An Ill Wind by Pat Miller

Author:Pat Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-13T19:04:51+00:00

Selena had fixed a special supper to celebrate Emma’s eighteenth birthday a few weeks back. Lucy’s family and Armando joined them for a wild turkey dinner. Somehow Selena had baked a cake in a skillet over the campfire and poured honey over it. Delicious! Lucy’s dad had told everybody that it was Emma’s birthday so a big party ensued to celebrate. No one had forgotten what she had done the night of the big storm. Emma sat on a turned-over bucket and was moved as she listened to the singing. How did it happen that these people had become like a family?

Russell sat on a log with a chip on his shoulder. Where was the Widow Stevens? Lucy asked Emma what was wrong with her husband. He obviously would rather be anywhere else. “Why doesn’t your husband want to celebrate your birthday?”

Emma merely shrugged. She was amused at the antics some of the young women used to get Russell’s attention. It was clear that he didn’t much care for his wife, and he was a handsome man.

It was that night that the stories started around the campfire of gold in the Rocky Mountains. Some were even talking about leaving the wagon train before Santa Fe and heading up to the mountains. Emma wondered if Russell would get gold fever.

Selena pulled out more blankets since the nights were colder. Men carrying rifles guarded the wagons every night, ever vigilant. One night Emma was sure she heard the war hoop of Indians. She thought the night’s blackness was big and terrible even with the millions of stars. She felt so small and insignificant. The winds whistled around the wagons and tents like whispering voices. Emma would cover her head with the blanket like she had so often done at home listening to the night winds.

It was at night that Emma thought about home. She thought about the cotton and tobacco fields on the farm, and how she helped her dad put up fencing around the pasture. She thought about the cottonwood and pecan trees that lined the creek behind the out buildings, along with Queen Anne’s lace and the meadow rose. She even missed those notorious pests, the chiggers. She’d go to sleep and hope she’d dream of home.

One morning after Emma had saddled Star she thought she heard thunder. But the sun was bright and no clouds could be seen. Was this another dust storm heading their way? But then the trail hands galloped by yelling that there was a buffalo herd crossing the trail in front of them. Everyone was to stop. “Stop your wagons! Get your kids in the wagon!”

Selena crawled to the back of the wagon. “Get off that horse and get back in here right now! It’s dangerous. You heard what Rowdy just yelled. Now get back in this wagon!”

Emma wanted to see how big the buffalo herd was to cause such chaos. “I’ll be fine, Selena. I’m probably safer on Star than sitting in a wagon. I’ll be right back.

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