Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

Thoughtfully, I ask Aunt Mille if people would come to the schoolhouse if we threw a party. Kit enthusiastically exclaims that we should have a party. We can have music and maybe Mrs. Littlefield would sing. She does have a beautiful voice.

Aunt Millie thoughtfully says that we could have square dancing, too. I add in we’ll need to serve food. And Kit says this would be a perfect time for people to borrow books.

Aunt Millie beams. We’ve come up with a dandy plan. It just needs a dollop of practicality and purpose, so the gathering is for more than just pleasure for these busy, hard-working folks. Perhaps people can make swaps, too. Kit explains that swaps are trades. One person may bring a shovel he doesn’t need, and he may trade it for a quilt. And the person who brings the quilt may trade it for a washtub. It’s a way for people to get things they need without spending money. If folks know they can get something useful, they’ll be more likely to come… and more likely to borrow books.

We can call it a Beat-the-Depression Swap Party!

The next morning, Kit and I wake up early enough to wave goodbye to Miss Myrtle when she sets forth on Serena to spread the word and invite everyone to the schoolhouse. Then Kit, Aunt Millie, Buddy, and I take the shortcut to tell Mrs. Littlefield and baby Eli about our Beat-the-Depression Swap Party. After that, we went home and toss up a storm of salad. At the schoolhouse, we push the desks against the walls and sweep the floor.

And now, it’s finally time for the party. Kit and I help people lay out the party food they’ve brought. There are watermelons, pies, sticky buns, strawberries, stuffed peppers, and maple sugar candy. On top of the bookshelves, people put the things that they have brought to swap.

Here’s how it works: people bring things that they have made or grown and also things that they don’t need anymore. Mrs. Littlefield brings baby Eli’s outgrown baby clothes and also a dozen eggs. In return, she takes bigger baby clothes left by someone else—winter clothes that’ll fit Eli. Another lady leaves sweet-smelling dried herbs and flowers in exchange for Eli’s outgrown clothes for her grandson. The person who takes the herbs and flowers leaves a sack of goose feathers for stuffing a comforter. A frail, elderly lady contributes a beautiful crocheted afghan that she has made and takes a basket of cured meats, jellies, and cheeses that Aunt Millie has put together. Sometimes people swap a service they can provide for a service in return, or they swap for an object that they need. For instance, one young girl promises to teach another girl how to knit in return for violin lessons. A gangly boy swaps a promise to split wood in return for a warm knitted hat, socks, and mittens. And of course, everyone chooses a book to borrow!

When every swap is swapped, the dancing begins.

I always thought square dancing is just dancing in squares. But it’s not. Miss Myrtle calls out the steps for everyone to dance in time to the twangy, lively banjo and fiddle music. Kit and I are partners, and we do-si-do around and around until we all hang of the steps.

As Kit and I go outside to cool off, we eat the biggest and most delicious pieces of peach pie ever. The stars shine brightly above. Music and laughter and the sound of dancing feet from the schoolhouse surround Kit and me with joyful noise. Kit sighs and says the party was a very smart idea. Everybody’s happy because they’re making good use of what they have by swapping it to get what they want.

I think about what I want. And suddenly, I realize that what I want is more time with Mom. And a dog, of course. And then my heart beats faster. Kit has just given me the beginning of an idea.

It’s late when Kit and I walk home along the woodsy path with Aunt Millie and Miss Myrtle, and later still when we crawl into bed. Buddy curls up next to me. After Buddy and Kit are both asleep, I look out the window of the cabin. I think about how being in Mountain Hollow has taught me that it is important to make good use of everything that we have, even invisible things like energy, ideas, time, and love. I realize that, as much as I love being with Kit, I’m eager to go home and to put what I’ve learned to use in my own life.