ID 179083511 | Black © Christopher Bies | Dreamstime.com
“Ollie wait up.”
Olver turn to see little Hattie racing toward him, a strapped bag thrown over her shoulder. Her bare feet splashed in the muddy road running through the center of town. Did the girl run all the way from her family’s farm? “Hey, Hattie. Good to see you back.”
She panted beside him, taking three steps for each of his two. “Glad to be back.”
“Where are your brothers?”
“Oh, you know. It’s spring.” Neither John nor William cared much for schooling once they learned their letters and numbers. They were very reluctant students at best, unlike Hattie, and any reason to escape the four wooden walls of the schoolhouse was grabbed with both hands, even if it was the back-breaking work in the fields for spring planting.
Oliver glanced down at the bright eyes of his companion, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “I take it the chickens are laying again.”
“Yes, finally. I raised those pullets by hand after that dang-nab low-belly snake got into the coop. Sorry for the language.” She smiled up with her accomplishment. “Now we got enough eggs to sell and get the coppers for me to pay for lessons. By the way, thanks so much for letting me borrow your readers during the winter. I think I kept up good.”
“Don’t mind none. Bertha ain’t into school any more than your two brothers so the parents decided to save coin there, and Albert is behind you.”
Hattie glanced up at him, seriousness crinkling the corners of her eyes, before dropping her gaze at the muddy track. “Do you think it is fair that girls have to pay for schooling but boys don’t?”
“Well, we pay in labor. Each of us guys take a turn at the teacher’s garden to keep him fed, the menfolk built the schoolhouse, and each contribute to its upkeep with taxes to the sheriff.”
“Yeah, but girls got to make his clothes, his bedsheets, his baskets, clean his house, and cook his food on the rotation just like you guys, only that don’t count none to him teaching us, only our brothers.”
Oliver blinked. “I never thought of that.” He watched as Fred and Sammy chased each other into the white-washed door of the schoolhouse after they pushing Timmy onto the grass slope. Those two were the reason Hattie wanted backup before getting near the building. He made a mental note to wait for her by the jailhouse going forward.
Hattie and Bertha were of-age, but not the best of friends. Still, more like than not, Bertha would be marrying one of Hattie’s brothers and he or Albert would be marrying her or her younger sister. His family’s cattle hill-pastures abutted her family’s water-side farm. Some things were just accepted. Best protect her like family.
Inside the schoolhouse, Hattie wiped her feet on the rug as best she could before heading to the girl desks and sliding in beside Sarah. Sarah’s family ran the general store and they never stinted on her schooling. The inventory sales were supplemented by the family reading and writing for folks in Meadowbrook, and even a child could rake in serious coin when the cattle train came through town. There she tucked his readers under her chair and placed folded her hands in front, beaming at the teacher.
That smile did squiggly things in Ollie’s belly.
(words 563; first published 3/10/2026)
This story was written based on a writing prompt from my Writer’s group. Describe an emotion without mentioning the emotion in the story. In this case, Joy was assignment to me. I wanted to capture the difference between Joy and Happiness. Hattie was just happy about being in school. Sometimes she would be happy and sometimes she would be sad; but she would always be joyful to be there.