Jean Hornsby's Tree-Riffic!

2006 Jean Hornsby. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/17/2008

ISBN: 9781504902083 (e)

Second Edition

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005910099

Jean Hornsby’s Tree-Riffic!

published by

Jean Hornsby’s Shady Acres Press

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

TO MY MOTHER

This book is for my mother, Norma Jean Copenhaver, who always let me believe in magic.

TO MIDDLESEX HOSPICE

This book is also for the Middlesex County, Virginia Hospice, with the belief there should always be a magical story in a child’s life. From Peter Pan to Long John Silver to Tom Sawyer, there is magic in literature. It is a loving God, who helps us create magic in the lives of others. If we allow Him to work in us, even in small ways each day, that magic is reassured. Jean Hornsby

Thanks and Acknowledgments

I would like to thank J.H. Morris, my greatest friend. Without J.H.’s strength and inspiration, this story for children, which means so much to me, could not have been conceived, written and published. Thank you so much, J.H., for all you’ve done for me. I love you.

I also wish to thank my family and friends, who have supported me, individually and collectively, all along the way. My success is their success. This book, in hand, is living proof of great things dreamed and great things delivered. Many people were involved.

I appreciate the prayers of my friends, for God listens to everyone. How He responds is another matter. In this case, I wanted the encouragement of my friends and I, abundantly, received it, with a lot of warmth and love thrown in.

I have carried these stories—these chapters in my heart for more than thirty years. It is about time I share them. The Hammermills are a wonderful American family.

Mr. Oak and Miss Maple have always been with me. I hope they always will be. Their adventures on ‘Shawnee Mountain’ are ‘funny and exciting and entertaining.’ I love them. To me, they are as real as ‘moss,’ to take a cue from the story . They are as real to me as The Wizard of Oz, or Dorothy and Toto on the Yellow Brick Road.

Mr. Oak and Miss Maple were kind enough to narrate the story for all of us, who are still children at heart. They, really, did narrate it, too.

When Mr. Oak tells Miss Maple he wishes to grow a mustache to look like Clark Gable, I believe him. When Miss Maple reads the latest Saturday Evening Post, over Jean’s shoulder, I know she yearns to learn more about the world around her.

That world is set on a Pennsylvania mountain top - the Poconos – in post-world-war 1947. The soldiers are still returning home from Europe. Father Ned still goes to the local ‘country store’ for groceries. There is no electricity running to the house at the top of ‘Moser’s Nob.’

It is a more ‘innocent’ time in America. It is also a hopeful time. Jean paints the family barn. Johnny plays his trombone, when he isn’t playing pirate in his tree house. Carol plays with her kittens. Susie makes ‘hot steaming biscuits with melting butter,’ while mother Nora prepares the cook stove. So, welcome, one and all, to this very special place. You will meet, Gunner, the retired military horse, who plows the fi eld in the meadow. And, Lucky, the German Shepherd, who chases his tail. He is also smarter than Rin Tin Tin. You’ll meet Buck, the black stallion, who runs faster than lightning.

Most of all, I wish to thank my editor, Ronald Payne. Ron says he wished he could have presented this book to Maxwell Perkins, the great editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons, who lived during the period set in the book. Perkins would have loved it, Ron says.

Personally, with all due respect to ‘Mr. Perkins,’ who nurtured the writing careers of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie K. Rawlings, Ring Lardner, Thomas Boyd, James Jones and Alan Paton, I am still glad it was Ron Payne, who edited my fi rst book.

If not for Ron, this ‘book would still be lingering in my heart, but it would not be published.’ He rolled up his sleeves, like Max Perkins, and went to work. A whole lot of his time and energy went into the shared creative process, with me. The power of the love, he put into this book shows in every line. He understood all of my characters, from the beginning. This book for children, and there is a child in each of us, shows to the world what two people can accomplish, who share one common vision. If you will forgive me the pun, we made a ‘Tree- Riffi c!’ team.

There is a ‘magic’ for me in the writing of this book and I hope that ‘magic’ will be shared with the children of the world. And, with all people, who want to leave their troubles behind. Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fi ne cushion for old age, Booth Tarkington once wrote.

JEAN HORNSBY,

Shady Acres,

Deltaville, Virginia

24 October 2005

JEAN

HORNSBY,

AUTHOR

JEAN HORNSBY

AS

A LITTLE GIRL l-

WITH FRIENDS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR---JEAN HORNSBY

Jean Hornsby is the Mother of Yours, Mine and Ours, in the real ‘Brady Bunch tradition.’ I believe children are a precious gift from God, she says, with a twinkle in her eye. I can tell you some great stories about children.

"It is most important what we do with each gift God gives us. I have worked in the retail selling of ‘precious jewelry’ for more than twenty years. The family I work for believes in family values. To me, it all starts with reading. Teach a child to read a good book and one can change the world, for the better.

"For the last two years, I have taken mission trips to ‘Moldova’ and to ‘Russia.’ The purpose of each visit was to teach ‘Bible school’ to children.

"I know the importance of books and learning to children, the world over. Literacy makes a difference.

"The gift God has presented me is seeing the light in children’s eyes when we talk about books they are interested in. It is like ‘lighting a candle in the dark.’ Children love books, everywhere.

Like Nora in this ‘novel for children—and adults, alike—I love fl ower gardens. My father’s favorite hymn was I Come to the Garden Alone."

I can still hear my father, Ned, singing: He walks with me and he talks to me and he tells me I am his own."

"I believe both my parents would have gotten a kick’ out of reading about ‘Mr. Oak’ and ‘Miss Maple.’ After all, they were neighbors, in real life up on ‘Shawnee Mountain.’

"This little book may not change the world, but I am hoping it will change your day, if you are feeling a ‘little bit low, a little bit blue.’

Let’s face it: It’s a happy book!...

It is my wish this book will give you, the reader, regardless of your age, whether you are 3 or 103, much joy to get you through your day.

Love, Jean

Biography of Ronald Payne, editor

RONALD PAYNE –

THE EDITOR

Ronald Payne is one of the most gifted and outstanding writer-editors working in America today. His fi rst novel, Shadows in the Sun, 1973 was published throughout the world to great fanfare, with comparisons to both Hemingway and Fitzgerald. In 1987, Mr. Payne changed gears and published, The Dark Side of Twilight, a Richard St. James PI thriller, once again drawing comparisons to both Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald. His novel, Black Thursday, written in 1984 proved prophetic, with terrorists crashing two jets into the World Trade Center. Mr. Payne fi rst conceived that idea in 1966, while writing his Raven Marsh spy thriller, Death for the Deadly, when the villain uses planes against the Pentagon and the Capitol, while the President of the United States is presenting his State of the Union Message to the Nation.

Like Graham Greene, Mr. Payne divides his work into two categories: entertainments and literary novels. Born in 1950, Ronald Payne has reached an age when he wishes to do only the most important work. His next novels will be serious espionage stories in the mode of LeCarre’. The Follies of Arrogant Men and A Dangerous Obsession With Money, promise to be breath takers.

Mr. Payne’s favorite authors are Count Leo Tolstoy and Joseph Conrad. His favorite American