The Clearing Read Online Free PDF

me. "Don't be too hard on yourself, sweetie. You survived day one. That's a start."
    "Yeah, survived is a good word." I stopped, noticing Mae was slowing her walk. "Here, you don't have to carry that backpack, Mae."
    "I'm old, but I'm tough," she said, but she handed the bag to me. "Judging by the weight of those books, you have a lot of homework."
    "Some," I said.
    She sucked in a deep breath and leaned against the handrail of the stairs. "Wel , I hope it's not too much. We have beans to can."
    "Cans of beans?"
    Mae chuckled. "Amy, every family in the val ey cans. In fact, we're running behind. We have a bushel of late green beans from our neighbor Lawrence's garden to do tonight. I want to make some sauce out of our Jonagolds, and of course we'd best make some jam out of those blackberries before they're al gone to the birds."
    "Mmm ... your jam," I said.
    "It's our jam this year. Won't it be nice to give your mom a jar for Christmas?"
    Mom. I hadn't talked to her since the first night I came to Mae's. I just nodded at my aunt.
    Kindness crinkled at the corners of her eyes. "I didn't mean to make you sad. You must real y miss her."
    "Yeah," I said, truthful y.
    "Hard to tel . You've been awful y quiet," Mae said. "Did you know when you were young, you were a regular chatterbox? I could barely get a word in edgewise."
    We climbed the stairs together and I fol owed Mae into the kitchen. Big bowls of freshly picked green beans fil ed the table. After we washed our hands, Mae handed me a paring knife. On the back porch, she showed me how to pul the string of each bean, clip off both of the ends, and then cut the beans into three equal pieces.
    We worked silently, the only sounds the tink-tink of the wind chimes in the garden, the growly sound of Katie gnawing on a stick, and the ding of the beans dropping into the giant bowl between us.
    Final y Mae said, "So, did you have your questions answered about the boys in town today?"
    I rol ed my eyes. "Not even on my radar, Mae."
    "Never much on mine, either," she said. "Always preferred my own company."
    "Wel , there was one boy," I admitted. "From the other day—a Henry. You ever heard of him?"
    Mae raised her eyebrows at me. "Henry? Now that's a throwback. A real old-fashioned name."
    "Yeah, wel , I met one. About my age. He lives near here," I said, deliberately being vague. I didn't want to get Henry in trouble for trespassing, if that's what he was doing. "He wasn't at school, though."
    Mae threw some cut beans into the big blue bowl between us. "So this boy caught your eye?"
    I shrugged. "He seemed nice. And kinda different. A real farm boy, I guess. And not pushy."
    "The young men today can be pushy," Mae said.
    I snipped off some green bean ends. "Yeah. That boy Matt, the one Mom probably told you about ... he was way too pushy."
    "Then good riddance."
    "Yeah." I don't know why, but my voice sounded weak. It was good riddance to be free of Matt, but why did it seem like I didn't believe it?
    Maybe I was stil mixed up about the whole thing.
    Watching me, Mae set down her paring knife and stretched out her cramped fingers. "You never settle for a boy like Matt again. You hear me? You're a special girl."
    "Yeah."
    "I mean it. You are special. When you were little and I came to see you during the Holidays, you'd show me al your papers from school. They were covered with stars. So many stars. And you'd be so proud. 'Look at this A on my math test!' you'd shout. You were also quite an artist. I could barely get in the door without you bombarding me with drawings you'd made."
    "I did that?" I said, barely remembering any of it.
    "And then it al stopped," Mae said. "You turned about eleven and it stopped."
    "Dad and Mom..."
    "Yes, that was about the time they split up," she said. "That was real y hard for you, sweetie."
    "It wasn't that bad," I said.
    Mae shook her head. "It was pretty bad."
    "I don't remember that."
    "Of course not, you were a child." Mae paused. "Your poor mother,