He limped up to Emmy for a pat on his head and followed her to the chicken coop so she could gather the eggs.  

"You stay outside, Jimmy," said Emmy.   "I don't want you scaring the chickens."  

Emmy went into the dusty chicken coop and reached into the nests to find the eggs.   She placed them carefully into a bucket and set it near the door.  

Emmy then went outside and fed her rabbits their pellets and fresh water for the day.   Her Samantha rabbit had baby bunnies and they were so cute hopping around the rabbit hutch.  

Emmy ran back to the chicken coop, reached inside the door and pulled out the bucket of eggs.   Jimmy followed along by her as she made her way back to the house.  

Emmy saw Mama driving down the driveway.   Mama turned and waved as she pulled out onto the road that led to Grandma's house.  

Emmy carefully placed the eggs on an old towel in the sink and added a little warm water on top of them.  

She cleaned each egg and put it on another towel to dry.   When all the eggs were cleaned and dried, she put them into the egg crate by the back door.  

Now, all she had to do was wait for the egg man to come and pick up the eggs and give her the money.  

As she was washing her hands, she looked out the kitchen window over the sink.  

Papa and Davey were walking down the lane toward the tool shed.   They were on their way to gather the tools they would need to fix the hay wagon.  

Just then, Emmy saw Jimmy limping toward the back barn.   He usually didn't go too far away from the house and cow barn.   It was hard for him to go very far on his three legs.   He seemed to be moving pretty fast and Emmy wondered what he was up to.  

Had he seen a wild rabbit he wanted to chase?  

Had he decided that this nice sunny day would be a good day to go back into the woods and sniff out a raccoon or a deer?  

Emmy was fascinated with what Jimmy might be going to find.   She threw the kitchen towel down on the sink, grabbed her jacket, pulled on her yellow boots and ran out the door to follow Jimmy.  

As she got to the wood shed, she stopped and quietly peeked around the corner.   She knew if Jimmy saw her, he would run back to her and she wanted to follow him.  

Jimmy was already near the back barn.   He was still steadily limping along at a fast pace.  

Emmy thought to herself.   "If I cut across the barn yard and into the orchard, I can keep an eye on him.   He won't be able to see me and I can catch up to him."  

Since it has been warm for a couple of weeks, the snow had melted and made a wet, muddy pond.  

Emmy looked down.  

She had her boots on so it wouldn't matter if she had to walk through the mud.