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Picking up the two water buckets both girls had to stifle a groan then a giggle. Walking quickly and quietly they approached the boys from behind and emptied the contents of the buckets over their heads.
Giggling they dropped the buckets and ran from the boys who yelled in surprise.
"Hey Nat, boy is it hot out here today." Dan smiled in spite of the heat and sat next to his best friend on the front steps.
"Hey Dan. Yeah it is hot. Maybe we could talk Mrs. Jo into letting us go down to the creek later." Nat scooter over on the step to make some room for Dan.
Dan started to grin as he thought of a plan. "I'll bet I could dunk Bess more than you could dunk Nan."
"Well no kidding Dan. I doubt Nan would let me dunk her even once." Nat laughed and hit Dan on the shoulder playfully.
"Right now, I think even being dunked would feel good." Dan hit back.
Both boys were so busy hitting each other than neither heard or saw the two girls sneaking up behind them.
Suddenly a spray of water came over their heads instantly drenching them in cool and startling water.
Yelling in shock Nat whirled in time to see Bess and Nan turning the corner to hide behind the house.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?!" Dan yelled at the top of his lungs causing Mrs. Jo and Asia to come running to the window. Seeing that it was just water they smiled and went back to their baking.
Nat picked up the two buckets then turned with them and sarcastically replied, "it was water Dan."
"I know it was water Nat! What I meant," he answered in a voice that was trying to keep a hold on his anger, "was WHO did it?"
"Bess and Nan." Nat smiled. "You have to admit it was a good prank though."
Dan let out all of the air he didn't realize he was holding and smiled. "Yeah it was good. After all, we were the ones who said we wanted to be wet."
"Well, . . . should we return the favor?" Nat looked around to see if they were alone.
"Yeah. How about this: You know how Bess and Nan are always the first to the table in the morning and Mrs. Jo compliments them on being so prompt?" Dan continued without waiting for an answer. "I have an idea to make them Last to the table. You see Mrs. Jo went to town yesterday and they were having a special on honey . . . . ."
Mrs. Jo looked around the dinner table wondering why it was so quiet. Rob, Tommy, Jack, Emil, Billy, and Stuffy were talking to Nick at the other end of the table, Ned and Meyer were home visiting family, and Bess, Nan, Dan, and Nat, well they were acting a little strange. Nan would glance at Bess and smile, then quickly look back down at her plate. Bess was doing the same, and both would steal small glances at Dan and Nat, whose hair was still damp, when they thought they weren't being watched.
Dan and Nat, would whisper for a few minutes, glance at the girls, then smile. Jo sat watching this for a while and wondered if there was such a thing as "Fall Fever." (Author's Note: You've all heard of Spring Fever right??? If not, find out!)
"What time is it Nat?" Dan whispered from his bed on the other side of the room.
"Whatever time it is, I'm getting sleepy so we had better do our stuff now." Nat replied sitting up and pulling on his slippers.
Dan immediately sat up and grabbed his slippers. "So which should we do to which?"
"Nan has a hard head, and she's usually second, so I'll put the soap on the floor next to her bed, you put the honey next to Bess'"
"Sounds good to me. Did you hide the honey under your bed? I have the soap." Dan snuck over to Nat and handed him the soap receiving the honey in exchange.
"Lets do it." Nat replied and quietly walked across the hall to the girl's bedroom where he then stopped to calm his jumpy nerves. Slowly he pushed the door open, half expecting them to jump up and surprise them, but when nothing happened he continued into the room.
He wandered over to Nan's bed where she lay sleeping and stood watching her for a minute. Dan's hushed voice startled him back to his present time. "Nat? What's the matter? Why haven't you started."
Nat jumped then started spreading the soap. He was glad for the darkness so that Dan couldn't see him blush. Nan was sure pretty when she was asleep. Not that she wasn't pretty when she was awake . . .
Finishing, both Dan and Nat hurried from the room and shut the door quietly. Then they went to bed, but it took Nat a long time before he fell asleep.
Nan woke when the smell of hot biscuits and eggs drifted up to their room. She looked over at Bess who was just sitting up. Smiling over at her, Bess quickly brought her feet onto the floor, setting them into a pool of honey. "Ewwww! Nan!"
"What?" Nan asked curiously.
"I just stepped in honey!"
"Are you okay?" Nan smiled in spite of herself.
"Nan! It's not funny!" But Bess started to giggle. "Could you come help me out of this stuff?"
"Yeah." Nan hurried and stood to help Bess. She started to walk but her feet slid on something smooth and she lost her balance. She slid to the wall unable to stop herself, and in a matter of seconds, hit the wall, fell on the floor, hit her head, and blacked out. The last thing she heard was Bess screaming her name.
Nat woke with a start to someone screaming. Dan was already up and running for the door. He got up and followed Dan to the door. Mrs. Jo ran up the stairs and into the girls' room. Worried Nat followed giving Dan a look that showed fear.
"Bess what happened?" Jo ran to where Nan was lying on the floor. Bess knelt beside her trying to wake her with tears running down her face.
"Oh Aunt Jo. Nan was . . . She tried to . . . Aunt Jo will she . . . Is she okay?" Bess was hysterical. She couldn't finish her sentences and she couldn't stop crying.
Nan groaned and slowly opened her eyes. "Uhh. What happened?" she whispered.
"Mom there's soap on the floor over here." Rob said softly sniffing at the floor.
"What? Soap?" Mrs. Jo looked at her son quizzically.
"I can explain Mrs. Jo." Nat said from the doorway. Everyone turned to him with questions in their eyes. "You see, yesterday afternoon Nan and Bess, dumped buckets of water over our heads. It really startled us. We, Dan and I, were trying to think of something to do back and Dan came up with the idea of honey and soap. It sounded like a good plan to me so I agreed to do it. . . "
"It was just for fun Mrs. Jo. You gotta understand that." Dan said from behind Nat. "We didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. Bess, Nan, I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me."
Nan smiled through the pounding in her head. "You should have seen me fly Mrs. Jo." Everybody started laughing and Dan sighed relieved. "Don't worry guys. I won't hold it against you." Nat didn't say anything, he just quietly left the room, not realizing that Nan wanted him to stay more than all the others.
Nat was sitting in the loft wondering. He was frightened that something could have happened to Nan and it would have been his fault. He didn't notice that she was standing on the latter watching him.
"Are you okay?" Nan asked quietly startling him.
He spun quickly, then watched as she came and sat beside him feet dangling over the edge. "Shouldn't it be the other way around. Me asking you if you are okay?"
She smiled for a second then let it fade. "No. Because I'm okay Nat. Yeah, it hurt for a while, but I'll heal. Life goes on. When Dan asked for forgiveness I not only forgave him, . . . . . . . . . . but I forgave you too. Nat, I . . ."
"I'm sorry Nan. Can we still be as good friends as we were before?"
"Better." She smiled and was a little relieved when he smiled back.
"Phew. That's a relief. So how much better can we get?" Nat grinned.
She smiled and leaned over and before either of them had time to think about it kissed him quickly on the lips.