EASTER EGGS FOR BETTY ANN

“It’s such a pretty day. Why don’t you walk down the lane to see Betty Ann,” Mother suggested.

“I don't want to,” Jenny said.

It was no fun to visit Betty Ann. She was a little older than Jenny, but wasn’t as large as most
three-year-old children. When she exerted herself, or became the least bit excited, her cheeks and lips would turn a dark purplish blue. The unfortunate little girl was born with a very weak heart and several other deformities; she was tongue tied, had a cleft palate, and was pigeon-toed and bow-legged, but her mind was good. Jenny knew that Betty Ann wasn’t really dumb. It made her feel sad to see Betty Ann struggling to express herself. Only her mother could understand what she was saying. A slightly younger child, Twila, had died last summer from “summer complaint,” they thought. She too had a bad heart and wasn’t strong.
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“You can go all by yourself,” Mother said. “Won’t you feel big?”

Jenny had never gone visiting all alone before. The prospect of doing anything that would make
her feel bigger or older was inviting.

Jenny said, “I guess I will go.”

“Want to take her some Easter eggs?” Mother asked. Mother had taken hen’s eggs and washed
them and would make a hole in each end of the egg and then blow out the yolk and white of each egg into a bowl to use for scrambled eggs and cooking. Margaret and Jenny carefully painted the fragile shells in bright colors for Easter. Mother put some of the eggs in a brown paper sack, first wrapping each in newspaper. She said Jenny could roll her long stockings down as it was such a warm day.
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“You can stay till four o’clock,” Mother told her.

Jenny started off with the sack of Easter eggs. The air felt good on her bare legs. She turned and waved good-bye to Mother, who stood on the west porch watching her. She walked along the lane,feeling very grown-up. She got her shoes filled with dirt and had to stop and dump them out. It seemed a long way to the little gray house at the end of the lane. There were two big white geese strutting about in the yard, their heads bobbing up and down at the end of their long snake- like necks. Jenny looked at them apprehensively, and for a moment, didn’t feel so grown up. She didn’t want to turn around and go back home though, so she went up the steps of the porch and knocked at the door. Beulah opened the door. She was an enormously fat jolly woman with red hair and a cheerful demeanor.

“Why Jennifer Jane,” she said loudly, “did you come all by yourself?”

“Yes,” Jenny answered, and handed her the brown paper sack. “Here’s some Easter eggs for
Betty Ann. I have to go home at four o’clock.

They went inside. Their house always had a bad smell. Jenny liked it better outside. As usual,
Betty Ann was sitting in her high chair. When she saw Jenny, she smiled and her face lit up. She tried to talk, but got all out of breath. Jenny stood by her high chair for a while.

“Jennifer Jane brought you some Easter eggs, “ Beulah said to Betty Ann, as she took the eggs
out of the sack and unwrapped each one and placed them all on a white plate. “Isn’t that nice. See how pretty they are.?

“Betty Ann broke all her Easter eggs” she explained to Jenny. “Did the Easter rabbit bring
these to you?”

“Yes,” said Jenny. She thought it would be better not to tell that these were just hen’s eggs that she and Margaret had painted.

First Jenny would sit on a chair for a while, then she would walk around in the room. Beulah kept talking to her, asking her such questions as “What’s your mother doing today? How does Margaret like her teacher? Did your dad go to the sale yesterday? Have your folks planted your garden yet? Are your hens laying good?” Jenny answered each question briefly and politely.

Every so often Jenny would ask, “What time is it?”

“Gettin’ anxious to go home?” Beulah kidded.

“Oh no,” Jenny said. “I just wondered.”

Beulah gave Jenny and Betty Ann each a piece of bread and jelly. Jenny even ate the crusts because she didn’t know what else to do with them. The minutes crawled by.

“It’s about four o’clock,” Beulah said at last.

“Then I must be going,” Jenny said with dignity. “I uh-had a good time.”

“You come back again, “ Beulah said warmly, and Jenny thought she heard Betty Ann say, “You
come back again,” also.

The air outside was sweet and fresh. Jenny was glad to see the familiar white house and the red
barn as she started back down the lane toward home. The shadows were a little longer now. The house and barn looked different from this direction. She had really never looked at them from the west. They looked very nice, but almost like someone else’s place. She wondered what Mother was doing now. It would seem good to be home again.