The Frontier Family

By Marie and Julie.

Boom, crash!! Thunder, wind, lighting , and torrents of rain filled the sky. All the children rushed inside, they were so scared. These children lived on the frontier with their parents and grandma. The children's names were John, Shayla, Peter, and Nicola. The rain continued long into the night, making sleep useless, (except for Nicola). The next morning John and Shayla ran outside to see what damage had been done. The were shocked when they stepped out of the small, shabby, yet clean log cabin. Branches were everywhere, the chicken coop had a large hole in it, and the barn door was torn off. The garden was completely ruined except for the underground vegetables. John went to the barn and Shayla and Mother who had joined them went to the chicken coop. The corrals with the cows and horses were fine! Father and John fixed the barn door while the others made breakfast. The chicken were gone, so no more eggs until they had enough money to buy more chickens. Father decided that John should work at the General Store in exchange for vegetables and eggs. John would also earn 10 cents a week. So after breakfast John started down the muddy, long, tiring, road to the General Store.

Chapter Two.

John spent most of the day working at Pete's General Store. Peter helped his father a lot more now that John was gone. Shayla would help her mama and grandma cook, clean, and watch Nicola. At five o'clock when John came home, Shayla rushed up to him. "John!" she said out of breath. "Tomorrow, we are going cherry picking at Mary's, can you come?" "I don't think so, I have to work and I don't think Mr. Peter would let me take tomorrow off, he said he's getting a big load of supplies for the store." John said. "Well, I'll pick plenty of cherries to make you a cherry pie." Shayla said. John went inside, exhausted by the day's work.The next day Shayla, Mary, Mary's mama, Shayla's mama and Grandma went to pick cherries. John woke up early and went to town to unload another delivery. They picked enough to last them all winter for cherry pies, cobblers, and just plain cherries. Shayla knew how much John and Peter liked cherries, so she packed her pockets full with cherries for them. That night they had fresh cherry pie made by grandma.

Chapter Three.

The next day after lunch the family had school lessons until 2:00, then John then went back to work and the girls canned cherries. While the girls canned cherries, they sang songs and made funny faces. The family went swimming. Nicola did not swim though. Grandma watched her. Nicola was two. At the pond they had a picnic. In the state of Mississippi, it was hot, hot, hot! They had so much fun at the pond, Peter found two turtles!!! The named the turtles Tip, and Tuck. They had sandwiches and cherry cobbler. They also had carrots and turnips. Nicola wondered off near the woods. All the sudden Shayla screamed! There right in front of Nicola was a huge rattlesnake!

Chapter Four.

The light brown rattlesnake was in the S position, ready to strike little Nicola. John rushed to see what Shayla was screaming about when he saw the poiseness snake before Nicola. "Run Shayla!" He whispered. Shayla wouldn't move, she was staring at Nicola. John grabbed Nicola and carried her to safety. Shayla ran after John to where her parents were. Father got his ax and killed the poisones rattlesnake. After that, the family packed up and went home which took them about ten minutes. Peter brought home one turtle, the one he named Tuck, he was going to let it free the next day. For supper Grandma cooked hasty pudding with maple syrup, a favorite by all of the children! Since it was a Friday night, the children were allowed to stay up half and hour later, except Nicola, who didn't care anyway. Father read from the newspaper while Mother and Shayla knitted. John whittled with his knife and Peter worked on his whip for training his calves. He would never hit Penny or Pet with the whip, he'd just crack it to get them going. All the children went to bed and slept soundly.

Chapter Five.

Early the next morning John woke up remembering that it was his birthday! John was thirteen! For a celebration they had pancakes and maple syrup. John also got a fishing poll and a new knife to whittle with. John did not go to work that day, instead he went fishing. For lunch they had a mess of trout. John carved Shayla and Nicola dolls, and Peter a whistle. That night Shayla gave John a scarf she had knitted. Peter and John went to the barn to feed the animals and when they opened the door, they heard a faint meowing. John silently climbed up to the hayloft and looked around. On a pile of clothes and hay lay seven kittens! Peter ran inside to tell the others. They named the kittens, Lucy, Tom, Tootsie, Storm, Sarah, Hope, and and Tiger. Quietly they left the loft and then went to bed.

Chapter Six.

The next day Mr. Peter let John off work early since he was working so hard. John ran home so fast that he almost dropped his wages. "Father? May I go fishing with my new pole?" John asked when he got home. "After you do your evening chores around the house, you mother's not feeling well." Father answered. John fed the chickens and gave them fresh water, cleaned out the horses stalls and milked the cow, Buttercup. Half an hour later he was walking down the road to the pond with little Nicola tagging along. He didn't really want to bring Nicola but he didn't really have a choice, with Mother in bed, Shayla cooking supper, and Peter doing everyone's chores, John was left with the task of watching Nicola. "I see fish!" Nicola said excitedly. "Shh Nicola, you see, you just be really quiet and when you see one trying to get the bait just tell me." John whispered to Nicola. Soon he had caught two fat trout, enough for the whole family's supper tomorrow! He put Nicola on his shoulders and went down the dirt road towards home. Mother wasn't feeling well for the next few days, and Father needed to go to another farm ten miles away to breed Buttercup. It was now up to the children to cook, clean, and watch Nicola for their Mother while Father was gone.

Chapter Seven.

Early the next morning the children's father set out for the farm, he would be leaving the cow at the farm for a week, but he would come back the next day. As soon as John said good bye to his father he went to the barn and did his chores. Shayla made breakfast while Nicola and Peter slept. Soon Peter and Nicola were awoke and then they ate the oatmeal that Shayla made and did chores and school. John and Shayla were worried about their Mother, she was getting sicker as the day went on. That afternoon John went to Dr. Minses house to see if he could come look at Mother. Dr. Minses came and looked at Mother and said that she had appendicitis, and that she needed to go to the hospital.

Chapter Eight.

The doctor came by early the next morning to pick up mother. Shayla was cooking a big lunch for when father came home and John and Peter were watching Nicola and doing all the chores at the same time. Soon father came home. All the children rushed to meet him. They were so excited that her was home!! When he got inside he asked where was mother? "You said she wasn't feeling well, and she just got sicker and sicker so the Doctor came by and said she needed to have her appendix taken out," John said. Father ate a bite then rushed to the hospital to see mother. Hours passed and John, Shayla, Peter, and Nicola were getting restless. After what seemed like forever, father came home-with mother!!! He gave them the happy news that mother's surgery had gone well, and that she was going to have a baby! All the children nearly screamed with excitement! They were one happy family! THE END