The Barn Raising by Christine Sterling

Author:Christine Sterling [Sterling, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-27T05:00:00+00:00

Rosie woke up and looked around the room. It took her a moment to remember what happened. Her eyes felt puffy and her throat was dry.

She stood and walked to the window. It was twilight. Her favorite time of the day. Darkness would be falling soon. She didn’t see Martin on the roof and the ladder that was against the barn was missing as well.

She needed to make things right. She grabbed a wrap from the end of the bed and draped it around her shoulders. Grabbing a cup, she filled it at the water pump and started walking towards the barn.

The animals were still in the field. That’s odd, she thought. Martin should have brought them inside by now. She walked around to the far side of the barn and she let out a scream, the cup slipping from her hands. There on the ground was her beloved Martin.

He was sprawled on his back; his leg was in an unnatural position. The wooden ladder had him pinned to the hard dirt.

“Martin!” she cried. She tried to lift the ladder, but it was heavier than she imagined. She was able to move it an inch, but Martin groaned when it rested back on him.

She called his name again. With a strength she didn’t know she had, she lifted the ladder and tossed it a few inches away from him. Rosalie could hear the hissing as he took a breath and exhaled. That couldn’t be good.

“Martin. Please wake up.” She couldn’t see through the tears. She brushed Martin’s hair away from his face. There wasn’t any blood visible. She gave a sigh of relief.

Rosalie put her arm under Martin’s neck and tried to get him to sit up. He wouldn’t budge. She was going to need help to get him into the house. She needed to get to town to get the doctor.

There was no one near she could call for help so she could stay with Martin. She was quite frantic with tears and helplessness. She knew she needed to get help, but she didn’t want to leave her husband alone with no one beside him.

“Stay still, Martin,” she said, leaning down to give his forehead a kiss. His skin was clammy. “I’m going to run for help.”

Martin didn’t move. His breathing was becoming shallower. A thought occurred to her and she ran back to the bedroom and grabbed a pillow and the quilt from the bed. She returned to her husband and lifted his head slightly to slide the pillow underneath. She didn't know if it would help or not. She covered him with the quilt and gave him another quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

She quickly grabbed a harness from the barn and went to the field to whistle for Nettie. The horse wandered over and Rosalie slipped the harness over her head. She had never ridden bareback before, but she didn’t have time to saddle the horse.

She grabbed a handful of Nettie’s mane and swung herself onto the mare’s back.

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