“Me kicked the ball real gud and it went over the bank. Me came to get it, and this bush grabbed me.”
She helped free the little boy from the talons of the predatorial blackberry bush. He reached down and grabbed the ball.
“Thank you Miss Minnie.”
She took him by the hand and they climbed back up the bank. They walked toward the back door where she sat down on the steps to get her breath. Jason could sense he had done something wrong and had his head down ready to cry. Miss Minnie didn’t want to make him cry, but knew she had to teach him a lesson.
“Jason,” she said after catching her breath. “Do you remember I told you to stay in the yard?”
“Yes ma’am, me sorry,” the boy said, as he laid his head against the woman’s chest and began to cry.
Miss Minnie took him to her bedroom a
