Herd is the Word by Jenna Lynn Badger

Author:Jenna Lynn Badger [Badger, Jenna Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946407191
Publisher: Rabid Badger Press
Published: 2020-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

June shivered under her blankets. It took so long for her arms and legs to feel warm enough to fall asleep again that she was beginning to wonder if she should have offered to keep watch. Her hand finally stopped tingling, and she stopped worrying about the red numbers on her alarm clock and how little sleep she was getting. That was getting her nowhere. She focused on Mr. Bigglesworth’s little warm spot pressed up against her back, and drifted off to sleep.

Another scream pierced the air.

June pushed herself out of bed. Had she slept at all? It seemed that only moments had passed since she had closed her eyes. She clicked on the lamp beside her bed and found her shoes. This was beginning to remind her of her days as a young mother, waking every couple of hours to screaming. Hobbling around the small space, she began to wish she had brought some of her slip-on winter boots from home. Utah might not be as cold as Illinois, but it was certainly colder than she had anticipated, and pulling on and off tennis shoes was becoming a chore. Still, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake she had last time. She grabbed her thickest pair of woolen socks.

June picked up her cane and was about to make it outside, when the cat noticed she was leaving.

Mr. Bigglesworth meowed loudly and rubbed her ankles.

“Oh fine,” she said. “I suppose I’m not fast enough to chase down the thief.” She hastily poured food into Mr. Bigglesworth’s bowl, gave the cat a fond pat on the head and left. It was even colder now and still hazy. The sun was just barely coating the sky with a gray morning light. She groaned. She was definitely too old to be doing this sort of thing, but she couldn’t help wanting to know what was going on, either.

She glanced around, finding a bigger crowd heading to the pens this time. She made her way there with slow steps on the frozen ground. It wasn’t just frozen, though. Sometime between the last alpaca scream and this one, it had snowed. It was only a light dusting, but the whole campground looked different.

“Good morning, June,” said Nathan, coming up behind her with a travel mug in hand. His breath came out in puffs as he slowed to keep pace with her. He looked too happy for this time of day, too put-together. He wore jeans and tennis shoes and a big, brown jacket. He had the hood pulled over his short-cropped, dark hair. “Bit early for a wakeup call, don’t you think?”

June laughed. “You are lucky you didn’t wake for the screaming around midnight. Some of us didn’t sleep much.” She rubbed at her face with the hand that wasn’t operating the cane. Then she remembered Ronald, Danielle, and Gabriella shivering out in the cold all night and she felt a bit guilty for complaining. She hoped they had taken shelter in the barn at least.

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