All George wanted was a moment alone, but when a frog had two cats, a dog, and a parrot, that didn’t happen often. The animals seemed to be of the opinion that no one should bathe alone, and they took it as their solemn duty to join George in the bathroom at all times.
And from outside the bathroom, Polly hollered at the top of her lungs, “Where did he come from, where did he go? Where did he come from, Cotton-eyed Joe?”
George sighed and washed his hands. When he came out of the bathroom, Polly flew to his shoulder and gave him a very loud kiss on the cheek.
“Mu-ah!”
“They love you, George,” Amelia said.
“Yes, I see that,” George replied.
Amelia’s New Year’s resolution was to learn how to bake in her wood burning kitchen stove. Whenever Amelia read Patricia’s Amish romance novels, it sounded like it couldn’t be that hard. And Amelia was a very good cook in her regular oven. George always said so.
So she decided to make cookies.
It took an hour to start the fire in the stove. George helped her with that. And after they had it burning nicely, Amelia popped a pan of cookies into the oven.
Patricia would be thrilled! Amelia couldn’t wait to report back.
But when the timer rang after ten minutes and Amelia pulled the cookies out of the oven, she was met with a burned lump.
“Oh, dear…” she sighed, and she picked up her phone, took a picture, and sent it to Patricia.
‘Don’t feel bad,’ Patricia texted back. ‘I made cookies, too, and I burned them in a regular English oven!’
Patricia’s picture of her burned cookies looked just as bad as Amelia’s!
Amelia started to laugh. She’d try again another day. But kudos to those Amish ladies who cooked like pros on those wood burning stoves. They deserved more credit than they got!
Patricia Johns was getting so very busy with her current book that she was writing, and Mr. Johns had started to worry about her. She’d been burning the food lately–which was a problem when he got home from a long day of hard work to an apologetic wife and inedible food. Once when she went grocery shopping, she was so distracted thinking about her book that she drove in the wrong direction! Something had to be done.
So Mr. Johns asked Amelia if her schedule would allow her to help with some knitting.
“We’d pay you for your time and skill, of course,” Mr. Johns said. “We truly appreciate all you do, and we’d never want to take advantage of a friendship.”
“Of course, I can help,” Amelia said. “Knitting is relaxing for me, and George and I could always use a little extra income.”
“Where… where is Patricia?” Mr. Johns asked, turning around.
And there Patricia was, standing outside in her slippers checking the mail. Or she was supposed to be checking the mail. She was just standing there looking thoughtful with the keys to the mailbox in her hand.
“She’s lost in her story again,” Amelia chuckled. “You go get Patricia back inside before she freezes, and I’ll work on some bookmarks for her.”
It really did take a village to get a book written, and Patricia was the first to admit it! Her bookmarks would continue to be knitted with love… by Amelia Frog.
I hope you enjoy these little stories! I thoroughly enjoy writing the books that are published, and I hope you’ll check them out.
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Happy reading!
❤
Patricia Johns 
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