Sally walks with Aunt Maria and two kids, Son and Olivia, along a dusty road in the summer. She looks at the dust that they are kicking up as they walk. Sally thinks about the Green Fairy Book that she gave to Son and she wants it back. They all walk towards an old house and a peach orchard and run into Mrs. Wilkins who says that the peach trees are hers, but Aunt Maria asserts that they aren’t. The kids help Aunt Maria pick up peaches, except for Sally who doesn’t want any peaches. Later, Sally rides a horse into the woods slowly, admiring the trees and the quietness of the forest. She goes about softly and thinks that she can go anywhere the horse can. She comes across the base of a tree where she sees an indent in the flowers and half of a golden earring. She imagines that a gypsy was there. She gets off the horse and walks deeper into the forest alone and sees an owl. One day she is riding with two boys, Alec and Tom, in a horse drawn cart to Aunt Silvy’s house where many other children are. She fights with the boys along the way and they tell her that Aunt Silvy is one-hundred-and-fifty-years-old and eats children so that she can be strong. They get to the house and Sally walks to Aunt Silvy’s cabin to greet her. She goes in and shakes Aunt Silvy’s hand, who is sick in bed. Being afraid of the old woman, Sally leaves and runs back to where the other children are to get ice cream. Later, she is with Tom on a hill and he tells her that she should start hanging out with other girls. She says she likes hanging out with the boys. The two get near a puddle, and Tom jumps over but Sally wades in the puddle and then cuts her finger on something sharp. Tom makes fun of her and then another boy, Robert, comes in on his horse to talk with Tom. Tom sends Sally away who goes to pick berries and then she sits under a cherry tree and stares at the leaves. She sees a red bird and she wishes that Ellen and Alice would come to her this summer. She returns to the boys who are talking about gossip in town and a man sleeping with someone underage. Sally walks home alone, her feet burning in the dust, imagining a fairy godmother flying her away to a palace.