My Substitute Teacher
The seed collecting business is often quite boring, seeing as one day is always extremely similar to the next. To tell the truth, each day is either a market day, a collecting day, or just a traveling day.
The market days are the best, the ones to really look forward to. But, as it happens, they are also the least frequent. We only reach a village big enough for a market every couple of weeks, sometimes longer. On market days Pa always stays at the wagon, trying his best to sell our wares, whereas Ma, Banjo, Shoer and I get turns to go into the market. Shoer always comes with me because apparently it's "too dangerous" for me to go by myself, but I always manage to slip away at some point. I don't have the money to buy anything that the vendors sell, but I love to squeeze in between some booths, and pony-watch. My are there some strange ponies that come to the markets.
Every few days or so, Pa stops the wagon at some seed collecting area thats been a family secret for years, or just a forest we've yet to explore. Those days are fun too, because Pa usually lets me go off alone to look for seeds, as long as he can still see me from wherever he is. Ma doesn't really like getting her hooves dirty, so she sits atop the wagon and sews. Ma absolutely loves to sew, that's why her cutie mark is a sewing machine. Anyways, Pa gives each of us (except Ma) a few small bags to put any seeds that we collect in, and lets us roam, only calling us back when its time for super or to leave.
The least enjoyable days are when we travel in our wagon. For the whole day we sit in that small wagon, doing whatever we can to keep ourselves busy. These types of days are the most frequent, because traveling between seed areas and markets always take a few days. It would be so much more fun if I could drive the wagon sometimes, but Ma says that mares have a certain etiquette that they have to follow, and that wagon driving is not part of it. So therefore, I usually sit in the back of the wagon all day, listening to Banjo's music or getting taught by Ma.
Ma teaches me every traveling day for just a few hours. I look forward to that time in the day because I love to learn new things, unlike my brothers. When I was a real little filly Pa used to tell me a story about Shoer. Ma loved to teach, but I can't say that Shoer and Banjo enjoyed learning.
One day, it was Shoer's turn for a lesson but when Ma looked over her shoulder to the front of the wagon, she couldn't see him. She got up and trotted over to the front of the wagon (not a long distance at all, I might add), and asked Pa if he had seen Shoer. Pa had been pulling the wagon for a few hours all ready, and was in no good state to reply, so Ma just shook her head and looked on her own.
She searched under blankets and opened up the crates with food or seeds in side. But she couldn't find him. Now Ma was getting frustrated, and angry, because Shoer knew that it was his turn to be taught. She kept searching, but she had searched every inch of the small wagon to no avail. Thats when she started to get nervous, she thought that her, Banjo, and Pa had left Shoer behind. She became frantic, checking and re-checking every nook and cranny of the wagon, muttering to herself nervously.
After a few more minutes, she was certain that Shoer wasn't on the wagon, so she called out to Pa. He stopped abruptly, and the wagon jostled to a halt. As soon as it stopped though, they heard a loud "thump" right outside of the wagon. Ma hopped down to the ground, and peered around the edge of the wagon, her already skittish nerves were making her think of the most outrageous ideas. Ma claimed that when she heard the thump, she thought it was a kidnapper who had taken Shoer and hitched a ride on the side of the wagon, only to fall off when it stopped.
Turned out, Ma was half right. Shoer had woken up early in the morning, and using some rope he climbed onto the side of the wagon and secured himself. All because he didn't want to have to sit through one of Ma's lessons. When the wagon had stopped, the knot he had tied wiggled loose and he fell to the ground.
Ma was furious, so she punished him by only letting him eat whatever food was left on the table after each meal, and I promise you that isn't a lot. Pa always tells me this story because he doesn't want me to miss one of Ma's lessons because of the punishment I would get. But really, I've never skipped one of Ma's lessons because I know how worried and scared she must have been when she couldn't find Shoer, and I don't ever want to make her feel that way because of me.
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Today was a traveling day, but Ma wasn't feeling so good. The skin under her pale yellow coat was pea-green, and numerous times we had to stop and let her lean over the side of the wagon to expel some of her breakfast. I could tell the illness was getting to her, there were bags under her eyes and she looked exhausted. She was trying to work on the quilt she was sewing, but she kept messing up. Eventually she gave in and moved to the center of the wagon, bundling herself inside a thin blanket. She slept fitfully in the back of the wagon, groaning and mumbling about breakfast and how it was not agreeing with her.
I was slightly upset because she had promised me that today she was going to teach me more about writing, and how she wanted me to write grammatically correct, even if that's not the way we speak. I knew better than to complain to her though, because I know she would grumble about my whining, but sit up and teach me anyways. Even I know that she was in a bad way, and nothing other than sleeping could help her. But I still couldn't help but complain a little.
"Why does Ma have to choose today to feel under the weather! Today she was going to teach me, and I was really looking forward to it," I muttered quietly, under my breath.
But apparently not quietly enough because Banjo turned around and looked at me thoughtfully. I knew what was coming, and I was not excited about it.
"Well I s'pose ah could teach ya, ah do know a thing or two about teachin' and such."
"Um... uh no I don't think you need to, I mean, I don't really need to learn today, um Ma can teach me tomorrow!" I hastily replied, trying not to sound to ungrateful. I love Banjo, but he doesn't know a thing about grammar. He can read and write, but not like Ma can, and frankly, I didn't want my older brother teaching me.
"Aw come on Applepie, it'll be fun! I could teach ya... um well... how about..."
He seemed to be rethinking his decision to teach me because his lack of a well-thought-out lesson plan(like Ma always made), and I took that as an opportunity to try to back out of the issue I had gotten myself into.
"Well Banjo that's quite alright, I understand that you don't know what to teach me right about now, so how about this. You keep thinking about that, and next time Ma's sick you can teach me whatever you've thought of!"
I guess I was just trying to delay the inevitable, but I almost thought it was working, until Banjo's face lit up.
"I know! I'll teach ya how to spit! Every self-respectin' pony needs to know how to spit good!"
I was about to protest, until I realized what a great opportunity this was. I could learn how to do fun things without Ma ever scolding me! I gladly took up Banjo's offer, and for the rest of the day Banjo taught me how to spit. He grabbed one of our drinking cups and set it down in front of me, each time I made it in, he would move the cup farther away. He taught me how to purse my lips just so, to get the farthest flying spit. At the end of the day, my record was 2 feet 7 inches.
Banjo was so proud of me that he let me have a slice of apple from his own food sack, it was so sweet and delicious, I ate it all in just one bite.
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Ma was finally feeling well enough to make it to dinner, and I really didn't want her to know what Banjo and I had been doing. We tried as hard as we could to act natural during our meal of some mixed veggies that Pa had cooked over the fire, but nothing gets past Ma. I could tell by the way she looked at Banjo and I that she knew something was up. Thankfully, she was still feeling tired from her nasty stomach bug, so she went to bed early. Ma likes to be healthy and alert when she's grilling anyone in the family about something she can tell they did.
I should be worrying about the upcoming interrogation from Ma, but I too am exhausted. My eyes can hardly stay open as i'm writing this sentence.
Goodnight,
Applepie Smith