What the Moon Said Read Online Free PDF Page A

it. And the corners of her mouth were curved up expectantly. She looked as happy as when she’d been waltzing with Pa. Esther had been right. Ma was going to be different here. Everything was going to be different here!
    But as Esther watched, Ma’s mouth sagged. Her eyes closed. She drew back sharply from the window. A chill skipped up the back of Esther’s neck. What was wrong? She looked out where Ma had been looking. She saw bare black fields, an old faded-pink barn, and some crumbling sheds. Off to the right was another building. It was small and shabby, the color of ashes. Esther’s chest tightened. She squinted and craned her neck, but there was nothing else to see. That shabby gray building had to be their house.
    Disappointment swelled from her chest to her throat and stuck there. All of Ma’s hard-saved nest egg had gone for this? She had to be even more disappointed than Esther. Impulsively, Esther reached out to give Ma’s arm a loving squeeze. But just at that moment, Ma stiffened. She raised her chin and she set her mouth in such a grim line that Esther jerked her hand back.
    The car stopped near the barn and Pa jumped out. He pointed to the fields. “Only thirty acres,” he said, “but enough for a start.” He led them into the barn. He pointed out the wagon and buggy, the plow, and other tools. “All this is ours,” he said proudly.
    Best of all were the animals. The two big workhorses were brown, not gray. And the four cows were black with white spots, not brown as Esther had imagined. But she didn’t care. They were
real.
They let Esther pat them. One cow bobbed her head as if to say, “Howdy-do.” Both horses nickered gently. Esther’s disappointment in the house was forgotten. Horses! They owned horses! She couldn’t wait to ride them.
    â€œWe have to name them,” she said excitedly.
    â€œLater,” Ma said. Then she turned and stalked out the door. After a stunned moment, everyone trotted after her.
    Ma marched right past the sheds. Pa pointed out the pigsty. He pointed out the henhouse. And he pointed out the icehouse where he would cool and separate the milk. But he didn’t stop again, because Ma was moving ever faster toward the house. He must have realized something was wrong. He walked faster, too. His long legs caught up with her just as she reached the front door. Pa took a key from his pocket, put it in the lock, and opened the door. Then they went quickly inside.
    Esther and Violet weren’t far behind and would have followed Ma and Pa into the house, but Kate called to them to wait. When she and Howard joined the girls on the porch a few moments later, Kate said, “Let’s give Ma and Pa a little time alone.” Holding on to Howard’s arm, she walked gingerly across the sagging porch, shaking her head. “Oh, Pa,” she sighed.
    Esther bit her lip. Things weren’t going at all the way she had imagined. Of course, the house might be much nicer inside than it was outside. It might. She crossed her fingers and tried to peek through a window. But it was so coated with dirt, she couldn’t see a thing. Meanwhile, Walter was running dizzily around the house, blowing a whistle he’d pulled from his pocket. Violet was staring at the empty fields with a bleak expression. And Howard was trying to cheer up Kate.
    â€œIt’s not so bad,” he said heartily. “A little paint and a good cleaning and it’ll be real cozy.” But Esther could tell he didn’t mean it. He was smiling too hard. And Kate’s raised eyebrows said she didn’t believe Howard, either.
    Ma and Pa finally came out. Ma’s back was very straight. Her mouth was very tight. It was Pa who invited everyone in to see the new house. “After the first harvest I will fix it up,” he told them. “Until then, it will do.”
    Esther and Violet went through the house together. It didn’t