[My daughter is now all registered and oriented for college, and I'm pretty sure I have several more gray hairs! Back to work. . .]
But this time the wait didn't seem so long. The hands unwound the ball and began stretching thread back and forth, back and forth, between two long rods. They seemed to stretch for a very long distance. Lina liked the fact that for once she could see. She watched the others, but mostly the face, which moved intently back and forth. It took a lot of balls of thread.
Finally, the end was tied off, and the hands took still more balls of thread and began a new action. The thread was wound lengthwise on long sticks and threaded under and over and under and over the individual threads stretched between the rods. When the hands reached one side of the group, they would turn and go over and under, over and under. Then turn, and under and over again. Between each row, a long comblike object beat the rows tightly together.
It wasn't comfortable, but when compared with all Lina had been through, it was bearable. Besides, by now she was consumed by curiosity to see what on earth would be the final result of all these unbelievable happenings. And this time, she could keep her eyes on the face all the time. Now and then, it smiled, and ran a hand the length of the . . .
"Cloth! We're becoming cloth!" came the whisper.
"Fine linen cloth, for something beautiful!"
Lina felt a thrill of excitement. Who would ever have believed, when they all stood together in the field, waving blue blossoms, that they could become cloth? What would they be made into? A fine robe for a rich person? A wedding garment, perhaps?
As always, it took time. Days passed. Progress seemed slow. Every night when the hands stopped and the sun went down, Lina tried to stretch to see how many more inches of cloth had been created. Not many, she thought.
But at last the day came when the hands cut the long swath of linen from the rods. They were finished! And beautiful! And valuable!
To be continued. . .
Repairing the Breach,
Debbonnaire
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