TOO SOON A WOMAN

"Too Soon a Woman" by Dorothy M. Johnson is about an eleven

years old boy who traveled away from home to the mountains with
his father and two little sisters. They were going to where the father
thought he had an old uncle who owned a two-bit sawmill.
On the way they met Mary, who ran away from somewhere that she
wouldn't tell. The father didn't want her along, but she insisted to go
with them and take care of the little girls. In the mountains it was
rainy all the time. On their way, they came to an old, empty cabin.
The father said they have to stop because the horse was tired and
worn out.
They had very little amount of food left. The father asked Mary to
take care of his children, because he'll go to search for his uncle and
come back in about four days. He left with one blanket and his rifle.

The third night a bear scared the horse away. The fourth day they
were out of food, and the father didn't return yet. The fifth day Mary
went out to search for the horse, she returned at night but she didn't
have the horse. Instead, she had a big mushroom.
She said they could eat it. But the boy said that mushrooms are
poisonous. She ignored him and started cooking a slice of the
mushroom, she said she will not give them any until the next day.
When the girls feel asleep she told the boy in a low voice that the
reason she didn't give any of them the mushroom is because she
wasn't sure whether it was or was not poisonous. The next morning,
Mary thought that she would have known by now if it was
poisonous.
She woke them up and cooked them some of the mushroom. That
day she laughed, played with them, and told them stories. When
they heard a shout from outside, the little girls screamed anxiously,
and the boy ran out before them.
The rain has stopped. Their father has returned with a lot of food.
And Mary walked out of the cabin as the sun began to shine. "My
step mother was a great woman." Says the narrator.

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