by Traci Van Wagoner
Part 2 of 5
At lunch, I stared at the melting butter on the steaming hunk of homemade bread and worried.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Mom asked.
“Jacob said Pa might not make it home for Christmas.” I looked at Jacob and he shrugged.
Ma scolded my brother. “Stop filling her head with nonsense.”
“He’s coming home tonight, right?” I asked. “It’s Christmas Eve. He’s got to.”
“Stop fussing child,” Ma said. “Now run along both of you and play.”
Jacob and I headed to the creek, and I looked back to see Mama look up at the sky. Her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her bottom lip. Puffy white clouds snagged on top of the mountain peaks.
“Mama is worried that Pa won’t make it home,” I said. I stood up and tested the ice. Solid. “But I know he will. He promised.”
“Not if it snows,” Jacob said. “If it snows, he could get stuck for the whole winter, or worse, get lost in the mountains.”
“You’re just being mean,” I pouted, but dark clouds bunched up on top of the mountain that separated Pa from us.
Come back next Saturday December 22nd, 23rd and 24th for the last installments.