Thimble Summer
“The Lime Kiln GARNET yawned and slapped the lid on the last ham sandwich and put it with the others in a damp towel. She closed her mouth abruptly, remembering that this was no time to be yawning if she was going to stay up all night. She looked out of the window; already the swallows were high in the sky, always a sign of late afternoon; and she saw Jay in the pasture, carrying milk buckets.
Garnet stretched her arms above her head; up and up till all her muscles felt like pulled elastic. Then... she took down the coffeepot; the big agate one with the chipped lid. It took plenty of coffee to keep her father awake on kiln nights.
At last the lime kiln was being fired; for three days and three nights it had burned steadily to make the lime needed in building a fine new barn — lime for cement, for plaster and for whitewash. The kiln was two miles away in a thick wood; it was a big cone-shaped oven, backed against a hill. Two of the Hausers’ oldest boys stayed there all day pushing logs into the blazing fire, and in the evening — Garnet’s father and Mr.MoreLess
Garnet stretched her arms above her head; up and up till all her muscles felt like pulled elastic. Then... she took down the coffeepot; the big agate one with the chipped lid. It took plenty of coffee to keep her father awake on kiln nights.
At last the lime kiln was being fired; for three days and three nights it had burned steadily to make the lime needed in building a fine new barn — lime for cement, for plaster and for whitewash. The kiln was two miles away in a thick wood; it was a big cone-shaped oven, backed against a hill. Two of the Hausers’ oldest boys stayed there all day pushing logs into the blazing fire, and in the evening — Garnet’s father and Mr.MoreLess
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