Gathering up a stout clothes-line, Veve strung it tightly between two trees on either side of the lily pond.
“I’ll pretend the pond is Niagara Falls and walk the tightrope across it,” she announced confidently.
“You may fall in and get wet, Veve.”
“Not I,” boasted the little girl. “Why, I’ve walked rail fences dozens of times.”
“A clothes-line isn’t as easy as a fence.”
“Oh, I can do it easily. Only I should have an umbrella to balance myself properly. Tightrope walkers always carry one.”
“I’ll bring one from the house,” Connie offered.
She returned a moment later with a red and green umbrella her father had given her at Christmas time.
“I’ll need something to stand on,” Veve said next.
Running to the garage, she found an orange crate which she placed against a tree trunk under one end of the clothes-line.