In the Shadow of the Sun by Anne Sibley O'Brien

Author:Anne Sibley O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

OCTOBER 6

Mia woke up, grateful that she was still alive. The fear hadn’t killed her.

Next to her, Simon moaned. So he was still alive too. She sat up and examined his leg. The redness and swelling and bruising didn’t look any worse.

She needed to start a new fire and heat water. And figure out some way to reach those persimmons in the high branches.

Simon moaned again. He looked flushed, and his lips were dry. She scooted closer to him, lifted his head, and brought a bottle to his mouth. He gulped water. She lay his head back on the pillow of his pack, put her hand to his forehead. It felt like he was burning up inside.

Simon had a fever.

Mia grabbed her spare pair of socks, scrambled out of the room and across the porch, and ran for the stream. She rinsed the socks in the icy water and came running back to place the cool, wet fabric on her brother’s forehead.

Now, hot water. But when she picked up the basket, she saw that it was ruined. The mud had dried and cracked, and most of the wrappers had come loose. It would never hold water now. She felt a moment of complete defeat.

Then she took a deep breath and blew it out. She had to help Simon get better. She’d make another basket. At least she knew how to do it now.

Searching for weaving materials in the long grass near the stream, her foot caught on something. It was dark brown, half buried in the dirt. A fragment of a large curved vessel.

She knelt and began to claw at the dirt with her fingers. Finally, she lifted the vessel out of the ground. She recognized it as a jar for holding kimchi. Cabbage and red pepper were mixed together and buried in jars through the winter to ferment. One whole side of the jar was missing. But the bottom was intact. The unbroken section came nearly to her knees. Leaned on its side, it looked as if it could hold at least a gallon of liquid.

Careful of the broken edge, she carried the fragment to the stream and scrubbed it clean. Then she lugged the vessel, filled with clear, cold water and cradled in her arms like a heavy baby, back to the lean-to, inching along so the liquid didn’t slosh out. She arranged it at an angle in the fire pit so that the surface of the water was level. Her heart was pounding now. A little hope mixed with the dread.

She filled the fire pit with wood and dry grass and lit it with a single match. Thirteen left. Squatting in the lean-to, she watched the fire. It was going to take forever to heat that much water.

Maybe she could wash her clothes — the inside ones — while she waited. She took off everything in the lean-to, then quickly pulled her jeans, jacket, and shoes on over her bare skin. Squatting beside the stream, she tried

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.