KALICO: 1 Hypnotized, Naked in Hope Springs, Texas

Kalico: Granny Cooked Supper

Kalico: Tuesday Evening, Johnson farmhouse

Wallflower and I reached the front gate of Johnson Farm and I invited her inside.

"Maybe next time," she declined. "It's late and I'd better get on home." She lives another mile down Johnson Road. That means she's three miles from school, the approximate legal limit back in the olden days when people had to walk or ride horses to school.

The olden days were a long time ago, obviously, but in the Hope Springs area you can still find relics of the infrastructure of the olden days. Such as, Johnson Road with its wooden culverts, which apparently began as a horse-and-wagon path.

In that part of the olden days, also known as late 19th century, the one-room school houses in West Texas were built about five miles apart, so no student would be required to walk or ride a horse more than three miles each way. I wonder if the ruins of an old school building might be down at the end of that road somewhere.

We hugged and said "bye" and Wallflower continued on her way with her bag full of volleyball uniforms. She called hers "Lucky 13" for the team uniform number she selected. Our bags contained complete uniforms, shorts and tops, in three distinct colors as well as the extra uniform piece, the see-through gauzy skirt.

Additional uniform accessories loading down our bags included tee shirts and new Glory Butt shorts for practice, and a set of snap-apart windbreaker style sweats for cold weather.

I felt bad about Wallflower having to walk another mile beyond our house, but she wasn't worried about it.

We promised to meet at the Johnson Farm front gate at 6 a.m.

Mom's car was parked near the house, so I knew she and Madison had arrived ahead of us.

"Did you have a good day?" Mom's voice called as I entered the house.

"Oh, fine, Mom. Just Peachy," I tried to put just a thin slice of sarcasm in my voice while ostensibly sounding respectful and cheerful. I don't think Mom noticed.

"No! I'm Peachy, you're Kalico, remember?" Madison piped in, apparently in full Kid Sister Mode.

I tossed a smile to Madison so she would know I wasn't ignoring her completely, then turned to Mom, and did my best to ignore my little sister completely.

"Did you ever come home from your meeting last night, Mom? I needed to talk with you but you were out late."

"Yes, it was rather late," Mom agreed. "We're both here now, can we talk about it at supper? Dinner's ready."

"Maybe it can wait, I don't want to spoil supper with a big row, and make everyone feel bad. You and me need to talk privately afterward, okay?"

"A row? Oh my, it sounds serious. Okay, but I have another meeting tonight, so we'll have to talk fast," Mom said.

Oh, great! She'll be late again. I wondered if she has a secret boyfriend.

Supper involved just the four of us: Mom and Madison and me, along with Granny Johnson. While we had been in town all day, Granny had stayed home alone, and supper was waiting when everyone came home. We had chicken, glazed carrots and a casserole of potatoes onions and cheese.

I felt a little nervous about eating chicken, but as long as it didn't answer to Penny, Lucky or Henrietta, it should be all right.

A tinge of guilt struck me. Granny is hundreds of years older than anyone else in Hope Springs, Texas, or around 85 to 90, depending on which calendar you are using. She should not be doing a lot of housework or cooking.