Laura and Jenny play a little joke on Almanzo for April Fool’s Day. Story complete in one chapter.
The Afghan, the Shirt and the Hat
“He found the afghan, Aunt Laura,” Jenny said, walking through the front door of the little house with Rose by her side.
Laura picked up Rose and placed her in the cradle. That was Almanzo’s job, except he wasn’t home. He was out in Sleepy Eye at this moment making another delivery.
“Well, he didn’t find the hat yet, did he?” Laura asked,
Jenny shook her head. “There were two paper bags in the barn and they were in the same place. I was going to try to sell it, but when I put it on Uncle Manzo’s head, he looked so good in it that I thought I’d give it to him.”
“And it fits him well, doesn’t it?” Laura said, looking at her. “What if he finds the scarf and mittens you knitted.”
“And the new blue shirt you made for him.” Jenny looked at her. “The afghan; is that for the bed?”
“Well, we made together, Jenny, so I thought it would be for the chair, where we could all use it. The new one I’m working on is for you. “
“Use it for the bed, Aunt Laura,” Jenny said. “I’m working on one for my bed, but I’ll probably need you to sew it together.”
She looked up at her aunt. “Why are we doing this anyway?”
Laura smiled. “He surprised me with the wooden flowers and the flower garden and the vases. I told you about that. I wanted to do something for him. And I didn’t want him to know about it. The afghan is too big to hide and I thought we could keep it in the barn. I should have known better.”
“When is he supposed come back from Sleepy Eye?” Jenny asked her aunt.
“Should be in an hour from now, why?”
“Come on, I have an idea.”
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“You think this will work? Laura said, looking at the gifts.
“He already knows we got them for him,” Jenny said, “the least we can do is make them harder to get at.”
“How did you know about this?” Laura asked.
“Remember my brothers?” Jenny said.
Laura nodded. “How could I forget?”
Jenny smiled. “My father did it to me one year. He started out with a paper bag, then a box, then there was a box inside a box and then there was wrapping around the box that held my mother’s locket. That’s the one I lost. He said he wanted to make it fun for me to find.”
Laura shook her head. “Is that why the family name is Wilder?”
Jenny smiled. “Papa told me that Mama used to say that. Every time she said it, he used to remind her that now it was her last name too.”
Laura smiled and looked up. She heard what sounded like hoof beats and wagon wheels.
“He’s here.”
“How do you know?” Jenny asked.
“BETH?”
Laura looked at Jenny who was smiling.
“Well,” she said, “You warned me.”
She picked up Rose and pushed Laura inside the storage area.
“Come on, behind the curtain before he gets in.”
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“BETH?” Almanzo yelled out, as he walked through the door. “JENNY?”’
“Rosey?” he said, checking the extra bedroom. Then he checked their room.
And then he saw the packages, all three of them.
He sat down in the rocking chair, smiled and went after the first one.
It was a paper bag, but there was something inside it. Almanzo pulled it out. It was a box, a tall box; something like you would put a hat in. Sure enough, that’s exactly what it was when he opened it up.
It was his old one.
Almanzo frowned and shook his head. He pushed it away and went for the second. There was a box, which he opened. Inside was another box and inside that box was a smaller box. All empty.
The third was the afghan that he had found in the barn, but it turned out to be the old one with the holes in it. Where was the one he saw in the…
Almanzo turned around and examined the one that covered the top of the chair.
“Beth, Jenny, I know you ladies are behind that curtain.”
“April Fool’s” Jenny and Laura called out, pulling back the curtain, Beth rushing into his arms. Jenny let Rose go and she toddled over to her Papa who picked her up.
“It’s today?” he said, innocently.
Laura shook her head. “It was yesterday, Manly. We’ve got the real presents hidden, well, all but one. The afghan Jenny and I worked on is hanging on the back of the rocking chair.”
Almanzo smiled and looked at the three of them. “Got the days wrong again, didn’t I?”
“The cinnamon chicken is waiting, Uncle Manzo,” Jenny said, staring at him. “Let’s sit down before it gets cold.”
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“That was some trick you ladies pulled on me today,” Manly said, smiling. He walked around to his side of the bed and climbed in next to her. “Where’d you get all those boxes?”
“Jenny asked Mr. Oleson for some,” Laura told him, as she climbed in next to him. “Jenny told me that he was going to get rid of them anyway. They were seconds is what he called them. Many of them weren’t made right. So she took a few. We might be able to use them for something?”
Almanzo smiled at her. “You didn’t buy anything did you?”
Laura shook her head. “All we bought was the yarn and the material to make it all, Manly. I made the shirt, Jenny knitted the mittens and the scarf and we both worked on the afghan.”
“Everything but the hat,” Almanzo said, putting his arm around his wife.
Laura nodded. “She wanted you to have it, Almanzo. She was afraid you wouldn’t take it. It looks good on you and it fits you well.”
Almanzo shook his head. “I think we’ll leave it hanging on the rack, Beth where I can look at it all the time to remind me of my older brother.”
He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled back. “Anyway, how did you ladies like your gifts?”
“An empty box,” Laura said, smiling. “You had the same idea.” She looked up at him and he was smiling at her.
“The look on Jenny’s face was priceless,” he said, looking at her. He frowned. “Whose idea was that anyway?”
“The boxes were Jenny’s idea. She told me where they came from and how she got them. It didn’t take all that long to put it together. And anyway you did the same thing.”
Almanzo nodded. “I guess that’s where our last name comes from.”
“The Wilder Bunch,” Laura said, looking up at him. “Sounds like a good name for a gang, doesn’t it?”
“I never thought of it that way.” Almanzo said, shaking his head. “You act like you had nothing to do with this whole scheme?”
“Me?” Laura said, her eyes widening, trying not to smile. She shook her head . “How could you even think that, Manly. I would never pull a crazy stunt like that in my life.”
“Really?” he said, putting his arms around her. “This time you used real cinnamon on that chicken, didn’t you?”
“MANLY.”
Almanzo laughed and shook his head. “You are somethin’ else, Beth, you know that?”
“So you keep telling me,” she said as his lips met hers.
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