......................................................................................................"How old are you Maria?" said Mother Bernadette....I am eighteen" replied Maria "Going on nineteen" she added hastily.Maria's hands were still firmly clinging to her bare bottom as Mother Bernadette spoke. "Are you familiar with Baron von Trapp and his family" said the good Mother"Yes Mother" Maria said softly."You are no doubt aware that the Baron was widowed several years ago girl and that the. Daddy asked me if I wanted my present and the little girl rose up in my 19 year old self and squealed excitedly that I did. I grabbed it, untied the string, unwrapped the paper, and there it was, a perfectly shaped, completely shelled corncob. Daddy had found some blackberries and made a dye to color the end of it so that it had a "head", and he'd whittled the kernel beds away from a few inches of the stem end to make a handle of its core. All in all it was a wonderful craftsman's example of a. "The side yard is shared by Elena's house and the neighbors with the pampered lawn. Fortunately, there are no sprinklers running at the moment, so he and Mac won't have to endure a shower while trying to escape. At this point, his biggest danger is probably being seen through a side window. Grasping the bike in one hand, and Mac's leash in the other, he sprints towards the end of the house.He arrives at the house's front corner, and peers around it, trying to see whether the garage door is. As soon as he opened the door, Lynda lifted her arms toward him. He flew to her side and embraced her as carefully as he could. He broke down crying on her shoulder. ‘Oh, Lynda… he’s just beautiful! Thank you, my sweetheart… thank you for giving me a son to love! I finally have my loving wife… a safe home and a family to come home to! This is like a miracle to me. I’ll never let anything hurt any of us… I promise!’ Tom would do everything he could to live up to that promise. But he could not.