RACHEL'S SUMMER
63
So now when she said this about Rachel, I didn't think of it
much, believing it was just another one of those things that I'd
discover for myself before Mother got around to it. I didn't even
thing of it at all. Instead I lay thinking of something else that
Mother had said: "Your sister was a wonderful girl. I want you
to remember that."
I'd remember it, all right. I'd never forget it. I was well
aware of Rachel's distinction, both in the town in general and in
our own house. She was easily the outstanding member of the
family, everybody noticed her all the time, everywhere, and I
remember my mother used to say that she got tired of being known
simply as "Rachel's mother" when people stopped her on the street
and said "You're Rachel's mother, aren't you" and went on to tell
her how proud she must be to be the mother of such a wonderful
girl. She
was
wonderful, but I knew many reasons why she was
wonderful that my mother didn't know at all.
I knew that downtown when boys whistled at her, boys from
the other side of the canal, Rachel didn't get cross or blush or look
away or stick up her nose and refuse to notice, the way other girls
did. Instead, Rachel would look up and see who it was had
whistled, and smile right back, and even wave, maybe. They
thought this was swell, and I did too. - I knew that when all we
kids went on a hike into the country, even though there were boys
in
the bunch, and some of us almost as old as she was, Rachel was
the one who would be first to go into a field where there was a cow
that might be a bull. We'd all stand on the outside of the fence,
looking into the field, but Rachel would climb right over, the first
thing, and go right up to the cow and pat it or hand it some grass,
and then when we saw that it was all right, we'd climb over too. I
don't know whether or not she always knew, but anyway she wasn't
afraid.
And then there was another thing I knew that Mother didn't
know and I was glad she didn't. Rachel told a lie once and all of
us knew that it was a lie but Mother, who wasn't sure. That was a
couple of years before, when Rachel was about thirteen or four·
teen. Mother thought maybe it was a lie but she didn't have proof,
and so she asked Rachel
if
she would swear on the Bible that she
was telling the truth. Rachel said yes, she would. Mother said,
"All right, bring me the Bible." We kids were all scared to death-
