What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren Page A

laughed along with everyone else, picturing the big workhorse leaping into the air like an enormous rabbit.
    Later, when the meal was nearly finished, Mr. Klause turned a suddenly serious face on Bethany and Esther. “Just be sure to put more raspberries in your pails than in your stomachs,” he warned.
    Esther sat up straighter and nodded. She didn’t realize Mr. Klause was teasing until she heard Bethany’s unladylike snort. Bethany pointed a finger at her father. “You’re the one who eats as fast as he picks!”
    â€œHe surely does,” Mrs. Klause agreed. “If I left the picking to him, the rest of us would never see a berry.” But she smiled at her husband. And Esther noticed that Mrs. Klause gave him an extra-big serving of raspberry pie for dessert.
    Everyone laughed when Rose licked her dessert plate and got a raspberry stain on her nose. Mrs. Klause kissed Rose’s chubby cheek and said, “Now you are for certain the sweetest baby in Wisconsin!”
    Watching Mrs. Klause with Rose, Esther felt an actual ache in her heart. Had Ma ever kissed Esther like that? She did not think so.
    Esther started to clear the table, but Mrs. Klause shooed her away. “This is your holiday. You girls go and play. I can manage.”
    So Esther and Bethany went outside and, swinging their buckets, headed toward the raspberry bushes. They hadn’t gone very far when a black cat streaked across the grass in front of them. “A black cat!” Esther gasped, plowing to a stop. “Where did he come from?”
    â€œFrom our barn,” Bethany said with a laugh. “Dad says Licorice is the best mouser we’ve ever had.”
    Both girls watched as the cat slowed and flattened himself in the grass. He crept forward, closer and closer to something in the grass that only he could see. Esther turned away when the cat pounced.
    â€œDoesn’t your father worry about bad luck?” she asked Bethany.
    â€œNah. He’s just happy to have a barn with no mice.”
    Esther couldn’t believe how calm Bethany was. Didn’t she realize that bad luck was heading toward them, ready to pounce like Licorice had just pounced on that poor little creature in the grass? Esther grabbed Bethany’s arm. “Come on,” she said. “We have to undo our bad luck—fast!”
    Bethany looked startled, but when Esther bolted for the barn, she followed. Only after they plunged into its cool shadows did Esther stop. She blinked until her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Then she scanned the walls.
    â€œWhat are you looking for?” Bethany wanted to know.
    â€œThis!” Esther announced triumphantly. She set down her buckets and darted over to a low shelf where several horseshoes lay. Esther grasped a cool, heavy shoe in one hand and rubbed its ends hard with the other. Then she insisted that Bethany do the same. “There,” she said, setting the shoe down again after Bethany had obeyed. “Now we’re protected.”
    â€œBut from what?” Bethany asked.
    â€œFrom whatever bad luck your black cat was going to send us,” Esther explained.
    â€œI don’t think Licorice has ever sent anyone bad luck,” Bethany said doubtfully, “but I guess it can’t hurt to be careful.” She picked up the buckets Esther had dropped moments before. “Can we go pick raspberries now?”
    Esther grinned. “We sure can.” She gave a little skip into the doorway. “Heaps and heaps of raspberries.” She was proud of herself for remembering what Pa had taught her that first week on the farm. For one horrible moment after she had seen the black cat, she had thought that maybe bad luck was meant to be her punishment for disobeying Ma. But because Esther had remembered Pa’s lesson, she had chased the bad luck away. Of course, Pa had said the tips of the horseshoe had to be hung pointing up so the good luck didn’t