Of course, none of the trees were hers to negotiate. Before Monroe could fell a single tree, he would have to get her parent's permission. Ma would probably agree, but Pa might not. The trees wouldn't concern him. It would be the car - specifically, who was driving it. He was afraid she would go wild, like Jim Bob. She had never told him that Jim Bob taught her how to drive. All she needed was a driver's license. She'd have to figure on that cost too - and someone to take her to the testing.
She could probably talk Pa into letting her get a car, if she could get enough money. Monroe's accident would surely convince Pa that they needed transportation when he was gone. What if it had been one of his family members? What if Lester had followed her home?
Pa wouldn't be back until the end of the month. In the meantime, she needed to find something decent to wear and do something with her hair. One task was as great as the other.
In her room, she studied her reflection in the mirror. Her hair wasn't really that bad. She'd use a vinegar rinse to bring out the gold highlights and make it shine. She used both hands to lift it off her neck. Yuck. Her neck looked scrawny that way. She looked like a goose. She let her hair drop and grabbed a brush. After several strokes to put it in order, she pulled it into a pony tail. That made her face look too long and skinny.
She let her hair fall again and frowned at her face in the mirror. "Why are you trying to look like somebody you ain't? Just worsh yer hair and put on some clean clothes. You ain't never goin' to mean nothin' to him anyways."
That was what she told herself, but the day Monroe was supposed to take them to lunch, she still wished she had something nice to wear and someone to fix her hair so it looked nice.
After chores, she hauled water from the pump and heated it in the old blue speckled enamel stock pot. She poured it into the metal watering trough in the wash room and then heated another pot full. The second batch of hot water warmed the tub enough that she could add cold water to finish filling it to bathing level. She took a pitcher of warm water with vinegar in it to rinse her hair and enjoyed a short bath. After she got out and dried off, she combed her hair and squeezed it with her fingers to give it a little curl when it dried naturally. She dressed in some old clothes and then began dipping the water out of the tub so Ma could take her turn.