Sins of a Shaker Summer Read Online Free PDF

just thinkin’ about it as you folks come up.” With a quick movement, he grabbed a nearby watering can, splashing over the side as he hurried to the suffering plant. He began to slosh water on it before Andrew had time to stand and step aside, and globs of dampened dirt splattered against the trustee’s work pants. When he saw what he had done, Willy jumped backward, and his wide, frightened eyes darted toward Andrew’s face, as if searching for signs of violent explosion.
    Andrew’s eyebrows knitted in mild irritation, and then he laughed. “This is why my work clothes are dark brown,” he said. “No harm done, Willy.”
    Instead of relaxing, Willy narrowed his eyes in suspicion,and he clutched the watering can in front of him with two hands, like a shield.
    â€œWilly, Andrew tells me you have a special interest in herbs used as medicine,” Rose said, hoping to break through the boy’s fear.
    Willy darted a glance at her and nodded once before staring again at Andrew.
    â€œYea, indeed,” Andrew said. “Willy is quite knowledgeable about all the plants in this garden. He has seen uses that I’ve only read about.”
    Willy relaxed. He lowered the watering can but continued to hold it with both hands. He ventured a longer look at Rose.
    â€œGranny taught me,” he said. “I lived with her when I was a kid, after my ma and pa left.”
    â€œWas your grandmother a healer?” Rose asked.
    â€œYes, ma’am,” Willy said. “We didn’t have no doctor, so she was the one folks come to when they was hurt or sick. She used to take me all through the hills hunting wild herbs for her tonics, and she talked to me the whole time about how you could take slippery elm bark and make it into a poultice that was good for healing burns and suchlike. She knew more’n anybody in those parts. I reckon I could’ve took over when she died, if I’d a mind to.”
    â€œOnce you’ve learned what Andrew can teach you, perhaps you can go back and help your people,” Rose said.
    Willy reddened and shrugged one thin shoulder.
    â€œIt sounds as if they could use your knowledge,” Rose said.
    Willy shot a wary glance at Andrew. “Don’t reckon they’ll be much interested in taking me back,” he said. He turned his back on Rose and began to pull fine blades of grass that had sprung up where they shouldn’t.
    â€œShall we continue?” Andrew asked from behind her shoulder.
    Rose waited until they were out of Willy’s hearing beforeasking, “Has Willy something in his past that I should know about?”
    Andrew clucked in annoyance. “I told him not to talk about that,” he said. “People will misunderstand. As you probably noticed, Willy is good with the herbs but lacking in . . . Well, he isn’t stupid, certainly, but he doesn’t seem to know how to present himself.”
    â€œSurely awkwardness is no sin. With help, he will learn the niceties in time, but I am more interested in his past,” Rose said with a firmness that was meant to yank Andrew back to her original question. She glanced sideways at him and saw his jaw tighten. However, he answered in a calm voice.
    â€œApparently when his grandmother was growing sickly, she let him take over much of the healing. She had taught him well, but there was a mix-up of some kind, and a young man died.”
    â€œYou mean he poisoned someone?”
    â€œNay, I’m sure he did no such thing. It was an unusual case, some sort of breathing problem, I believe. He said that his grandmother had to teach him a new formula, one she hadn’t used for years. It’s likely that, given her weakened state, she remembered it wrong. Or the young man may not have been able to tolerate the tonic for one reason or another. Anyway, the family blamed Willy and came after his grandmother for revenge. Willy took responsibility for the