Emmalooked at her tobacco stained hands as she carried her last shock of tobacco to the smoke house. The sun was setting and papa had gone ahead to pitch down hay for the mules and slop the hogs. She would have to hurry to have time to run to the creek and bathe before supper. Andy would be along to walk her to the party and Emma didn’t want to be late to her best friend’s party. She tied up her shock of tobacco and hung it upside down in the smoke house. When the crop was gathered and hung, papa would build the slow burning fire to smoke the tobacco and make it sweet.

Emma hurried to the cabin to get her clean clothes that were hanging on a nail above her bed, then picked up a clean rag and a bar of the lye soap that lay on the sill above the door. Mama had the fire burning in the wood cook stove and Emma could smell the good mess of greens and streaked meat cooking on the stove. She could smell the corn bread in the oven. Her stomach gave a little rumble as she went out the kitchen door and down the trail to the creek.

Stepping out of her sweaty tobacco stained clothes Emma slid into the cool pool of water. Papa had scooped out the bottom of the creek to provide a good bathing place as deep as her waist. Cool water slipped over her shoulders as she ducked under to soap her hair. There was no time to linger so Emma quickly finished her bath and stepped out of the water. She wrung out her cloth and dried herself as best she could and slipped into her clean clothes.

Supper was finished when she heard banging on the front door. Emmacalled good-bye to mama and papa as she ran out to meet Andy. Dusk was falling and squirrels chattered. Whipper-wills called deep in the woods. The mountain air had cooled and stars were twinkling in the evening sky. Emma had know Andy all her life and she took it for granted that they would be married. She was nearly fifteen and Andy was turning eighteen.