An Abundance of Blessings Read online

  With a sinking sensation he watched as Miss Simons turned just in time to see Lisa.

  “Hello, Dana. Sam.” Miss Grienke did that smiling thing again as she handed Sam the envelope. “I forgot to ask you to give this to your Uncle Pete. Tell him I’ll meet him there. He doesn’t have to pick me up.”

  As Sam took the envelope he watched Miss Simons’ puzzled look turn to hurt.

  Sam felt a flush of anger with his uncle. What was he doing? Two-timing Miss Simons? With Miss Grienke?

  “I’ll tell him,” Sam said.

  “I can phone him too, and let him know.” She frowned and glanced around. “Where’s Adam?”

  And more guilt. “He just left for his first class,” Sam said.

  Lisa smiled. “Good. Thanks for looking out for him.” Miss Grienke turned to Miss Simons, flashing her a quick smile. “I believe Adam has you for English as well.”

  “Yes. He does. I hope he will enjoy it.”

  Sam could see from the way Miss Simons was fiddling with the zipper pull on her purse that she was just being polite. That she wanted to leave.

  He didn’t blame her. Uncle Pete and Miss Simons had dated back in high school, broke up and were just starting up again. Or so it had seemed the past few months.

  Now it looked like Miss Grienke and his uncle were an item. This was not going to be pretty, he thought. This was like a bad reality television show. Farmer Pete stuck between English Teacher and School Secretary. Who will win?

  “I gotta go,” Sam said, poking his thumb over his shoulder and taking a few steps backward. “See you later, Miss Simons,” he said.

  Then he turned and scooted away as fast as he could. He wasn’t sticking around to see what happened next.

  As he dropped into his desk, Jake leaned across the aisle. “So what’s with this Adam dude?”

  Sam waved off his friend’s question. “Nothin’. I think he’s going to hang with Dale Kaffleck.”

  Jake nodded slowly, his hair slipping into his eyes. “Dale will be a happy camper. He’s always lookin’ for new friends.”

  His words took a load off Sam’s shoulders. He was still okay with these guys. He was still their friend.

  Chapter Nine

  In the story we just read, what did the bear want?” Charlotte asked Madison. Papers and books surrounded them on the kitchen table. Charlotte was juggling her time between Jennifer, who caught on to everything lightning-quick, and Madison, who toiled laboriously over the simplest of tasks.

  It was only Tuesday and they were already behind on Anna’s schedule.

  This morning Charlotte had had to help Bob and Pete round up some cows that had gotten out. Jennifer thought it was a riot, but Madison had stayed in the truck, watching with wide eyes.

  Consequently, Charlotte was behind on the work she was supposed to be doing with the girls.

  Madison bit her lip as she twisted her pencil around in her fingers. “Some honey? I think?”

  “Very good. Write that down.”

  “Is that a complete sentence?” Madison gave Charlotte a concerned look.

  “Write, ‘The bear wanted some honey,’” Charlotte advised.

  “Are you allowed to help her?” Jennifer asked, looking up from the letters she was writing out. “Mommy always says she has to figure out herself.”

  Madison’s lip quivered. “But it’s hard.”

  “That’s okay, honey,” Charlotte said, stroking her shoulder. “I can help you.”

  “But if Mommy knows I didn’t do it myself she will be unhappy with me.”

  “You are doing it on your own,” Charlotte assured her.

  “I won’t tell,” Jennifer piped in. She pushed her paper toward Charlotte. “I’m done with all my work. Can I go play with Lightning?”

  “Already?” Charlotte drew her attention back from Madison’s work and glanced over the papers Jennifer had finished. She was right. She was done.

  “Okay. You can go.”

  “Can I go too?” Madison asked, a hopeful look on her face.

  Charlotte looked over the “schedule” Anna had given for Madison and frowned. They were only halfway through the assignments Madison was supposed to do for today. She couldn’t believe that first grade required this much work.

  The porch door flew open and Charlotte’s gaze flicked to the clock.

  The kids were home already? Where had the time gone?

  “Okay, Madison, we’ll have to finish this up tomorrow,” Charlotte said, gathering up the papers.

  “But I’m not done yet.”

  “We’ll work extra hard on this tomorrow and get done.”

  Emily and Sam were the first ones in the door.

  “Still doing schoolwork?” Emily said, making a beeline for the cookie jar. She lifted the lid and frowned. “This is empty.”

  “Yes. I haven’t had a chance to bake today.”

  “But you always make cookies when the jar is empty.”

  “No cookies?” Sam checked the jar out for himself, as if he didn’t believe his sister.

  “No cookies,” Emily said with a sigh.

  “I’m so hungry.” Christopher heaved his knapsack on the kitchen floor and also walked to the cookie jar.

  “How was school, Emily?” Charlotte asked as she gathered up the girls’ papers.

  Emily shrugged and Charlotte could see she was still suffering from the repercussions of her fashion choices of the previous day. “It was okay. Me and Ashley hung out and I tried to stay away from Nicole. She still thinks it’s so incredibly funny that I wore her mother’s clothes. I can’t believe that girl. She makes me so mad.” Emily bit her lip, and Charlotte could see that even though she was trying, she was still upset about the whole incident.

  “I was supposed to have some work done on my assignment,” Christopher announced.

  “What do you mean?” Charlotte asked.

  “I mean, my teacher wanted everyone to have an outline of—”

  “My paper is crumpled,” Madison wailed. “I don’t want my paper crumpled.”

  Charlotte pulled her attention back from Christopher to her granddaughter. “Don’t worry, honey. That’s just an old piece of paper that we don’t need anymore. Your good copy is in your notebook,” she said, opening the book to show her.

  “Are you going to have time tonight to look at some clothes ideas?” Emily said, inspecting one of her fingernails. “I looked at Aunt Rosemary’s shop and didn’t find anything I liked.”

  “Maybe.” Charlotte thought of the empty cookie jar. And the farm books that she and Bob had been putting off for some time now.

  “Never mind then,” Emily said, flouncing off.

  “What can we do now?” Madison asked as Charlotte finished tidying up their papers. “I want to watch television.”

  “I want to play with Lightning,” Jennifer said.

  Charlotte was tired and she still had to make supper. And, truth to tell, she was tired of trying to entertain the girls all day.

  “I think that’s a great idea.” She spied Christopher hovering by the empty cookie jar as if his presence might magically conjure up some more cookies.

  “Christopher, can you please take Madison and Jennifer upstairs? Maybe you could go to the attic again?”

  Christopher opened his mouth to say something when Jennifer grabbed his hand. “C’mon. I want to play hide-and-seek.”

  “But I don’t like hide-and-seek,” Madison complained, as she followed them up the stairs.

  Charlotte leaned against the counter a moment, her head spinning. She was suffering from an abundance of blessings, she thought.

  Five grandchildren in the house was wonderful, but it was also a lot of work. Exactly a year ago it had been only her and Bob rattling around this house, each doing their own thing. They had found a comfortable rhythm.

  Now she was juggling schedules, trying to keep two teens and one boy happy, while still maintaining the work she had always done before.

  She s
houldn’t have agreed to take in the girls, Charlotte thought, as she pulled out her mixing bowl and mixer to make a quick batch of cookies. She hadn’t realized how much more work Emily, Sam, and Christopher were until she had two extra children under her roof.

  The cookies were cooling on the counter when Bob ambled into the kitchen. He snagged a couple, ignoring Charlotte’s reminder that with his diabetes he was supposed to stay away from sweets. Besides, supper was only an hour away. “Where’re all the kids?”

  “Christopher is keeping Madison and Jennifer busy in the attic, Emily is sulking in her room, and Sam is hiding from the other kids.”

  “They should be helping you,” Bob grumbled around a mouthful of cookie.

  “Actually, I’m enjoying the quiet,” she said, pulling out a pail holding the potatoes. Great. Not enough for supper.

  “Do you mind going to the root cellar and getting some more potatoes for me?” she asked.

  “Get one of the kids to do it,” Bob said, grabbing another cookie. “Don’t forget we have to work on the books tonight,” he said as he headed over to the family room.

  Charlotte took a deep breath and counted to ten. And again. Guess it was pasta for supper.

  An hour later, Charlotte had refereed a bickering match between Sam and Emily over leaving toothpaste out on the counter, using the wrong hairbrush, and stealing shampoo. While Jennifer and Madison chatted about the play they wanted to put on using the dress-up clothes, Charlotte helped Emily and Sam put leftovers away.

  “Can we look at clothes tonight?” Emily asked as she started rinsing off the plates.

  Charlotte bit back a sigh as she glanced over at Bob. “I have to help Grandpa with the books tonight.”

  Emily’s mouth was set in mutinous lines.

  “I’ll try to find time this week,” she said. “I promise.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  Charlotte knew she should correct Emily’s tone, but truth to tell, tonight, she didn’t have the energy.

  By the time she got the youngest girls settled into bed, she had even less, plus her feet hurt. Still the books waited.

  As she settled in her chair at her desk, she saw Christopher sitting at the kitchen table, staring off into space, a pencil and a piece of paper in front of him.

  She was about to ask him what he was doing when Bob pulled up a chair beside her. “So, you got the calculator handy?” Bob asked.

  “I wonder if I should help Christopher.” Charlotte asked, not answering her husband’s question.

  Bob glanced over at his grandson. “He’s a big boy. He can work by himself. Besides, we are so behind on doing the books, we might need more than one night.”

  Charlotte felt torn between seeing her grandson sitting at the table alone and the reality of keeping the farm books up to date.

  Christopher didn’t move while Charlotte and Bob balanced and argued over expenses and lost bills.

  Half an hour later, Charlotte told Christopher to get ready for bed, and by the time the entries were made and the checkbook balanced, she realized that she hadn’t gone up and tucked him in.

  She tiptoed upstairs and peeked into his room.

  From the doorway, the crack of light she let in showed him asleep on the bed, his arms flung out.

  She walked quietly in and carefully pulled his quilt over his shoulders, then smiled down at him. He snuffled, then curled up on his side.

  Charlotte touched his cheek, whispered good-night, then as she walked past his desk, took a moment to straighten up his papers.

  A few horse magazines lay scattered on his quilt.

  She felt a stab of guilt. She had promised to help him. But he had lots of time yet. Next week she would find out what he wanted to do and concentrate just on him.

  “Kids okay?” Bob asked as she settled into her chair.

  “For now, yes.”

  “Certainly have a houseful,” Bob said with a smile as he folded his hands over his ample stomach. “Kind of fun, isn’t it.”

  “Kind of,” she said.

  Then she relented. It was wonderful. Truly. And she knew she should be more thankful.

  She just wished she had a bit more of the energy she’d had when she was younger.

  Chapter Ten

  Ten minutes into class and he was bored already, and it was only the middle of the week. Sam tapped his pen on his binder as he glanced at the large clock above the door. He stifled a yawn as his history teacher droned on about Napoleon.

  Sam hadn’t cared about Napoleon at the beginning of the semester and was caring less about him with each lesson. All that happened hundreds of years ago and had nothing to do with him here and now.

  What did concern him was Jake and Paul. He was supposed to meet them after class to talk about coming over this weekend.

  Sam sat back and shot another glance at the empty desk beside him. He hadn’t seen Adam since lunchtime yesterday. Adam had been sitting with Dale, who was chattering away. Sam, still feeling guilty about pawning him off on Dale, had tried to talk Jake and Paul into sitting with Adam. They had other plans, so he drifted along with his buddies and left Adam alone.

  “… Then Napoleon made his greatest tactical error. He decided to take on Russia.”

  Sam slouched farther in his seat.

  The earsplitting clatter of the fire bell pierced the boredom.

  Sam jumped, the teacher dropped his chalk holder, a girl shrieked and someone cheered.

  “Okay, class. Gather your things and line up by the door.” The teacher slipped on his suit jacket while he spoke and dropped his notes in his briefcase. “Line up. Don’t panic and head out to the meeting place. Stay there until I can account for all of you.”

  “Can we get our coats?” one of the students called out.

  “This isn’t a drill,” their teacher said, buttoning his coat. “Head out and wait for me. Now.”

  Sam caught a note of panic in his teacher’s voice. And as they filed out into the hallway, joining the noisy exodus out of the school, he wondered how they would stay warm and how long they would have to stay outside.

  In a matter of minutes the school was emptied. Excited students milled about the front lawn, ignoring their teachers’ calling out their names as the volunteer fire department truck pulled up to the school, siren blaring.

  Two men jumped off the truck, in full fire gear, and jogged into the school.

  “How long do we have to wait?” one student called out.

  “I don’t smell smoke.”

  “Betcha it’s a false alarm.”

  Sam was starting to feel the same way.

  “Hey man, how about this?” Jake said as he and Paul joined Sam. “Bet someone pulled the alarm.”

  “Who would do that?”

  Jake shrugged. “I’ve been tempted a couple of times myself, but knew my dad would give me some kind of whuppin’ if I did.”

  “You still coming out this weekend?” Paul asked Sam, his breath a frosty plume. He didn’t look cold. He hadn’t even zipped up his hoodie.

  Sam hunched his shoulders against the cold, wondering if and when he would get acclimatized to this weather. “I’ve gotta talk to my grandparents. My car’s not running yet so I’ll have to get my Uncle Pete to give me a ride.”

  “Bummer not to have your own wheels,” Jake said, shoving his hands into his pocket. “My dad could come get you.”

  “That’d be cool.” Sam watched the teachers, now gathered in a bunch. He saw Miss Simons and Mr. Santos, the guidance counselor, talking to Principal Duncan. The principal was waving his hands in front of him, like he was saying no. Miss Simons frowned and pointed at the kids.

  “Looks like Miss Simons and Mr. Santos are campaigning to get us back in the school,” Sam said.

  “I dunno if I want to go back to the reproduction of the cell.” Paul shuddered. “Are they really allowed to teach us stuff like that without parental guidance?”

  Sam caught a movement in his peripheral vision. “S
o, who do you think pulled the alarm?” Dale Kaffleck joined them, his excited gaze flicking from Jake to Sam to Paul.

  “Some idiot,” Jake said. “I mean, if you’re going to pull the alarm anyway, at least have the fun of starting a fire.”

  “Well, whoever did it sure got everyone out of the school fast,” Dale said.

  “Everyone except him.” Jake pointed with his chin at a lone figure sauntering out of the doors of the school, his hands in the pocket of an old army jacket.

  Adam Grienke.

  “He’s not in any rush,” Jake said with a laugh.

  “Probably knows something we don’t know,” Paul put in.

  “Maybe he’s the one who set it off,” Dale said.

  “Why would he do that?” Sam asked.

  Jake shrugged. “Maybe he hates school even more than we do.”

  Dale smiled. “Were you guys scared?”

  Paul shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Me neither,” Dale said, growing animated with the sudden attention. “But some of the girls were screaming when they ran out of the classrooms. Any of the girls in your class scream?”

  Paul and Jake exchanged a look that Sam caught, but Dale obviously didn’t. He was still going on about people’s reactions. And all the while he talked, he had no clue that neither Paul nor Jake were paying him any attention.

  A man in firefighter garb joined Miss Simons, Mr. Santos, and Principal Duncan. They talked a moment, the fireman nodded his head, and then the principal was calling for their attention.

  “It appears this was simply a false alarm,” he called out above the murmuring of the students. “I don’t know why someone would do this, but we will find them and they will be duly punished. Now, everyone return in an orderly fashion to your classroom.”

  “So, did you guys go snowboarding this weekend?” Dale asked, following Paul, Jake, and Sam back into the school.

  Jake only nodded.

  “That’s cool. I like boarding.”

  But this didn’t net him a reply as together, Sam, Jake, and Paul walked back to the school, Dale trailing along behind them.

  Chapter Eleven

  It looks like this,” Emily ran her finger over the scrolling wheel of the mouse. Pages flipped by, a flurry of color and patterns making Charlotte’s head spin.