Minute Stories by the award-winning author, Blythe Ayne are delicate and charming tales that take the reader into the life of a little girl living on an acreage in Nebraska. Excerpt from The 4th of July After they'd devoured everything edible in sight, Daddy put the ice-cream freezer on the picnic table. He poured the custard into the metal center, set the beater in place and screwed the lid down tightly. Then he positioned the container in the wooden bucket and packed ice and salt all around it. At last he fitted the handle on and began churning. "This is the awful part," Minute said. "What do you mean?" he asked, "you're not doing the work." "I know! But I've waited all day for fresh ice-cream. What if it doesn't turn out?" "'Oh ye of little faith'," Mother said. "Well, I just can't wait, that's all." "Go bring the strawberries then, keep yourself busy," Mother said. Minute got the huge bowl of strawberries, and coming out the back door, gasped at the sight of the city. The sun, setting in the west, thrust its orange and golden rays against the myriad windows of the city spread out in a valley ten miles to the east, sparkling like a village from heaven. "Oh, look!" she cried. Her parents looked up in alarm to where she pointed, then smiles settled on their faces at the sight of the golden city on the prairie....