Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 140795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“What’s so funny about that?” Captivated by both her and the story, he began thinking of the men in town who had names that began with a B. He couldn’t think of any that would be so funny, until one family came to mind. “The Hayes?”
Ginny had to wipe tears of laughter away. “Part of the Hayes’ property borders ours. They had cousins who were always coming to visit them. Their pa named the boys starting with the letter B. Leah had a crush on Bubba, but Jody said it could be Bud or BoDean. Then Matthew told us if we buried a lock of our hair under a bush on their property on a cloudless night at midnight when there was a new moon, and then dug it up on the cloudless night of a full moon and put it in a bowl of water, the hair would point in the direction our husbands would be.”
From the peals of laughter coming from Ginny, Reaper was left to assume the girls were gullible enough to be taken in by their brothers. “You did it, didn’t you?”
“Oh … yes.” She had to wipe more tears away.
“But how did you know it was a cloudless night during a new moon?” His lips twitched when his question set off another round of laughter.
“That question would have been helpful if you had been around when we were cutting our hair. Back then, we took Silas’s word for it.”
Reaper couldn’t hold back the full-fledged smile any longer. “He was in on it too.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “They all were very helpful, keeping Pa occupied so we could sneak out. Of course we were terrified sneaking onto the Hayes’ property at the dead of night. The Hayes and the Porters are adamant about how they deal with trespassers. Our pa was, too, but at least he wouldn’t shoot you dead if you went over his property an inch. Luckily, we made it back with our lives. When it was time to dig up our hair, our brothers generously helped us to sneak out again. That time, it didn’t go as easily.”
“What happened?”
“We had no sooner dug up our hair when three bright orange lights appeared in the trees. We were so scared we were afraid to move until these things started coming down the hillside from where the lights were. They were carrying flashlights and were wearing shiny clothes, and their skin was green. I tried to hide under a bush, but Leah was so scared she took off screaming.”
“What did you do then?”
“I went after her. I couldn’t let them catch her alone. Thankfully, we managed to outrun them and made it home alive.” Ginny laid her head down on the table on her folded arms, her shoulders shaking. It was a few moments before she controlled her laughter enough to continue. “We scared our pa to death when we ran into his bedroom, screaming that aliens were coming, and we hid under his bed.”
His laughter joined hers at just imagining the terrified girls.
“Pa jumped out of bed, yelling for the boys. When they didn’t come right away, he knew what they’d done. He gave them two minutes or he was getting his belt. Miraculously”—Ginny rolled her eyes at that—“Pa didn’t grab his rifle when they came out wrapped in aluminum foil and green face paint. Poor Leah was nearly hysterical before Pa was able to drag her out from under the bed to show her it was our brothers.”
“They had all done it?”
“Everyone, except for Moses and Ezra. They were the lookouts to make sure Pa was occupied.”
Reaper wanted to ask how long it had taken to get her out from under the bed, but being a boy once himself he understood their warped since of humor when it came to harassing your siblings. “How bad did they get in trouble?”
“In the morning, Freddy let Leah and me pick the switches he used to spank them with. Of course”—making a grimace, she shook her head at her young self—“after the wailing started, I begged him to stop.”
“Leah didn’t?”
“No, she left to take a bath. She was too miserable. We had run through a patch of poison ivy.”
“It didn’t get you?”
“Some, but I wasn’t mad at the boys like Leah was. She dropped her hair, so she was more mad at that than anything else.”
The love she shared with her family was unquestionable; it was apparent in her voice and expression. What he couldn’t fathom was why her brothers hadn’t remained in her life after Leah and her father had died.
As if reading his mind, Ginny grew more serious. “Anyway, we didn’t try that one again. There was a gazillion other ways that we tried without involving itching.”
“And because of games you played when you were younger, you think we have a connection between us?”