouth and half his face was covered with strawberry jam, which Edie wiped off with her apron.
    Edie’s kitchen was not as large as Amy’s, but there was room on the table for all three of them to work without getting in each others’ way.
    When Lizzie had her latest pies in the oven, she seemed to see the stack of already-cooked ones for the first time. ‘Oh!’ she said. ‘Oh, I think I’ve made too many pies, Ma.’ Amy stopped her own baking to watch Lizzie’s performance.
    ‘They’ll all get eaten, I suppose,’ Edie said, looking around vaguely to see where Ernie was.
    ‘But I’ve made twelve , Ma.’
    ‘Mmm? Yes, that is quite a pile.’
    ‘Isn’t it a shame,’ Lizzie said, looking very thoughtful. ‘Here we are with all this baking—too much, really—and there are people around who probably never taste a bit of pudding.’
    ‘Who’s that, dear,’ Aunt Edie asked, a worried look on her kindly face.
    ‘You know, people who don’t have women around to cook