When You Were Young

"Prudence, what's wrong?" Mother asks as Prudence stares into the mirror, trying to see if anything has changed.

She remembers what he told her. "Nothing," she says. "I'm going to bed now." She hurries back to her bedroom before Mother can ask anything else and throws herself onto the bed. With her face buried in the pillow to muffle any sound, she cries. The scene replays itself before eyes.

She runs towards the field in pursuit of a rabbit, hoping to catch it and ask Mother if she can keep it for a pet. Mother wouldn't let her have one of Mrs. Applegate's kittens last summer, saying Prudence was too little to care for an animal. "I have enough to look after around here without a cat," Mother said. But now that Prudence is four and a half she's old enough to have a pet. Annabelle next door got a puppy for Christmas and she's only three.

The rabbit darts to the left, into the rows of grain. She stops at the edge of the field, remembering what Daddy says about not trampling the grain. "That's how Daddy puts food on the table for you and Mommy," he tells her.

She plops down onto the ground, waiting in case the rabbit comes back. She plucks a few strands of grass, weaving them into a mesh. Mother wants her to learn how to sew, but she doesn't want to spend all her time indoors with a needle and thread. She wants to go on grand adventures like the knights Daddy tells her about at bedtime.

The rabbit doesn't come back after a while, so she gets up and walks along the edge of the field. She finds a broken stick on the ground and takes it up as a sword. She slays invisible enemies with the blade to rescue the fair prince from the evil enchanter. Before she can complete her quest, there's a stirring in the field and Bradley appears.

She jabs the stick at his bare chest. "I got you!" she says. "You're dead."

Bradley falls down, sprawling out on the ground. "Oh, I am slain. You have vanquished me, brave knight," he says.

"You can't talk if you're dead," she says.

"I'm sorry." He opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue. "How's that?"

"Much better." As she stands victorious over his fallen body, he reaches up to grab her arm and pulls her down on top of him. "Hey, no fair! You're dead."

He tickles her belly until she giggles. "Now I've got you. Do you yield, brave knight?"

"I yield. I yield!" He stops tickling her and instead musses her hair. "You cheated."