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Obedience Pays
 The young twins loved to stay with Grandma and Grandpa,
but today it was raining. Even Grandma's was no fun on a rainy day. Tina and
Terri had exhausted their imaginations. Grandma didn't have a TV and the puzzle
was missing a piece. Who wants to put together a puzzle with a missing piece?
Terri decided they should go to the vegetable garden and collect duck eggs. Both
enjoyed that delightful chore. The garden had a fence around it to keep out
animals, but Grandpa kept some ducks inside to eat the weeds that threatened his
vegetables. It amazed the girls that they wouldn't touch anything, but the
weeds. How do ducks know the difference? The girls made a decision. They would
gather the eggs.
"Can we? Can we, please?" Tina chimed in.
But Grandma remained firm, "This rain has made the
garden mushy. You could get stuck in that black gunk. Why don't we fix cookies
instead?"
"But we want to collect duck eggs. I'll put on my
raincoat and boots. I won't get stuck. I promise." Terri insisted.
"You can't promise something like that. You just
don't understand how soft that ground can be after a rain like this. Either help
me bake cookies or go read a book."
Both girls shuffled their feet all the way to the bedroom
where Terri stomped her small determined foot. "I don't understand why
Grandma has to be so mean. I want to get the duck eggs and that's what I'm gonna
do."
"You better not, Grandma will be mad at you."
"Well, I don't care. If she wasn't so mean, she
would let us go. Come on!"
"Oh, no. I don't want her mad at me. You go. I'm
not."
"Promise not to tell."
Tina nodded her head up and down and picked up a book.
She lay on the bed and petted her kitty. The sound of the rain and the cozy
quilt made her so comfortable, she soon drifted off to sleep. Her granny woke
her with a call to come eat cookies.
She poured herself a glass of cold milk and scooted up to
the table where Grandma had put a warm stack of her famous M & M cookies.
Nobody could bake cookies like Grandma. She timed them and turned the pan and
timed them again. Mama always said no wonder they were so good with all the
trouble they were to fix. Mama saved the cookie baking for Grandma.
Tina finished her second cookie and was wiping the white
mustache from her mouth when Grandma asked if Tina was pouting in her room.
"Oh no, she's not pouting. She's gathering duck
eggs." It came out before she realized what she had said.
"What?" was all Grandma replied. She grabbed
her raincoat and put it on as she hurried out the door. Outside the door,
Grandma heard sobs coming from the garden. "I'm coming honey. I'm
coming," Grandma yelled.
"Oh, Grandma, where have you been? I've been calling
and calling. Didn't you hear me? Why didn't you come? I'm stuck, just like you
said I would be."
Grandma helped Terri get unstuck and carried her inside
the house straight to the bathroom. As Grandma hurried Terri through the house,
Terri caught a glimpse of Tina at the table eating cookies.
Still crying and sniffing Terri asked, "Where did
she get those cookies, Grandma. I smell cookies. Did you bake cookies without
me?"
"Terri, I asked you to bake cookies with me, but you
went to your room pouting."
"You mean to tell me that Tina was eating cookies
and I was stuck in the mud out in the pouring down rain."
"You made that choice, Terri. Now hurry. Get a bath
and get into some warm clothes.
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