Chapter 19

"Chapter 4, Maisy" Sarah Jean said, "Stop pacing and sit down. You are wearing me out walking back and forth." "I know momma," I replied, "But it's getting dark out and the snow is coming down again. They said they would be back by dark and I don't see any sign of them." "Well," said Sara Jean, "Why don't we put Delila and Lessie to bed in the little room and we will all just plan on staying the night. When they get back they both will be tuckered out and wanting to rest. Feel like overnight company?" mother asked. I shook my head yes, "I'll go and put some extra quilts on the bed for them. It's plenty big enough for Granny to sleep in with them when she gets tired," I said, as she left the main room to fix the guest bed. "She's gonna worry herself to death" granny said. "I know," Sara Jean replied, "Maybe this will get her mind off of it. To tell the truth I am a little worried myself, but I won't let on to Maisy," she said. Granny replied, "Now you know as well as I do that Frank knows the woods inside and out. Why he's been hunting them every since he could tote a gun. If anything happens, he'll know how to handle it." Sarah Jean nodded as she rounded up the two sleepy sisters and headed them off to the bedroom. I had laid out two flannel gowns for them to sleep in and had piled the bed high with quilts. Once the girls were in, it didn't take them long to snuggle one another for warmth and drift off to sleep. Sarah Jean kissed them each on the forehead and dimmed the kerosene lamp as she left the room. Leaving just enough light, so if they awakened they wouldn't be scared in a strange room.

I made my way back in to the kitchen and was fussing about making busy work. "I think I will go out to the barn," I said, "and check on the animals." I reached for my scarf and wrap as I spoke. "I won't be gone but a minute," I said to the two women in the sitting room, "I just have to get out before I lose my mind," and quickly opened the door and shut it behind me before they could reply. I walked purposely toward the big barn looking forward to visiting the animals. I opened the small door and quickly stepped in shutting it behind myself. I removed the scarf and hung it up on a peg by the door, but kept my coat on. I scooped up some loose corn in a cup and scattered it around my feet as I called to the chickens scratching around on the dirt floor of the barn.

I then walked over to check on daddy's horse and slipped a small apple from my coat pocket I had picked up on my way out of the house and patted his nose as he gently munched on it from the palm of my hand. When the apple was finished, I threw an old wool blanket over his back and shoulders to help him stay warm in the stall, checking to make sure he had enough hay to chew on. I then stepped over to the next stall and stepped up on the small wood gate to look over the top. Inside I could see Brownie my cow licking and nuzzling her twin calves, calming them down for the night. I watched for awhile and then gathered up more hay to spread into their stall to for them to bed down in. I wandered around inside the barn for awhile raking up the chicken litter and spreading more hay until I sat down on some bales to rest. I laid back and could smell the hay, bringing back the memories of summer when it was planted and fall when it was gathered I snuggled into the warmth and thought, "I will just close my eyes for minute," feeling every inch the tiredness that had seemed to taken over my body.

The snow was coming down hard as Sarah Jean pulled open the barn door and quickly stepped in, shutting it behind her. The snow was already deep and getting deeper by the minute, piling into the doorway as she struggled to close it. She uncovered her head and looked around the barn, spotting her daughter curled up on some hay bales fast asleep, a few of the chickens roosting by her for warmth. She walked over and gently touched her to wake her up. I slowly opened my eyes and then set up quickly, disturbing the roosting hens. "What's wrong," she asked, he eyes big and round, startled at being awoken up by her mother. "Nothing at all," mother replied, sitting down next to me. "You were gone for about an hour and I thought I would check on you. The snow is coming down harder and I wanted you to get back to the house." "Are they back?" I asked, sounding even more worried. "Not yet," my mother replied, pulling her daughter close to her, "but they will be soon. What in the world made you lay down out here" she asked with concern.

I looked away for a brief moment and made a decision "Well, momma most women get tired when they are expecting, don't they?" I asked. Mother's face lit up with joy, "How long have you known," she asked as she hugged her daughter tightly. "About a month, I was sure when I missed my monthly last week, so I figure I am about 4-5 weeks," I replied. "I was planning on telling everybody at Thanksgiving, but it doesn't look like there will be one," I replied with tears in my eyes. "Now don't you fret," mother replied, "Your daddy knows exactly what he's doing in them woods and they are fine. What did Bobby say about the baby?" she asked. "I haven't told him yet, I was going to wait until Thanksgiving morning before we left for your house to eat. Then let him break the news to everyone." Her mother stood up, "Well, we had better get back to the house where it's warm. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I guess we will have to prepare dinner at your house and eat it. How's that sound?" Sarah Jean asked. Maisy followed her to the door, reaching for her scarf, "Fine with me. Since we will all be here and Thanksgiving is tomorrow we had better start planning. Wait a minute" Maisy said to her mother as she turned to walk toward the small storage room, "Let ms get some rope to tie to the barn door and then we can stretch it to the back porch to use as a hand lead if we have to come back out here." Sarah Jean smiled proudly, thinking what a wonderful woman and mother her daughter was going to be.

As they stepped out and closed the barn door behind them the wind picked up their skirts blowing them tight against the front of their legs. I knotted the rope to the handle of the barn door and held her mother's hand as they slowly made their way back to the small house, stretching the rope tight as they went. The snow was up to my knees and had to take high steps to make my way back. When they reached the small back porch she knotted the end of the rope around the post and together they stomped the snow off their feet.

Granny had been waiting by the back door and swung it open to let us in, "I though I was gonna have to come out there," she said, "I spotted yun's coming across the back yard and was glad to see you. I was dreading that snow," she said as she helped them off with their wraps and scarves. "I'll just hang these over by the fire to dry," she said. They followed me over to the fireplace to warm themselves by the low fire. After I hung the wet items next to the fireplace I opened the wood box to add more small logs to the fire.

"Looks like we are about out of wood," I said, as I gathered several small sticks to add to the flame. I clapped my hands and stomped my feet, "Dang, I knew there was something I forgot to tell Bobby. I noticed the wood was low by the stove and had it on my mind to ask him to bring in some more. I guess I will have to go and get some" I said as I reached for my wrap and scarf to once again put it on. My mother placed her hand on my arm, "Just get warm first and let your things dry, it won't hurt to wait a few more minutes," Sarah Jean said, "Then I will help you. Let's discuss what we are going to cook for tomorrow." Granny looked at both of us and said, "Might as well mess up Maisy's kitchen as we had yours," and started reminiscing about the Thanksgivings past.

After about an hour we redressed and went out to get the firewood. Usually it didn't take long to get it back to the house, Bobby had built the woodpile next to the barn in a small shed to keep it dry and could restock the two wood boxes inside in no time. However, when Maisy and Sarah Jean started out it was dark, the snow drifts were higher and we had to make several trips each to carry in the wood. I was pleased with myself that I tied the rope up for a lead, the dark was bad enough but the blinding snow and high snow drifts made each journey extra work. After both wood boxes had been filled and extra wood piled into the kitchen, we both were exhausted. "Why don't we all lay down and rest," Sarah Jean said. "Sounds like a good idea to me," granny replied, "I ain't doing so good keeping my eyes open," she said as she stood up. "Ya'll go on in and lay down in my bed," I said, "I believe that I will stay up for awhile longer."

Sarah Jean and her mother looked at each other, worriedly. "I'll go lay down with the girls," granny said as she hugged Maisy, "I'm sure they have got the bed good and warm. Why we will sleep tighter than a litter of pups in there," as she shuffled off to the small bedroom to join her granddaughters. "Aren't you tired momma?" I asked. "I believe I will wait up awhile with you. Worrying don't seem so bad when it's shared between folks," her mother replied as she sat down in the chair close to the fire. "I will get up some blankets to lay across our laps for warmth" I said, "Then maybe I can read to you for awhile."

I was startled awake by the sound of voices, and jumped to my feet with the lap blanket falling to the floor and ran to the door. I flung open the door just as my father reached for the doorknob. "Where have you been?" I demanded. "Well, ain't you a sight," daddy said. "Did you just get up, why it's got to be about 8:00, ain't you fixed breakfast yet?" I reached out to Bobby and he pulled me into a big hug, Frank stepped inside the door to see what kind of greeting he was going to get. "I was so worried" I said in between kisses, "What happened?" I asked, "Where were you all night?" Bobby smiled at me and said, "Why don't we go in and I will tell you what happened, I'm just about froze to death." I took him by the hand and led him into the house. My father had already stoked the fire and was sitting with his boots off warming his feet. Sarah Jean was in the kitchen putting on a fresh pot of coffee while the girls were dancing around their father wanting to know about the turkey.

I helped Bobby off with his coat and went in the bedroom to get a couple of quilts to place over Bobby and my daddy for extra warmth. Bobby said, "Go ahead Frank, tell them about our adventure," as he pulled me onto his lap to sit. "Well, we left here and got almost to the cutback when we noticed the snow was starting back and the skies were awfully gray. We had just about decided to turn back when we heard a big ole' gobbler off in the woods. Well, we talked it over and decided that we could probably get that old Tom real quick like and then get on back home. Well, we eased our horses into the woods a little way's and tied them up to some branches. Now you got to remember the snow was starting to fall faster, so we got our guns and I sent Bobby up high to circle around him and flush him out. I was gonna walk a little bit down below him so I could get a good shot an not be worried about hitting Bobby. Well, I eased down below the tree line and I could just barely see ole' Bobby cutting down the ridge.

We kept hearing that old Tom gobble and a few hens was clucking too. Bobby was easing up behind him when that old Tom turkey caught sight of him and flew straight up. Well, that set the hens to flying around and snow was a blowing and they flew right to the very top of an old tree. Well by then we couldn't see nary a thing looking straight up and could hardly see each other looking across the tree line. I waved at Bobby to go back to the horses and that's where we met up. We mounted up and started back when Bobby noticed we was riding up on a creek and we realized we had got turned around and was still headin/ for Cold Creek. It was so dark and snow blowing so bad that we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. We tied our horses together so we wouldn't get lost from each other and followed the creek for about a mile or two and came up on this old cabin. They weren't no lights on and we knocked real loud but they wasn't nobody home. Well, we shoved open the door and realized that the folks had moved out and quick like too, the covers was still on the bed and things setting around but you could tell by the way it looked nobody had been there in awhile. Well, we sheltered the horse on the side of the cabin under the trees and out of the wind. Then we went in, started up a fire, found some old canned stuff, heated it up and spent the night."

"Come daybreak, well we got up, fixed things back like they was and headed home." Frank leaned back seeming wore out by telling the story. "But we don't have a turkey," Delila said with a pout "and it's Thanksgiving," said Lessie. Then Bobby spoke up, "Well now that's not exactly true. See while we were making our way back the way we came we come up on that old Tom and his hens and invited him and two of his wives to join us," Bobby said with a grin. I hugged him tight around the neck and snuggled in close to him.