After an interminable silence the soldier's laughter filled the night.
"Wal, I'll be a billy goat's whiskers if ye 'ain't got a nanny and her
kid! How's the missus going to like that?"
"I figger she's going to feel mighty close to 'em," Grandpa chuckled.
"Why? How's that?"
Suddenly Grandpa panicked. The sweat came cold on his forehead. He cut
off the dashlight so his face would be in the dark. He couldn't speak.
Paul came to the rescue. "We bought them for Misty's colt," he
explained. "Sup-pli-ament-ary feeding, you know."
The guard snapped off his light and tweaked Paul's ear. "Ye got a
bright boy here, Mr. Beebe. G'night, folks. Ye can move on now."
* * * * *
Home was clammy cold, and it had a stench of fish, and the bedroom rug
with the roses was wet as a sponge. But it was Home! And Wait-a-Minute
was there with a wild welcome, turning somersaults, then flying round
and round like a whirling dervish.
"This floor is like walkin' on mucilage," Grandma said, "but no matter
how messy, there's jes' no place like Pony Ranch."
Maureen sighed in agreement. Then she added soberly, "Even without the
ponies."
"You forget," Paul corrected, "we still have Watch Eyes and Billy
Blaze, and the mares in the hay house."
"And," Grandpa added with a crooked smile, "Wings' herd up to Tom's
Place ... and with Misty expectin' ... and two goats and five cats, we
got the beginnin's again."
"Grandma!" Maureen cried. "What's happened to the back of your dress?"
Grandma swished her skirt around. Her eyes widened. The whole back from
the waist down was gone. "Why, whatever in the world!" she gasped.