Hen asked to borrow some of her mother's stationery. "I never thought of bringing along writing paper," Hen said as the two sat in the kitchen.Mom, in her wheelchair, had been trying to darn some socks but kept stopping, obviously struggling to manage her pain today. She pointed to the corner cupboard, across the kitchen. "There's a tablet in the middle drawer," she said, her words clipped just now.Hen, Mattie Sue, and Mammi Sylvia had just finished mixing together ingredients for chicken mushroom bake, one of Mom's favorite recipes for the noon meal. Before that, Hen had driven over to talk with Rachel Glick about changing her week's work schedule to this afternoon and tomorrow morning, which was just fine with Rachel. The woman seemed quite accommodating.Nick had surprised her by dropping by to see if Mattie Sue wanted to go over with him to visit the bishop's wife, who was baking snickerdoodles with two of her granddaughters Mattie's age. Hen remembered what Dad had said about letting her roam about the farmland freely, so Hen agreed, but only if someone went along with Mattie Sue.
