‘The guardian with a learning paddle’

Jeannie slipped silently down the dark, cellar steps like a shadow on a mission. Certainly not a shadow, but definitely on a mission.

She knew exactly where her grandmother kept her pickle-making crock. Despite the blackness that surrounded her, she headed confidently across the musty narrow room.

One thing was on her 11-year-old mind.

Grandma Joan had loaded her large crock with briny cucumbers four…