"What are you looking at Daddy?" Julia asked her father. Daddy
turned and looked down at his little girl. "Daddy is looking at his
favorite trees Julia." Julia pushed her father aside and looked out the
window at the line of trees off in the distance.
"Which one are your favorite trees Daddy?" Julia asked as she turned
and looked up at her father. "Well, Julia, a long time ago, I found that
we have some sugar trees growing right here on our land and Daddy loves
them."
Again Julia turned and looked out the window trying to see the sugar
trees but she couldn't. "How do you know they are sugar trees?" She
asked. "I don't see any sugar!" Her father laughed and then he said.
"Julia, tomorrow, I will take you out and show you the sugar trees. But,
now it's getting late and you should go to bed." Hearing this, Julia
wrinkled her little nose and raised her arms up for her father to carry
her off to bed.
Her father pulled down the blankets, slid Julia into her nice little
bed and kissed her goodnight. As her father turned to say good night and
turn off the light, Julia, rubbed her eyes and said, "Good night Daddy
and don't forget to wake me up to see the sugar trees tomorrow." "Oh, I
won't forget Julia. Sweet dreams and I'll see you in the morning."
Julia snuggled deeper in her bed, hugged her white teddy bear and
fell asleep dreaming of the sugar trees that she was going to find with
Daddy.
The next morning Daddy didn't have to wake Julia up at all. As soon
as the sun slid into her room, she slipped out of bed, pulled on her
slippers and ran down the hall to wake her Dad. She opened the bedroom
door very carefully and walked quietly over to where Daddy and Mommy
were still sleeping in their big bed.
Julia climbed up onto the bed and ever so carefully crawled up to
the spot right between Mommy and Daddy. She slid under the covers and
laid her head against the pillows. She loved to do this and was always
careful not to make a sound. She lay there between Mommy and Daddy
feeling warm and snug, listening to the sounds that the wind made as it
blew thru the trees outside.
Warm and snuggly, Julia was nearly asleep when suddenly somebody
tickled her in the ribs and she began to laugh! "Daddy, what are you
doing? I was sleepin!" "Oh no you weren't Julia, I saw you lying there
with your eyes wide open. Get up sleepy head; we have a lot of things to
do today."
Julia slid off the high bed and followed her Dad as he walked down
the hall to the bathroom. "Julia, I'm going to take a shower and after
that we will eat our breakfast and then, we will go to find the sugar
trees." He turned and looked at Julia. "Okay Daddy, I'm going to eat my
breakfast and then we can go." Julia turned and ran down the stairs to
the kitchen where Mommy was making breakfast.
She loved breakfast and all the delicious smells tickled her nose and
made her tummy talk. "My tummy is talking!" she told her Mom. Mommy
smiled and said, "What is your tummy saying Julia?" It's saying "I'm
hungry!" "Feed me!" "Feed me!" Mommy laughed and told Julia to go and
wash her face and hands and then it would be time to eat. Julia ran down
the hall to the bathroom to do as her Mommy had told her. She was ready
to eat!
Mommy cooked all of Julia's favorite foods. She made hot chocolate,
French toast and bacon and eggs just the way Daddy loved them. Daddy
came down the stairs and into the kitchen and Julia had to laugh when
she was her father. He didn't know it but he still had a small dab of
shaving cream on the side of his face. It made Julia giggle as she
watched him kiss Mommy because now Mommy had some shaving cream on her
face too! Julia laughed and she pointed at Daddy's face and then he
laughed too when he saw the shaving cream on Mommy's face. Daddy took a
paper towel and gently wiped the shaving off her Mommy's face and just
as he was about to wipe it off his face too, he turned and rubbed his
face against Julia's face and now she had shaving cream on her nose! Oh
Daddy loved to play these funny games and Julia loved them too! But she
liked the smell of his shaving cream and she didn't wipe it off.
Julia ate and ate and finally her tummy spoke once again, it said:
"I'm Full!" So Julia pushed her chair back and climbed down. "Dad, did
you forget that we are going to look for the sugar trees today?" "You
promised."
Her father wiped his lips on his napkin and laughed. "No Julia, I
didn't forget. It is still cold outside and windy too so you need to go
with Mommy and get dressed. I'll wait for you in the garage." Julia
looked at her mother and saw that Mommy was getting up. "Julia, you know
the rules, please go and brush your teeth and I will get you clothes
ready." Julia rand down the hall to the bathroom. She spread some
toothpaste on her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth. But she had
to be very careful because she'd lost her two front teeth and her
toothbrush kept falling into the hole. She rinsed her mouth and smiled
at her reflection in the mirror and she giggled when she saw how funny
she looked without her teeth.
Mommy came into the bathroom and she laughed too when she saw what
had made Julia laugh. "Don't worry Julia," Mommy said. "Pretty soon, you
will have two very white, new teeth." Julia smiled at herself again as
she imagined how she would look with two big front teeth. "Mommy, will I
look just like a rabbit?""No!" "No!" Julia, you will look very, very
pretty." Mommy told her.
Suddenly, Julia heard Daddy calling her name. "Jooles! Jooles! Are
you ready? I'm all set to go find the sugar trees!" Daddy said. Julia
waited impatiently as Mommy tied a long scarf around her head and tucked
it into her coat and then she ran for the back door where Daddy was
waiting.
Daddy held the door open for her as she ran through it to the outside
and Julia was surprised at how cold it was. Daddy lifted her up into
his old sled and sat her down. "Now Jooles, all you have to do is to
hang on and we'll find the trees before you know it."
Daddy picked up the rope and pulled the sled along behind him as he
walked along. Daddy took big steps and sometimes his boots slipped in
the melting snow and Julia worried that he might fall down but Daddy
didn't, he walked on, over the snow covered ground down into the trees
at the back of their garden.
Julia looked at each tree as Daddy pulled the sled past them and she
kept asking, "Is this the sugar tree Dad?" but Daddy didn't stop, he
just shook his head and continued on. Julia saw so many trees that she
grew tired of looking.
Finally, her father pulled the sled over to some trees at the corner
of their property and stopped. Julia slid off the sled and Daddy helped
her to stand. He reached up to a large branch and pulled a leaf off the
tree and gave it to Julia. "See Julia, this is a Maple tree and you can
always tell which tree it is by the leaf. I was a little boy just your
age when my Grampy showed me his sugar trees."
Julia held the large leaf in her mittens and looked at it carefully
in the bright morning sun. It didn't look so special to her and she gave
it back to Daddy. "What's the matter Julia?" Daddy asked. Julia looked
at the old tree that Daddy had taken the leaf from and wrinkled her
little nose. "I don't like this old tree and besides, I don't see any
sugar!"
Daddy laughed and then he explained about "tapping the tree." How he
had to drill a small hole in the tree and put in a small spout and then
he would hang a pail on the spout to catch the sap that would drain out
into the pail.
Daddy reached into the sack that he'd brought on the sled and it
wasn't long before he had done all the things he'd said they needed to
do. "Okay Jooles, now you have to hang your pail on this sprout and
tomorrow we'll come back to get the sap." Daddy selected another tree
and then another and pretty soon, they had seven trees all ready to
collect the sap.
Julia was so excited and that night she had many dreams about going
to the tree and collecting the sap. The next morning right after
breakfast, she and Daddy took another trip to the Maple trees to collect
the sap.
When they finally reached her tree, Daddy lifted her up and showed
her how much sap had flowed into her pail. "Look Julia, look at how much
sap we've collected!" Julia looked into the pail and then and she saw
that her pail was half full. She was going to have a lot of Maple sugar!
Daddy went around to all the other trees and carefully took off the
pails and dumped the sap into his large container that he's brought on
the sled. By the time he was done, his large container was nearly full.
Julia was so excited as she walked along behind Daddy as he pulled the
sled home. She couldn't wait to taste the Maple syrup Daddy was going to
make.
When they finally got home, Daddy carried the large container into
the kitchen and then Mommy took over. Julia hurried to take off her
coat, mittens and boots and then she climbed up on a kitchen counter and
watched as Mommy washed a large pot to boil the syrup in. She watched
as Mommy turned on the gas burner under the cooking pot and she waited
impatiently for the syrup to boil. Finally, after a very long wait, she
smelled something that was the most delicious smell she'd ever smelled!
"Mommy, is that the Maple syrup that smells so good?" "Yes it is
Julia and I just know you are going to love the taste of it too!" Julia
grew tired of waiting for the syrup and Daddy came and carried her into
the living room and placed her on the couch. Both she and Daddy had a
long nap while Mommy tended the syrup in the kitchen.
Finally, just as the sun was going down, Daddy called her into the
kitchen and lifted her up to see the large pot of boiling syrup. "See
that Julia, that is the syrup from the Maple trees that you and I
collected. As it boils it will thicken and become a syrup just like the
syrup you put on Mommy's pancakes." Julia looked at Daddy with wide
eyes, "And will it taste as good Daddy?" She asked. "Julia, it will
taste even better, I promise." Julia snuggled against Daddy and watched
the steam from the pot rise up into the kitchen air.
"When will it be ready?" she asked her Dad. "Well, we have to let it
boil all night and you can try it in the morning." "In the morning,"
Julia thought to herself. "I can't wait for morning to come."
But morning did come and Julia slid out of bed and ran down the
stairs to the kitchen. Mommy smiled as she saw Julia's excited face and
after Julia had washed up, she sat down at the table. Mommy called to
Daddy that breakfast was ready and Daddy came and sat down at his place.
Mommy looked at both of them and smiled as she very carefully carried a
plate of bacon and eggs and muffins over to the table. Julia looked and
looked and she didn't see any Maple syrup. Mommy smiled as she asked
Julia what was wrong.
"I don't see the Maple syrup. Where is it?" "Oh," Mommy answered. "I
guess I forgot about that. Julia, could you please go and get that
pitcher on the counter? Please be very careful."
Julia hurried over to the kitchen counter and ever so carefully
carried the large pitcher of the golden syrup over to the table. She
handed it to Daddy and then she went to sit down.
Daddy looked at Mommy with a big smile on his face and said, "I
think that our Julia should be the first one to try our Maple syrup.
What do you think Mommy?" "I agree." Mommy said and Daddy slid the Maple
syrup down the table to where Julia sat.
Julia looked at their smiling faces and then she reached over and
lifted the pitcher and poured it over her muffin. Then she took her
knife and poked holes in it so that the syrup ran all through her
muffin. She took her fork and cut a small piece of muffin and put it in
her mouth. Mommy and Daddy were watching her as she chewed.
Then Daddy asked, "Well," what do you think about our Maple syrup
Julia?" Julia, swallowed her muffin and said, "I love it and can I have
some more?" "Yes, Julia, have more if you'd like," Daddy laughed. "But
we have plenty left for another day."
"And," Julia said, "We can make more next year can't we Dad?" Daddy
nodded his head and smiled as he took a big bite of his Maple syrup
muffin.
Martha Stevens-David
Martha Stevens-David Column Magic City
Email:lmdmsd@megalink.net
Recent articles include:
Childrens Stories include:
See also Vengeance is Mine a short mystery novel published at Magic City over 4 days.
All works by Martha Stevens-David
published at Magic City Morning Star News are her copyright property and
may not be reproduced without her permission.
