he sunlight was warm on Molly as she tended to the first full garden of the season. She smiled as two butterflies flew around her in a mating dance. 

     "Good morning, my little friends," she said softly. 

     The brief times of peace and quiet sitting among her favorite flowers were always treasured. She watched as more butterflies flitted among the garden, ever vigilant of the birds perched in a nearby oak. She knew it was only nature and birds had to eat, but if she could save her gentle friends from them for just a little while, she would. 

     She pulled a weed and began to sing a church hymn just before a voice called out. 

     "Mother! Mother!" Garson cried as he fell to his knees beside her. 

     "Garson, what did I tell you about being so noisy?" she asked in a calm tone. 

     She brushed his hair back with her fingers and smiled at the messy locks. 

     "But, Mother, Radnor won't play with me," he pouted. 

     Molly sighed and turned on her knees to face him. 

     "My sweet boy," she said softly as he started to cry. "You're older than him and his friends. You should be doing something older boys would do."

     "He's only younger than me by a year," Garson argued. "The other boys who are eight like me won't play with me, either. It's because of this devil eye," he cried. 

     She inhaled sharply at the way he addressed his disfigurement and pulled him close as he sobbed. 

     "I wish I could cut it out!" he screamed as he clung to her. 

     She angrily squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. It was the way Charles always spoke of it, so of course, Garson would see it as such. She pulled him away and held his face in her hands. 

     "You listen to me, Garson Gabriel Wade!" she said in a tone he knew not to disobey. "Your eye is not evil. I don't care who says it is. You'll do no such thing to that eye or any other part of you, do you understand me?"

     "But even Father O'Brien says..." he started to interrupt. 

     "Never you mind about what Father O'Brien says or your father or Aida or any of them in this town," she said in a calmer tone, though still with an air of authority. "I'm telling you that eye is something special and you'll come to know it is someday. 

     No one knows what God plans when he sets about doing something. No one has the right to condemn a thing he put on this Earth, and he put you and that eye here, didn't he? Answer me, Garson. Didn't he?"

     Garson pursed his lips to keep from arguing. He knew his mother was wise, even when it felt like she was wrong. 

     "Yes, Mother," he said quietly. 

     "That's better," she said with a pat to his arm. "Do you see what keeping a calm head can do? You understand a situation better when you don't go ranting and raving and yelling everywhere. Look, you've scared away the birds."

     He looked up at the empty branches and smiled mischievously. "At least they won't be going after your butterflies, Mother." 

     Molly turned and looked back at her son. She shook her head and laughed at his snark.

     "Mother," they heard from the edge of the garden. It was Radnor and he walked toward them with a shameful expression. 

     "Garson, I'm sorry I left you behind," he said to his older brother as he stood beside him. "I knew they were going to tease you, so I convinced them to play elsewhere. I left as soon as we were at William's house."

     Molly smiled as the two boys hugged each other. They would be all right together. She began to hum a song the boys knew from her childhood. As she started to sing the lyrics, they sat beside her and listened. It was a good day for a little while, and all three had learned not to take the short time of joy for granted.