Read What the Moon Said for Free Online

almost as if she really had turned into a pioneer girl. She was glad to climb into her same old bed with Violet just like always. And she was very glad to have Margaret to hug to her cheek when she closed her eyes.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    The next morning, as she sat down to breakfast, Violet grumbled, “My shoes are too small. I’ll get blisters walking all the way to town.”
    â€œPa said it’s not far,” Esther said quickly. Violet glared at her, but Esther didn’t care. She was eager to see town, especially the school. She didn’t want Violet’s possible blisters to delay the trip.
    â€œWe will not walk,” Ma said. “We will take the buggy.”
    Esther was so excited by this unexpected announcement that she dropped her bread, jam-side down, on the floor. Ma shook her head at such clumsiness, and Esther’s cheeks burned. But she’d never ridden in a buggy before! She threw the bread in the pail of food scraps that would go to the pigs. Then she wiped up the floor with a damp rag from under the sink. By the time she came back to the table, Ma had another slice of bread and jam waiting for her. Esther ate as fast as she could, impatient for the promised buggy ride.
    â€œChange into your best dresses,” Ma instructed Esther and Violet. She was already wearing her best dress—the lilac one with white flowers. She smelled faintly of lilacs, too. That meant she was wearing the dusting powder Julia had given her for Christmas. She used it only on special occasions.
    â€œMmmm. You smell good,” Esther said. She watched Ma and hoped for a smile.
    But Ma was fixing Walter’s bow tie and didn’t look up. “If you are finished eating, hurry and get ready,” she said.
    Esther bit her lip, but she supposed she mustn’t expect Ma to change overnight. There was the buggy ride to enjoy, though.
    She dashed upstairs. “Imagine riding a buggy to church!” she said. Even Violet admitted it would be fun. But Esther corrected her. “It will be an
adventure
—
a
buggy ride to a new church in a new town. Wait until I tell Julia!”
    Pa came in the kitchen door just as the girls came running downstairs. They were wearing their best dresses and had matching ribbons in their hair. Pa grinned and made a deep bow.
“Guten Morgen, frauleins,”
he said. In German that meant “good morning, young ladies,” so Pa was saying they looked grown up. Esther stood extra tall and grinned.
    Then Pa told Ma, “The buggy is waiting.” He offered her his arm.
    Ma looked at him for a long moment and Esther held her breath. Was Ma still angry? Was she going to go on and on being angry the whole time they lived on the farm? But then Ma took Pa’s arm and gave him a small smile. “We are ready,” she said. Esther breathed again. It was all right.
    Walter squealed and darted out the door. Esther wanted to race after him. But she knew she would only earn a scolding if she did. She was older and a girl. She had to act ladylike and follow Ma and Pa with Violet. She had to wait, wait, wait for everyone else to climb into the buggy before it was her turn. But finally she was sitting in the back next to Violet. They didn’t even have to share the wide seat with Walter. Ma kept him up front, afraid he’d tumble out in his excitement.
    Esther thought the buggy was more splendid than Shirley’s Studebaker. So what if there were some tiny holes in the black leather seats? They were covered up as soon as people sat down. The main thing was it was theirs, really, truly theirs—the buggy, the horses, the land, even the shabby little house.
    Unexpected pride swelled Esther’s thin chest. The feeling grew and grew. If she hadn’t been in the buggy, she would have let out a whoop or turned a cartwheel. Instead, she swung her legs back and forth with all her might.
    The town of Johannsen’s Corners was a little