“You should have seen my little sister’s plate for every meal. I had to make everything into a rabbit. The pancakes were easy and mashed potatoes were a breeze, but how do you make applesauce look like a rabbit? Know what I did?”
She waited in silence, carving quickly, but not answering her own question.
“What did you do?” a little girl asked.
Sophie looked at the child, saw the fear in her eyes, and smiled. “I made two round puddles of applesauce, put in raisin eyes, and pieces of carrot for ears. But . . . ” She paused as another girl and a boy quietly came close to her. Sophie lowered her voice. “I was afraid the bunny would wake up and eat his own carrot ears.”
The children laughed. They were about six years old and seemed to be glad to feel safe again.
“Is Mr. Jim okay?” a child asked.
“Yes,” Sophie said as she set the potato rabbit on the log beside her.
“Bet you can’t make a dragon,” a boy said from her left.
“Are you kidding?” Sophie said. “If they gave out awards for potato dragons, I’d get one. Get me some little sticks that look like fire coming out of his mouth so I can make a real dragon.”
One by one, seven children tiptoed toward her and sat down on the ground and watched. She finished the dragon, stuck a branched stick in for fire, and the children moved closer.
“Who wants a bear?” Sophie asked, and they all said yes. Finally, the last little boy, the eighth child, came out of the woods and sat down to watch.
When they heard an ambulance with a siren coming down the road, two of the boys started to get up. “Sit!” Sophie said, and her look made them sit back down. Until she was sure there wasn’t some crazy killer out there, she planned to keep the children where she could see them—and keep them calm.
The siren got very loud and it wasn’t easy to keep the children near her, but Sophie did it. She offered her potato sculptures as prizes to whomever could build the best house for it out of whatever they could find in the woods. Besides, the abnormally warm day was cooling off and the children needed to move around. “But you can’t leave my sight!” she said emphatically.
They heard the ambulance doors slam and the siren was turned back on. They all glanced in the direction of the sound but they could see nothing. Sophie wondered if Reede and Colin and the gray-haired lady had gone with the ambulance, and if so when would they be back?
But minutes later Reede stepped around a tree and stood there for a moment, taking it all in. All eight of the children were there and they were busy constructing things out of twigs, leaves, and even rocks. They were all asking Sophie questions by the dozen, such as how to tie things together when they had no string.
Sophie stepped away to go to Reede. “How is he?”
“He’ll be fine, thanks to Sue’s quick thinking.”
“How did it happen?”
Reede grimaced. “Colin thinks it was too much beer and some hunters. He’s looking for them now. They might not even know what they’ve done.” He nodded to the kids. “I’m going to take them back in the bus to the church in Williamsburg. I can drop you off in Edilean.”
“No,” she said, “I’ll go with you. We better get them out of here. In spite of the warm day, it is November.”
“What are those things on the log that the kids are looking at?”
Sophie smiled. “Nothing important. Just potato animals.”
She followed Reede as he walked the few feet to the log and picked them up. There was a rabbit, a dragon breathing fire, and a bear with a pebble that vaguely looked like a fish in its mouth.
“Sophie, these are wonderful,” he said, looking at her.
“So who wins?” a little boy asked.
“Everyone,” Sophie said. “By this time tomorrow I’ll give each of you a sculpture of your favorite animal. Only I’m going to do them in clay so you can keep them forever. Right now we’re going to ride back to Williamsburg on the bus and . . . Are you ready for this? Dr. Reede is going to drive! Do you think
he knows how to do that? And if the bus starts coughing, what do you think he’ll do?”
“Give it a shot!” a boy yelled.
“Some medicine,” a girl said.
“Ha!” Reede said. “If there are any problems I’m going to make all of you get out and push the bus.”