Leaves of Fall

There once was a young boy. He was a good young boy, and everyone expected he would grow to be a good man some day. He was a good boy, but his family was poor.

Every fall as a young boy he would take his father's rake, and pile the maple leaves in his family's yard into large piles for composting into the family garden. When he finished with his family's yard, he would walk through the small town with his rake, knocking on doors, and offering to rake their leaves. This was the fall in which he started to become a man.

Often he would be told no, but he knew where all of the older people lived, who found raking leaves to be a difficult job. He also knew where the widows lived. One of those widows was Julie Boddabing, with her two daughters Sue and Sammie.

The young boy had seen Sue at school, but Sammie was older and her didn't see her very often. Sue was a pretty girl, but always with a sad look on her face. She seemed to be hiding a Horrible Secret that she was scared to share with anyone.

The boy walked the street, first stopping at Mr. & Mrs. Pinkles house, who were both very old and their children lived far away. He mowed their grass all summer, and knew they would want him to rake their leaves.

He stopped at the house of the widow who lived next door, who wasn't so old, but was always nice to the young boy, and sometimes gave him lemondade when he was out mowing the Pinkles' lawn. She couldn't afford to pay him money, but she had a fresh baked batch of cookies, so he agreed to rake her lawn for a dozen cookies.

He went around the corner, to the grand old Victorian home of Mrs. Swan. He mowed Mrs. Swan's lawn sometimes, but not regularly. There were already two other boys raking her leaves.

Down the street, he stopped at Mrs. Oak's house. Mrs. Oak was a widow, with two daughters who were both widows and five granddaughters, who all lived on the same block. Mrs. Oak paid him to rake all three lawns.