They saw the bright blue sky turning back into a normal blue sky. They saw the blueberry bushes shrink before their eyes and the blueberries that had been as big as doorknobs, shrink into normal blueberries. The orange trees just plain disappeared and the wisteria shrunk down to vine size. The cherry trees were still there, but with no blooms and very few cherries. The flowers died and disappeared before their eyes. But the most interesting and heartbreaking was a small voice that said, “Good-bye, Lulubelle! I will miss you. We have to go away before more humans come. I hope to see you again someday, MY FRIEND!”
Lulubelle’s ma turned to her and said, “Did you hear that? We just saw the real fairyland! Why this is what all girls dream of! Thank you for sharing it with me Lulubelle! Her voice sounded just like bells softly chimin! I’ll never forget this day as long as I live!”
Lulubelle was sad to lose her special place and her special friend, but wuz happy she and her ma could share it The End.”
“What do you think, pa? Did you like my story?” Hattie asked.
“That was right nice, Hattie May!” He said as he looked down at her. “Well, we are at the berry patch. Let me walk around it and make sure that ol bear from the other patch ain’t here. Then you girls can get started pickin and I will go make notes on the still site.” Earl walked around the berry patch and couldn't resist popping a few mouthfuls of blackberries into his mouth, as he did. He came back to the girls and said, “All clear! You can git started and I’ll be back directly.”
As he walked off into the woods, Karen said, “Hattie May, that was my favorite story ever! I can see it now, you are going to grow up to be the holler’s storyteller! I’m goin to fill up my pail first!” and she ran to get started!
Hattie May raced to beat her sister. “Hey, it’s no fair. My bush has just a lot of unripe berries. Why can’t we pick them?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Karen said, “Hattie May, you know as well as I do that those unripe berries make a sour pie. Besides, next time we get up here, those unripe berries will be ripe if’n you leave them to get finished.”
“Ok, oh, looky at this bush! I think I done died and gone to Heaven,” Hattie May said in that cute little girl voice she had. “This has the biggest, fattest blackberries I ever did see! Oh, my pail is going to be filled up first, Karen! You’ll see.”
At this point, Timmy had just cut his tenth log and was dragging it to the buildin site. Doin this hard work was goin to make his muscles big. His sweetheart at church would notice on Sunday, fer shore.
Earl had come up on the still site and was figurin where he would put the pipes, one to bring water to the still fer coolin and the other to run water down to the buildin site. Then, he looked around for the best place to put the barrel for the fire and looked around fer some good ol creek mud to seal the whole thing up with. He figured he had a pretty good idee of how things would work on this end. As he started back down through the woods to the girls, he pondered on how he would get customers without botherin nobody who wuz already in the business.
When Earl got back to the girls, he found 3 full pails already in the car and the girls had taken an old shirt and tied it up at the waist and buttoned it up and were filling it up with more black berries. “Oh you girls are pretty smart there! It looks like you are making the top half of an ol scarecrow! But I bet it tastes a whole lot better! Let me try it!” With that Earl reached for the blackberry filled shirt.
The girls screamed and ran a ways away. Their pa laughed and went over to check on Timmy. “Boy, I don’t know how in the world you made that much progress! Why you are near finished with them big logs!” Earl exclaimed.
Timmy, his chest swelling with pride with his dad’s encouraging words, finished pilin another log on the huge pile. “How much more time do we have today,pa?” Timmy asked.
“Well son, I think we better be getting back before yore ma. She’s not goin to be takin too kindly to me traipsin up here to work on the still. If’n we’re back at the house, things will go a mite easier, I’m thinkin.” Earl said.
Timmy said, “I’ve got one more log cut, pa. I’d kinda like to move it over here too. Is that ok?”
“Shore son, the girls and I’ll get loaded up and be ready to go when you get back.” Earl replied.