Read Kelly's Chance for Free Online Page B

early.”
    Reverend Nelson held up his hand. “No need for that, son. We’ll have a late supper. How’s seven o’clock sound?”
    “Well, I—”
    “I won’t take no for an answer, so you may as well say you’ll come. Betsy would be impossible to live with if I came home and told her you’d turned down my invitation.”
    Mike didn’t want to hurt Betsy’s feelings, and the thought of eating someone else’s cooking did have some appeal. “Okay,” he finally conceded. “Tell Betsy I’ll be there.”

     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 6
    ***
    Kelly hummed to herself as she kicked the stones beneath her feet. They had made it to Easton by six o’clock last night, and after they dropped off their load of coal and ate supper, she’d had a few hours to spend in her room, working on her drawings.
    Now they were heading back to Mauch Chunk for another load. By five or six o’clock they should be passing Mike Cooper’s store. Kelly hoped she could talk Papa into stopping, for she had three more drawings she wanted to give Mike. One was of a canal boat going through the locks, another of an elderly boatman standing at the bow of his boat playing a fiddle, and the third was of the skyline of Easton, with its many tall buildings.
    Kelly was pretty sure her pictures were well done, although she knew they could have been better if they’d been drawn on better paper, in color instead of black and white.
    She stopped humming. Someday I hope to have enough money to buy all kinds of paints and fancy paper. Even as the words popped into her mind, Kelly wondered if they could ever come true. Unless Papa changed his mind about paying her wages, she might never earn any money of her own. Maybe her dream of owning an art gallery wasn’t possible.
    “At least I can keep on drawing,” she mumbled. “Nobody can take that away from me.”
    Kelly’s stomach rumbled, reminding her it was almost noon. Since they had no load, they would be stopping to eat soon. If Papa was hurrying to get to Easton with a boatload of coal, Kelly might be forced to eat a hunk of bread or some fruit and keep on walking. Today, Mama was fixing a pot of vegetable and bean soup. Kelly could smell the delicious aroma as it wafted across the space between the boat and towpath.
    A short while later, Kelly was on board the boat, sitting at the small wooden table. A bowl of steaming soup had been placed in front of her, a chunk of rye bread to her left, and her drawing pad was on the right. She’d decided to sketch a bit while her soup cooled.
    Kelly had just picked up her piece of charcoal to begin drawing when Papa sat down across from her. “You ain’t got time to dawdle. Get your lunch eaten and go tend to the mules.”
    Tears stung Kelly’s eyes. She should be used to the way her dad shot orders, but his harsh tone and angry scowl always upset her.
    “My soup’s too hot to eat yet,” she said. “I thought I might get some drawin’ done while I wait for it to cool.”
    Papa snorted. “Humph! Fiddlin’ with a dirty stick of charcoal is a waste of time!” He grabbed the loaf of bread from the wooden bowl in the center of the table and tore off a piece. Then he dipped the bread into his bowl of soup and popped it into his mouth.
    Kelly wasn’t sure how she should respond to his grumbling, so she leaned over and blew on her soup instead of saying anything.
    Mama, who was dishing up her own bowl of soup at the stove, spoke up. “I don’t see what harm there’d be in the girl drawin’ while her soup cools, Amos.”
    Papa slammed his fist down on the table so hard Kelly’s piece of bread flew up and landed on the floor. “If I want your opinion, Dorrie, I’ll ask for it!”
    Kelly gulped. She hated it when Papa yelled at Mama. It wasn’t right, but she didn’t know what she could do about it. Only God could change Papa’s heart, and she was growing weary of praying for such.
    “Well, what are ya sittin’ there lollygaggin’ for?”