Usually his reward was a juicy pie, but this year Mammy changed her
plan. Berries were in demand at Rosehaven, and she had very little time
to spend in going after them.
"I'll give you five cents a gallon for all you'll pick," she said to
John Jay. He looked at her in amazement. As he had never had any money
in his life, this seemed a princely offer. He was standing outside by
the stick chimney when she made the promise. After one sidelong glance,
to see if she were in earnest, he threw his feet wildly into the air and
walked off on his hands; then, after two or three somersaults backward,
he stood up, panting.
"Where's the buckets at?" he demanded, "I'm goin' to pick every bush in
this neck o' woods as clean as you'd pick a chicken."
Now it was Mammy's turn to be surprised. She had expected that her
offer would lure him on for an hour or two, maybe for a whole day. She
had not supposed that it would keep him faithfully at work for a week,
but it did. His nimble fingers stripped every roadside vine within a
mile of the cabin.
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