In her ears, Lolly could hear her heart beating, or was it her blood flowing? Which ever it was it sounded like drums banging. Her vision seemed to blur. She knew she was overreacting, but how could she not. She managed to say, “Hi Trevor.”

He smiled. As usual, it went straight through her. Did Trevor have any idea what he did to her? Probably not. She felt a smile spreading across her face. God, she hoped she didn't look as goofy as Pa did when he smiled at Mrs. Dutchendorph. He looked so gorgeous in his school track sweats and muddy running shoes. Lolly realized she was staring at him, but she could not tear her eyes away.

There was the sound of a muffled phone ringing. Trevor said, "Watch this."

Amber jumped up from the desk and started hurling clothes off her full sized unmade bed. The ringing got louder. Finally, she uncovered a turquoise sleek phone. She answered, “Hello.” Someone said something. A pleased smile spread across her face. “Hey Bill. Yeah, just a sec.” She placed her hand over the mouth piece and said, “Uh Trevor would you mind taking Lolly to see the farm. I was going to do that when we finished, but its Bill.”

Time stood still for Lolly. What if Trevor didn’t want to show her the farm. She bit her lip and waited. Trevor said, “Sure, fine. Come with me Lolly.”

Lolly practicallly floated out the door behind Trevor. She felt like she was having her first out of body experience. This was a now she had only hoped to have. Trevor took the stairs two steps at a time and landed with a jump at the bottom. He grinned back at her. Her heart started pumping like it was going to explode. He headed toward the kitchen and Lolly followed. Out the back door, passed the garage, Lolly followed. The way Trevor moved was fluid. He filled the landscape for her. She saw nothing, felt nothing but incredible joy and terrible fear. She prayed she did not make an idiot of herself.

When he reached the chicken yard, he pointed at the large red chickens. These must be the Island Reds he had told her about at Munch’s. They were huge arrogant looking birds. A gorgeously colored rooster, strutted among the hens. He cast a yellow eye in her direction. Lolly felt immediately intimidated. Trevor said, "I talked to Dad about getting some Bantams like Munch had, and he's considering it. I think it would be cool to have tiny chickens. Before I moved here, the only chickens I saw were in the grocery store wrapped in plastic." He pointed and said, "The pig pen is over there. I can show you if you don't mind the stink."

"I don't mind." Truth was she really like pigs, stink and all. If she had a farm, she would have a pig, but that pig would never be BACON. She wondered if Trevor's dad's pigs were going to become bacon, but she didn't ask. Curiosity on a farm was bad for her. She had never recovered from the time she found out she was eating a pork chop that belonged to her great-uncle's pig, Suze. She had gotten physically ill, in the worst way.

When they reached the pig sty, the little pigs oiked and grunted. They were so cute. Trevor said, "Amber wanted to name them, but Dad said, 'Real Farmers don't name their livestock.'" This wasn't true, but Lolly didn't contradict him. The pigs were obviously weaned, but not by much, they were still pretty small. Trevor pointed at a red horse stable in the back pasture and said, “Come see my dad’s pride and joy.”

They made their way across the pasture. The stable smelled of hay. There were a number of stalls but only one horse. The instant Lolly saw its brownish red coat, black feet, mane and tail she knew what kind of horse this was. It was a Morgan, like the horses Almanzo Wilder had in The Little House books. Was this horse as wild as the ones that were in the books? She hoped not. Trevor reached out a hand and scratched the horses nose. The horse seemed to like it. He said, “Lolly this is Knight. Isn’t he beautiful?”

“He is.” The fear that Trevor might want her to ride this beast rose up in her brain. She thought horses were gorgeous creatures, but terrifying and not something she EVER wanted to ride.

“You should see him run. He’s beautiful. Feel his nose. It is so soft.”

In all her years of living in a rural area, Lolly had never touched a horse’s nose. That big mouth and those large teeth looked dangerous. If anyone else had asked her she would have declined, but Trevor was not anyone else. She reached out her hand, praying for the safety of her fingers. Her fingers made contact with the nose. The horse let out a puff of air. It startled her, but she kept her hand where it was. The nose was indeed soft, soft like the tiny bright green moss that grew in patches on the ground. It was like velvet. “Wow.”

“I know,” Trevor said. “Until we moved here in June, I had never been anywhere near a horse. I didn’t even know my dad liked horses. It’s so weird. When my dad was still working, he was never around. Now, he’s here all the time. You want to meet my dad?"

No, she did not want to meet him, or talk to him. Once again, she did not say what she was thinking, instead she followed Treavor out of the barn. A way in the distance she saw Trevor’s dad driving a tractor. The tractor was green and new. Trevor waved at his dad and his dad waved back. “He doesn't like to be interrupted when he's plowing. Maybe another time. Want to see the Koi pond?”

Lolly was not sure what a Koi pond was but it had to be way better than having to talk to his dad. "Sure."

They moved to this structure with red and black beams. There were chairs beneath it and a water fall flowed into a large pond. Beneath the surface large white, gold, orange and black fish swam. They pressed their lips to the surface of the water. Trevor laughed, “You guys are such little pigs. Do you want to feed them?”

The fish were lovely and not scary like the horse. “Yes.”

Trevor opened a tin and pulled out some pellets. His hand touched hers ever so briefly as he poured the pellets into hers. “Feed them one pellet at a time.” He sat down on the rock by the pond. Lolly knelt down beside him. She dropped a pellet. There was a frantic thrashing of fins and tails. She dropped another. Trevor said, “I was mad when I found out we were moving here. I really didn’t want to live on a farm. This isn’t really a farm. I thought it was when we first moved here, but after going to some of my friends houses, I have learned what a real farm is. My dad, is just playing at this, its not that I’m knocking him, its just well, sometimes people make fun of him. They call him The Gentleman farmer.”

There were worse names to be called, but Lolly didn’t say that. She dropped in a couple pellets at once. Major frenzy. The way the fishes colors swirled and collided reminded Lolly of a kaleidoscope.

“Lolly,” Trevor said, “I’ve been wondering about something.” She looked up at him. “Is Lolly, your given name or a nick name?”

Very pleased that Trevor actually thought about her sometime, she said, “It’s a nick name, my mom’s favorite book was Pollyanna.”

“Really. Does your mom like to read like you do?”

He had noticed she read! “No, but my Pa does.”

“My mom reads, but its just trashy romance novels.”

Books were books as far as Lolly was concerned. She didn’t harbor prejudices about books, but then, she had never actually read a trashy romance novel. Not sure what she should say, once again Lolly nodded.

“You sure are quiet.”

Lolly did not know if this was an observation or a criticism. “Yeah, I am. It’s one of the reason Munch and me get along so well. He talks, I listen.” She grinned hoping he would find her comment at least amusing.

He laughed, “Yeah, Munch can talk. He’s been pretty quiet lately thought. I heard about your folks.”

This was one topic Lolly did not want to discuss, not even with Trevor Long. “Yeah, its kind of weird.” She turned over her hand and the rest of the pellets fell into the water. The koi splashed and boiled, their big mouth’s popped open at the surface and closed over the pellets.

Trevor said, “My dad being so old is kinda weird too. He’s old enough to to be my grandpa.”

Lolly stood up and said, “Parents are weird.” She hoped he did not ask about her mother.

There was the bang of a door. Lolly turned and looked back at the house. Amber was carrying her satchel and she had on a different outfit. She waved and made her way to them. Slightly out of breath when she reached them, she said, “Bill wants me to come over so, I need to take you home.”

Trevor said, “But you’re not finished with your paper.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “I will finish it tomorrow.”

Trevor shook his head. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. Tomorrow just never seems to arrive does it?”

“Oh shut up.” Amber turned to Lolly, “Are you ready to go?”

She wasn’t but she couldn’t say that. “Uh, yeah.”

Trevor asked, “So where does Mom think you are going?”

“To the library.”

Trevor laughed. “Right.” To Lolly he said, “See you Monday.”

“See ya.”

Amber was walking swiftly away. Lolly ran after her.

In the car, Amber said, “God it is such a pain to have Saint Trevor for a brother.”

Lolly thought, Saint Trevor?

“Maybe if he weren’t damn so perfect Mom and Dad might cut me some slack. But oh no, Saint Trevor gets his homework done, makes his bed, does his chores, tells the truth. It is NAUSEATING.”

Personally Lolly thought it was kinda wonderful.