Andi's Mistake

by,

Sadie Parker

“Ouch!”

Four-year-old Andi pulled a face as her mother combed through a stubborn tangle in her long, dark hair.

“Sorry sweetie,” Elizabeth Carter apologized, “You just have so many tangles!”

Andi pouted her approval and sniveled as another brush stroke yanked her hair.

“Why is my hair so tangly, Mother?” Andi wondered aloud.

Her mom chuckled. “Maybe it’s because you play outside all the time, and don’t take care to brush your hair afterwards,” she advised. “If you remember to brush your hair more often, maybe it won’t hurt so much, and you won’t have so many tangles.”

A scrunched-up face nodded. “I think I’ll do that,” the little girl agreed.

“All right, honey, it’s time for bed now.” Andi’s mother set down the brush.

“But--”

“Andrea,” Elizabeth silenced her youngest daughter with a look. “You need to obey me. Maybe then you won’t find yourself in so much trouble!”

Andi’s loving mother tucked her under her covers and kissed Andi goodnight. “I love you,” she added soothingly.

The last thing Andi remembered before going to sleep was her mother turning the light off and closing the door.

~~~

“C’mon, Coco!” Andi called to the pony she was riding, “Go faster!”

Her dirty brown pony, though, refused to go anything faster than a trot. He snorted and tossed his head in the air as his mistress kicked him again.

“You stubborn little thing,” Andi repeated the words her older brother, Chad, used when he was herding cattle. Coco seemed to pay no attention, and just kept trotting around the arena.

“Someday, I’m gonna--”

“You’re gonna what?”

“Riley!”

Andi stopped trying to make Coco go faster, and rode him over to the fence. There stood her six-year-old friend, Riley, clutching the reins of his gray pony, Freckles.

“Oh, Riley, can you make Coco go faster? He always stays at a silly ol’ trot.”

Andi pouted, and Riley laughed.

“Sorry, Andi, I can’t help you there!” the grin on Riley’s face told Andi that nobody could do anything about Coco the Slowpoke. “But I can offer to go on a ride with you!”

Andi lit up at the idea of going on a ride. Then, her face fell.

“I can’t,” she sulked, “I’m too little.” I’m always too little to do anything, Andi thought miserably.

“Why don’t you go and ask your father?” Riley suggested.

“Oh, alright,” Andi said, “But stay here and watch Coco, won’t you?”

“Sure!” the grinning boy replied.

Andi threw a ‘Thanks’ behind her shoulder as she rushed inside the house. She drew in a deep breath as she realized it was applesauce-making day! Luisa must be very busy, Andi thought as she tore through the house.

“Daddy!” Andi rushed into her father’s open arms and he swung her around.

“Howdy, sweetheart, what’ya need?” James Carter embraced his daughter with a gentle hand.

“Can I go riding with Riley?” Andi paused before continuing. “He’ll protect me, and you don’t have to worry because he’s two full years older than me and if a bear comes we will jump off the horses and race really fast back to the house and scream for someone to come save us and we will-”

“Whoa! Slow down there, pumpkin!” Andi’s father halted her string of flowing words. Andi drew in a deep breath, recovering from her attempt to win her father over.

James stroked his beard in thought, and then said, “I don’t think that that would be a very good idea…”

Andi’s face fell, and she felt a lump rise in her throat.

“…Unless you take one of your brothers along.”

Andi could make out the smile in her father’s voice, and she looked up, tears glistening in her big, blue eyes.

“Really?”

Andi’s father nodded, and gave a big, hearty laugh.

“Why don’t you go find Justin and ask him to go on a ride with you?”

Andi squealed and clasped her hands together.

“Oh, thank you!” She squeezed her small arms around her father’s neck, and raced out the door.

“Ju-stin!”

~~~

Crunch. Crackle. Crunch.

 Justin, Andi, and Riley snapped through the crisp, freshly fallen fall leaves scattered on the ground. They were leading their horses through the thickest part of the forest as a shortcut to the creek.

“Do you think there will be trout to catch?” Andi asked excitedly. This would be her first time to visit the creek.

“For sure!” Andi’s twenty-year-old brother Justin replied knowingly. He thought that it would be a good idea to get Andi familiar with the Circle C Ranch, just in case she ever got lost.

Riley smiled mischievously. “And there’ll probably be a handful of frogs, snakes, and---” Justin silenced Riley with a stern look, mouthing, You don’t want to scare her on her first day at the creek!

Riley rolled his eyes and sighed reluctantly.

“How much further do we have to go?” Andi grumbled impatiently.

“Oh, just a few minutes,” Riley determined.

And a few minutes later, true to Riley’s word, they cleared the forest and spotted the bubbling creek.

“C’mon, lets go!” Andi squealed as she hauled herself back onto Coco.

The view was beautiful. Puffy white clouds towered above the plain, and the tall grass rippled in the cool, gentle breeze. Near the edge of the Carter’s property was a creek rushing through a water-worn path, surrounded by hills and a rocky mountain. That was where the group of riders were headed.

“Go, Coco, go!” Andi encouraged the pokey ol’ pony to speed up. He picked up his pace, but only for a little while. When Andi rode up to the creek, Justin and Riley were already there.

“Well, what’re we waiting for?”

Andi threw off her boots and socks, and rolled up the cuffs of her overalls to her knees. She splashed and played in the creek with Riley, quite happily, for over an hour.

“Alright, you two, I think it’s time we headed back,” Justin advised later on that evening.

“Not yet!” Andi pleaded, “Can’t we stay longer?”

“Do you want your supper?” Justin tilted his head toward the sky. The sun was beginning to slip behind the mountains and cast long shadows across the plain.

“Oh, alright. Fine.” Andi stuck her bottom lip out, and grumpily trudged back to her pony. Riley laughed. Again.

“Oh, Andi!” he said, “If you want to come back, you better not do that!”

Andi planted her hands on her hips. “I can do whatever I want. I’m four years old---”Andi held up four small fingers “----And that is very, very old.”

 “Oh no, little missy. You may not do ‘whatever you want.’ You need to obey your elders,” Justin scolded Andi. His voice was firm, but still kind and gentle.

Andi rolled her eyes. That’s what Mother would say. Not Justin.

“Let’s just go back home,” Riley suggested, “and we can come back tomorrow!”

Andi’s face brightened, her mood instantly changed. “Alright, let’s go!” She kicked Coco hard, and he took off at a slow trot. Again. It would be a long ride home.

~~~

Upon arriving home after the visit to the creek, Andi recalled her mother’s words: “If you remember to brush your hair more often, maybe it won’t hurt so much, and you won’t have so many tangles.”

So, after Andi thoroughly brushed Coco and led him into his stall, she headed inside and scrambled up the stairs to her room. She sat down at her dresser and started to slowly unravel the tangles with gentle brush strokes.

But it wasn’t working. However Andi tried to ease the tangles out, they wouldn’t come undone. If she tried to yank them out, that didn’t work either. After much thought, Andi came to a deliberate conclusion. I am going to cut my hair!

~~~

“Andrea, darling, where on earth are you going?”

Andi stopped in her tracks at the sound of her mother’s inquisitive voice. I can’t let her find out!

“I’m going to - - to bed,” Andi stuttered, “I’m sleepy.” She rubbed her eyes to emphasize her excuse.

“Alright, Sweetie, I’ll come tuck you in.” Elizabeth pushed her chair back, stood up from the dinner table where everyone was hungrily devouring their supper, and walked over to Andi. “Are you sure you don’t want to finish your meal?”

“Yes, mother, I’m sure.”

Andi stared at her still-half-full plate, and her stomach grumbled a protest. I have to leave early if I want my plan to work! Andi thought, against her stomach’s will.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Andi’s mother held her hand out and Andi curled her fingers around it as they walked up the stairs and into Andi’s room. Andi dove under the covers and rolled over.

“I love you, Mommy!” Andi smiled as her mother planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I love you too, Andi.” Elizabeth Carter blew her child one last kiss, walked out the door, and closed it in one smooth motion.

Andi shifted in her comfortable bed, thoughts racing through her mind. She waited until she could not hear any more of her mother’s footsteps, and then hopped onto the floor. Alright. Now, where did I put the scissors?

Earlier, before supper, Andi had tiptoed into her parent’s room, retrieved a pair of her mother’s best scissors, and hid them carefully in her room.

Soon she remembered that they were stashed under her bed, along with the other miscellaneous things collected there: A snake’s shed skin, crumbs of old food, various old coins, random ‘treasures’ from Andi’s pockets, and things like that.

“Okay. Now, how do I start…?” Andi’s voice trailed off as she sat down at her bureau and stared at the cute image in the mirror. Long, wavy locks of dark hair cascaded from her head, and for the first time she considered if cutting her hair would really be a wise choice. But she quickly brushed the thought off, replacing it with, I won’t have to deal with it now, and it will grow back.

Andi snatched up the sharp, silver scissors. She gathered up a cluster of her hair and sandwiched it between the scissors, being careful not to cut herself. She thoughtfully bit her tongue and-

Snip.

Andi watched a clump of her hair fall into her lap.

Snip.

She snipped another piece off.

Snip, snip, snip.

Andi kept cutting her hair until she saw a girl with short hair looking back at her in the mirror. She let the scissors fall from her hand and clatter onto the dresser top. There. No more tangles, no more pain!

Andi smiled at the thought. She let her gaze fall to her lap and down to the floor, both of which were scattered with what was once Andi’s long hair. In a hurry, she gathered up the pieces and stuffed them into one of her drawers, under all her clothes. Mother will never find them here, she thought smugly.

Andi climbed under her bed covers and snuggled deeper into her blankets. No more tangles, no more pain! A fresh wave of excitement washed over her as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

~~~

Sunlight sprinkled through Andi’s bedroom window, dancing through her room. It seemed to be calling, “Wake up, Andi! It’s a new day!”

Andi groaned as she rolled over. The clock perched on her bedside table read 6:30. A rooster crowed outside, and Andi lurched awake. Oh no! I’ve slept in!

Breakfast was at 6:40, and Andi was about to miss it. Hurriedly, she dashed to her closet and picked out a green-checkered blouse, then scuttled over to her bureau and pulled out a pair of worn overalls. When she was fully dressed, she picked up a brush and started to untangle her hair.

“Oh!” Andi squealed as she remembered what she had done the night before. Her hair didn’t have any more tangles, because it was short! Her spirits soared with renewed energy, and she smoothed out the rebellious wisps of hair floating out from her head.

I can’t wait until Mother sees this! Andi smiled to the freckled girl in the mirror, smoothed out her clothes, and rushed out the door. When she reached the top of the stairs, she hopped onto the banister without a second thought. Andi shrieked with glee as she flew down the smooth, wooden banister and landed with a thud on the floor.

“Andrea?” Elizabeth Carter’s anxious voice made Andi rush into the dining room.

“I’m okay, Mother! I was just so excited because…” Andi’s voice faded as she noticed the astonished look on her mother’s face.

With a sudden pang of dread, a cold, hard lump settled inside Andi as she realized what she had done. She’d been deceitful about where she was going after supper, and cut her hair without her mother’s knowledge.

Justin was right, Andi reluctantly admitted to herself, I can’t do whatever I want. She knew she was in trouble. Tears rushed to her eyes and threatened to spill over the edge as she looked down at her feet. Dear God, please forgive me! I didn’t mean to---

“What on earth?” Elizabeth’s voice held a disapproving tone, but it soon dissolved into laughter.

To Andi’s surprise, everyone started laughing! She looked up and glanced around the table. James Carter was shaking with laughter. Justin, Chad, and Mitch were whooping and pointing at her, and Melinda was giggling. And then, all of a sudden, Andi started laughing too!

Everything was going to be okay.

~~~

Andi sighed as she leaned against Coco. His winter coat glistened a soft shade of brown, and he wasn’t dirty anymore. That had been one of Andi’s chores.

That morning, after the laughing had died down, and Andi explained what had happened, she found herself with lots of punishments. Her mother called them ‘consequences’, but Andi still thought they were punishments.

She had already been spanked mighty good for her disobedience, and she had been given extra chores; Chores like cleaning Coco, helping Mitch muck out stalls, and other things of that sort.

The worst part was that she couldn’t go riding for a week.

“I guess I’ve learned my lesson,” Andi told Coco. He nickered in response. “But it was still worth it. No more tangles for a whole---” Andi paused and considered how long her hair would go without being tangly. “I don’t know how long, but at least for now. And at least I have the worst part of the punishment over with.” She smiled and patted Coco’s neck.

“Andi? Where are you?” Andi jumped up, startled, and then ducked behind the stall door. Chad’s rumbling voice did not appear to be happy. “You forgot to water the horses yesterday!”

Andi rolled her eyes and sighed. She was in trouble. Again.