Chapter 8: Friends and
Fall
Sarah and Beth-Ann had met a
few times after the 4H presentation. Sarah found out that the red-head was a
bit of an oddball herself. She was exceptionally outspoken and was part of
debate club at school. She also spent a great deal of time practicing her
violin. She was a bit of a prodigy with the violin and had traveled around the
country for competitions. She and Sarah got along really well, and they had in
common that they loved to read and to cook. Beth-Ann was very opinionated but
Sarah really liked her wit and sense of humor. Of course, Beth-Ann went to
school and then frequently had homework and practice after that, so they didn’t
see each other that often, but when they did they really enjoyed each others’
company.
Beth-Ann lived in town and
had one younger brother. Her parent’s didn’t seem to mind the new friendship,
and the moms got to know each other at 4H meetings, at least in a semi-friendly
way. One day, Beth-Ann came home with the family and the two girls had a lot of
fun in the kitchen making cookies and talking about the various people in town
their age. Beth-Ann was an encyclopedia of all the current and past gossip, and
Sarah was fascinated with the world she seemed to live in.
At first Sarah felt a little
left out, but as Beth-Ann continued to explain all of the fights and drama that
went on, she changed her mind and decided she was probably lucky not to be part
of all of that. She did wonder if
she would ever meet a guy she liked. She didn’t get to be around kids her own
age too terribly much these days, and boys even less so. So far she had seen some guys
that were kinda cute, but most of them seemed rather dorky in her opinion.
Unbeknownst to the older
girls, Ellie had been ease-dropping from the other room. She was just as
fascinated with Beth-Ann’s talk about who “liked” whom and who was fighting
with whom, though if her sister had found her there, she would have denied it
completely.
None of the Katz's had ever gone to school and it was hard
for Ellie to imagine this world that Beth-Ann lived in. There were times that
they had wondered if they were missing out, but Ellie always thought that it
was terrible that most kids had to be away from their families all day, that
they had to get permission to use the bathroom, and had to get up at six or
seven in the morning most days to stay inside most of the day doing schoolwork.
None of that seemed very fun to her and most of the time she’d had plenty of
friends and didn’t feel any need to leave those friends for an unknown place
that put a lot of rules on you. She could learn everything she needed AND have
all of her friends and free time as a homeschooler.
It was, admittedly, a little
harder this year. She had had to leave her friends in Raleigh, especially her
best friend, Jenna. She did feel a little lonely, so this talk about what went
on at the Middle School was somewhat intriguing She felt a little bit naughty
for listening in. It seemed like it was stuff she probably shouldn’t hear, but
was her sister really the same age as Beth-Ann? Ellie couldn’t ever imagine her
sister being so mean and preoccupied with boys as some of those kids seemed.
Sarah was usually wrapped up in a story or some cooking or helping out around
the house.
Beth-Ann soon returned to town, however, and the thoughts of the girls turned to other things. The leaves all finally fell
off the trees and everything but the pines turned brown or grey. It rarely ever
snowed in that part of North Carolina, but it did get a bit colder. The bright
red male cardinals were easy to spot now. They were like flying splashes
of color on a mostly monochrome landscape. The hens stayed closer to the coop
in the cold and the garden was cleared after the first frost and planted with
bulbs for the Spring. There was schoolwork to be done, and Thanksgiving was on the way.
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