Ding, Ding, Yellow Bell.

"Mommy, where are the fruit roll ups?"

Two year old Lillie has wandered in and found me at the washing machine.

"They are up in the cupboard.  Just wait a minute and I'll get you one."

An interval of 15 seconds passes as she steps around the laundry basket.

"Mommy, where are the fruit roll-ups?"  she repeats.

"I just told you, they are up in the cupboard. 

When I finish this laundry, I'll get you one."

I hope that the firmness in my voice will thwart her determination,

but there is no such thing.

"Mommy," she asks again, after a time slot of about the same endurance as before.

"Where are the fruit roll-ups?"

Realizing my predicament,

 I answer,

"I don't know."

The silence that follows, coupled with her intense looking at my face,

the lack of movement,

the blinking eyes,

brace me for the unpredictable.

Finally,

"Mommy,"

"What Lillie?"

"Mommy, don't 'don't know.' "

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ding, ding, ding.

I had discarded the little yellow bell.

having never used it.

Lillie had seen it on its way to the Good Will box

and had rescued it.

"Can I have the bell, Mommy?" 

she brought it to me as I was preparing to head out the back door to the clothesline.

Having said "No," to a dozen other things already,

I half-heartedly agreed.

I hear it:

out the front door,

down the porch steps,

across the yard,

up the driveway,...

 

then it stops.

I peek around from the clothesline and see them up by the empty calf pens.

Levi is in one of the stalls,

and Lillie is picking up grass from the freshly mowed lawn

to put into the bucket to feed the "cow."

Ding, ding, ding.

I hear it again, this time heading for the swing set.

I hear laughter.

Ding, ding, ding.

Now it's coming up beside the far side of the house.

I see them, over the towel I just hung on the line.

"What are you doing?"

I ask.

"I am chasing Tiger.  She is scared of the bell,"

Levi's eyes gleam with devilish delight as Lillie trudges up the hill behind him.

 

"Don't chase Tiger, Lebi.  I love Tiger.

She's my friend."

"Okay, let's go then."

He gives in,

 just as he always seems to do.

Ding, ding, ding.

I hear them heading down to the blueberry bushes,

hear Levi telling her that the lace curtains draped on the bushes

are so the birds won't eat the blueberries,

almost word for word what I had told him the night before when I had

dressed the bushes in their ghostly attire and he'd been intrigued by them.

Ding, ding, ding.

The bell wanders up the orchard path, closer to the big pond,

so I call them back.

"Levi, Lillie,

Time to go inside.  It's starting to get dark.

You can have a fruit roll up now."

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He enters the kitchen and asks what I am doing with the green lemons.

 I laugh.

"These aren't green lemons.

Do you know what they are, Violet?"

 After thinking a few seconds,

her face beams:

"Oh, I know!

They are limons."

Limonade Recipe:

10 juiced limes (to make 2 cups, or thereabouts)

Gallon Jar

2 cups of sugar (or to taste)

water (2 cups of hot water in which to dissolve the sugar).

Mix up together.

Drink on a thirsty evening.

TIP:

Avoid drinking after eating a fruit roll up.

Linking up to:

Jennymatlock: Alphabe-Thursday-letter-D

Nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

Gnowfglins.com
Fishtailcottage 

Funkyjunkinteriors

Please come back next Wednesday to link up to my new link party:

The theme this week is: Garden or Park Tour,

if you'd like.