What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren Page A

was hot, hard work. “I will make sandwiches,” she said. “Girls, come help.”
    Violet sprang up from the sewing machine and hurried into the kitchen. Esther was right behind her. A picnic at the lake! And here she’d just been thinking there was nothing fun to do in the country.
    Esther had heard about the little lake east of town, but she’d never seen it. “Ohhh,” she breathed when Pa drove into the clearing an hour later. Blue water glittered silver under the sun. “It’s beautiful!” Other wagons and buggies were parked among the trees. She heard shrieks of laughter. Then she spotted Bethany hopping up and down and waving.
    â€œI knew you’d come!” Bethany cried when Esther jumped down from the buggy. “Just about everybody does on the Fourth.” Bethany hauled Esther around blankets and baskets and small, toddling children. At the shore of the lake she tossed off her shoes and socks. “Come on!”
    Laughing, Esther threw off her own shoes and socks and plunged into the chilly water after Bethany. Many of their schoolmates were already splashing and chasing one another. Esther and Bethany quickly joined in the fun. When they waded back to shore a while later, Esther had forgotten all her grumpy feelings of the morning.
    â€œYour nose is pink,” she teased Bethany.
    Bethany laughed. “So’s yours.” She wrung water from her skirt.
    â€œLet’s go get something to eat,” Esther suggested. “I’m starving.”
    Bethany smacked her lips. “Mama brought raspberry cobbler.”
    Esther’s mouth watered. “Ma brought sugar cookies,” she said. She laughed. “She baked them after we went to bed last night for a Fourth of July surprise. But even she didn’t know about the picnic. That was Pa’s surprise! And it was the best one of all.”
    Ma was under a maple tree not far from the Heggersmiths. She had spread an old quilt on the grass. On it was a plate of sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, a bowl of hard-boiled eggs, and a tin that Esther knew held two dozen perfect sugar cookies. There was also a small dish of plump red raspberries.
    Esther reached down and plucked a berry from the dish. “Mmmm,” she said, savoring its sweet juiciness. “Where’d we get the raspberries from, Ma?”
    â€œFrom Mrs. Neilson. It was kind of her. She says they have more than they can eat.” Ma, always generous to guests, nodded at Bethany. “Take some. They are good.”
    But Bethany smiled and shook her head. “No, thank you, Mrs. Vogel. We have heaps of raspberries at home right now, too. Save them for your family.”
    â€œWhere are they, anyway?” Esther asked, looking around.
    â€œPa and Walter are fishing. Violet is with friends,” Ma said. She looked unusually content, fanning herself gently with Pa’s straw hat. She raised her eyebrows at Esther’s and Bethany’s dripping skirts. “You two look cool enough.”
    Esther laughed. “The water feels so good, Ma. You should go in.”
    Ma smiled. “Playing in water is for children.”
    â€œMama went in last summer, Mrs. Vogel,” Bethany confided. “Of course, no one was here but us. She said it was delightfully refreshing.” Bethany grinned and pulled wet hair back from her face.
    â€œMaybe you could do that, too, sometime, Ma!” Esther cried.
    Ma was smiling. She was almost laughing. She opened her mouth to reply. Then, suddenly, she stiffened. Her laugh died. Her smile vanished.
    She sat up straight and dropped the straw hat. A frown creased her forehead. “You should go to your family now,” she said abruptly to Bethany. Then she turned to Esther. “Go find Pa and Violet. Tell them it is time to eat.”
    Esther stared. What was wrong with Ma? She had practically told Bethany to go away!
    â€œYou heard me, Esther,” Ma said sharply.