Hicks was beaming. And Great-granddaddy and Great-grandma were coming towards me.

  "Oh Betty dear," Great-grandma called, her arms outstretched. "We're going to get you down from there right now! Everything's going to be all right!"

  Her voice sounded far away. I felt woozy. Suddenly, the scent of almonds enveloped me. Then everything went black!

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  I was staring at the roof of the cave. Blinking. My eyelids felt heavy. My whole body felt heavy.

  "What... happened?" I groaned.

  Like an evening fog, the memory came to me.

  I had saved my family's fortune from the speculators _ and almost gotten killed in the process. Luckily, I'd escaped with only a broken leg.

  The memory of that pain made me start. I sat up. I looked down at my leg. It looked... strange.

  Not only was it whole and unbroken, but my drop-waisted dress and my high-ankled boots had disappeared.

  Instead I was wearing clean, new jeans that fit perfectly. I also had on a pretty purple sweater and sturdy sneakers I'd never seen before.

  "What?" I murmured. I creaked to my feet. I looked around. Once again, the mine shaft was boarded up!

  On impulse, I grabbed a hank of my hair and peered at the ends. It was blond!

  I had morphed back to myself. I was Amy again! Amy with better clothes, that is!

  There on the ground next to my feet was the

  "Hillbilly Witchery" book! I grabbed it and flipped to the return-morph potion.

  Next to a list of ingredients, I spotted these instructions:

  "If from your morph, you want to flee Simply mix this recipe

  But if the brew is out of sight,

  Just wait until the time is right!"

  I dashed out of the cave and headed home. I bounded up the steps and noticed that the porch rail held flowerpots and the rockers were sturdy and comfortable _just as they'd been in 1920.

  I burst through the door. "Mama? Daddy? Jud?" I called. Nobody was there.

  I gazed around. The cabin sure looked different. It was fresh-scrubbed and sunny. And it was filled with colorful crafts and hand-carved wood furniture.

  But where was everybody?

  "Where is Mamaw?" I said in a panic.

  "Hello? Hello? Who's there?" I heard a vaguely familiar voice calling from the front porch. Then somebody's head poked through the front door.

  "Mamaw!" I shrieked, running over to her. "You look... so good!" I exclaimed.

  "Why thank you, sweetheart," Mamaw said, stepping into the house. I noticed she had a slight limp. And she was favoring her left leg. The one I had broken!

  Other than that, she looked wonderful. I barely recognized her. Her hair was a soft brown. Her eyes were blue and sparkling. Her voice wasn't creaky or croaky in the slightest.

  She seemed twenty years younger than the last time I'd seen her!

  She was dressed in jeans and hiking boots and holding a beautiful, carved walking stick.

  "Mamaw, what are you doing up? You were so sick," I said.

  "I was? Are you sure you didn't dream that?" Mamaw asked with a glint in her eye. "I'm feeling great. I was just using the walking stick your daddy carved for me _ taking my daily constitutional around the grounds."

  Grounds? What was she talking about?

  "The real question, young lady," Mamaw said, "is what are you doing out here in the guest house?"

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Guest house?

  I was speechless. I stumbled outside with Mamaw and followed her behind the

  "guest house."

  I gazed around me. I was surrounded by huge, beautiful trees and patches of meadow.

  "Wh-where is the corn field?" I stuttered.

  "Corn field?" Mamaw said. "Why you've never seen corn stalks here. There hasn't been corn here since I was twelve. We dug it up to mine the diamonds.

  You know that."

  "Oh, yeah," I said. I was trembling. A thrill shot up my spine.

  "After they dug up all the gems, your great-granddaddy planted these trees,"

  Mamaw said. "Over the years, it has become a right pretty orchard, hasn't it?"

  "Oh, yes," I breathed.

  "The children sure like it," Mamaw said as she tromped along.

  "Children?" I asked.

  "Why yes, darling," Mamaw said with a laugh. "You know, you can't have a school without school children!"

  She pointed across the meadow to an elegant brick building I'd never seen before. A sign hanging over the front steps said, "The Jane Montgomery Hughes Memorial School."

  "Wow," I whispered. "I guess Miss Montgomery found true love after all!"

  I gazed around the school grounds. Kids were everywhere. Looking plump and healthy, they sat against trees and on the school steps. Most of them were reading books! Even William Mott!

  "E-everybody looks so healthy," I marveled. "So well-fed. And they're reading!"

  "Well, yes," Mamaw remarked. "It's all because of your great-granddaddy!"

  "Really?" I said. "Tell me about it!"

  "Well you know, not too long after we discovered our diamond mine, the Depression struck," Mamaw recalled. "And our family just did everything we could. It began with food and housing. But then we started improving the schools and the roads.

  "My Uncle Jack _ remember him? He lived to be 103!" Mamaw exclaimed. "Anyway, Uncle Jack gave up his mail route and went to college. He learned about agriculture and business. When he came back to Bearhead, he taught the holler people to terrace their fields and fight erosion. And he convinced a lot of folks _ your daddy the master whittler included _ to sell their crafts.

  "Now Bearhead Holler is known for its pottery, quilts and oak baskets," Mamaw said. "People here had no idea how valuable our old mountain crafts were! But now everybody does agree, Bearhead Holler has become a paradise in these mountains!"

  I was stunned.

  And when we came to a tall, beautiful Victorian house, my mouth dropped open.

  The house was painted a sunny yellow and it had a huge, white, wraparound front porch.

  "Is this our house?" I asked.

  Mamaw laughed. "Well you know it is! You've lived here all your life!"

  My daddy was sitting in a rocker on the porch, carving wood. Mama was there too _ popping beans. Both looked much happier and younger than I'd ever seen them look!

  "Amy, there you are honey," Mama called. "I've laid out a nice after-school snack for you in the kitchen."

  I bounded up the stairs and gave Mama and Daddy kisses hello. They acted like that was the most normal thing in the world.

  Then I ran inside.

  My house was beautiful! Everywhere you looked there were colorful quilts hanging on the walls and face jugs grinning from bookshelves.

  In the kitchen there was cool, running water , no pump! On a pretty, hand-woven place mat, my mother had set out a bunch of fresh fruit and some molasses cookies.

  I gazed around me. Instantly, I felt right at home.

  Clearly my family wasn't "fancy rich" like I'd read about in books, all velvet and lace and formality. Instead, the Jones house was filled with the art of the holler and with homey comforts.

  I sighed happily. Everything was going to be all right!

 

 

  Bearhead Holler (pdf), K A Applegate - [HumanoMorphs 01]

 

 

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