by Rosa Jordan
She came up sputtering. Justin got his feet untangled, stood up, and tugged on the rope as hard as he could. Kate got her hands on the calf’s slippery wet behind and pushed. Fighting the calf was bad enough, but fighting the wind was even harder. They could barely stand up against it. When it blew full force, they couldn’t move forward at all. But the wind came in gusts, and when it let up for a second or two, they were able to drag the calf forward a few feet.
They had almost reached the house when a branch from one of the trees in the front yard cracked overhead like a gunshot. The calf covered the rest of the distance to the house in a few huge leaps, dragging Justin with it. That’s when Kate heard Chip scream. She saw him lying in a mud puddle, holding the armful of hay he had brought from the goat shed. Every time he tried to get up the wind blew him down. Kate fought her way through the wind to get to him.
“Leave the hay,” she shouted as she helped Chip to his feet and hung onto him. Together they struggled back to the house.
Justin was just inside the back door, pulling hard to bring the calf in after him, while the calf was pulling just as hard in the opposite direction. Kate pushed the calf and Chip ahead of her until they tumbled onto the back porch in a muddy heap. They were soaking wet and breathless, but they were out of the awful wind. They rested a moment, then got the last calf into the kitchen.
It was black dark by then and the electricity was off. Justin lit one of the fat, long-burning candles that Mom kept especially for hurricanes. If they had wanted to fix supper they could have because the stove and hot water heater were both gas, but they were too exhausted to be hungry. After they washed up and changed into dry clothes, Kate made some hot chocolate.
They drank the cocoa sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. The calves were lying down in the corner, penned in by the turned-over table and chairs. The ducks were asleep in the crate with their heads tucked under their wings. Sugar was the only animal still awake. She lay quietly among them, watching everything with bright, curious eyes.
Kate noticed Chip shivering. “You better go to bed,” she said.
Chip ignored her and crawled into the hay next to the calves. Kate realized that with Mom not home yet and with the wind howling so loud, Chip was probably scared to be alone in his room. Kate went and got their sleeping bags from the closet. She tossed one to Chip and one to Justin.
“I think we should stay here in the kitchen with the animals,” she said, “to keep them calmed down.”
Kate wrapped up in her own sleeping bag and lay down next to Sugar. The last thing she thought of, before falling into a doze, was that Mom might not be able to get home at all. The road might be flooded, or the wind might blow the car off the road, or a fallen tree might block …
When Kate heard banging on the back porch, for a minute she didn’t know if it was something in a dream or something hitting the house, or what. Then the door opened and Mom was standing there. She had kicked off her boots on the back porch and stood barefoot. Water dripped off her hair, off her nose, off everything, and puddled around her.
Justin scrambled to his feet and helped Mom take off her raincoat. He looked at her soaking wet clothes and grinned. “Raincoat didn’t do you much good, did it?”
Kate couldn’t tell if the water streaming down Mom’s face was rain or tears. It took her a minute to see that it was both. Mom was laughing and crying at the same time.
“You’re safe!” Mom gasped. “And you’ve rescued every last animal!”
“We were worried about you,” Kate said.
“I was in the milking barn,” Mom explained. “It wasn’t till I let the first batch of cows out that I noticed how much the wind had picked up. George turned on the radio in his pickup and got a weather report. As soon as he heard the hurricane had changed directions he sent me home. But by then there were trees down and flooded places I didn’t dare cross for fear the car would stall. I had to keep backtracking and I ended up circling all the way around by the Buchanan place.”
Kate sat up. “We were too tired to make supper, but I saved you some hot chocolate.”
“Darling Kate!” Mom whispered. “You’re wonderful!”
Mom knelt next to Chip, who was still asleep, and kissed the cut on his forehead.
Then she put her arm around Kate and looked up at Justin. “There’s not one in a million who could do what you kids did tonight,” she said. “I hope you will always remember that.”
7
Kate Alone
Chip didn’t wake up even when Mom carried him to bed. Justin lit another candle and stuck it on the back of the toilet so Mom could see to take her bath. Then he went to bed.
Kate warmed up the hot chocolate. Carrying two cups, she went to the bathroom door. “Mom?” she called. “Want some hot chocolate?”
“You bet I do! Come on in, honey.”
Mom was in the tub looking as if she’d like to stay there soaking in the hot bath forever. Her long blonde hair was down, trailing in the water. It was already so wet that it didn’t matter if it got a little wetter. Kate sat down on the floor with her back against the tub, and together they sipped their cocoa.
Mom put her hand out and stroked Kate’s hair, which was still damp. Kate glanced over her shoulder at Mom’s face. Mom smiled at her in a way that made Kate think this was the most special moment they had ever had together.
There are times not to tell your parents what’s on your mind, and times to tell them everything. Kate felt like this was the time to tell Mom all the things she’d been keeping secret.
“We brought Sugar in first,” Kate said, “because she’s going to have a baby.”
Mom chuckled. “That goat of yours eats like a pig. She’s not pregnant; she’s just fat.”
“No, Mom. She’s going to have a baby.”
Mom was still smiling. “What makes you think so?”
“Mr. Wilson said.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Wilson. You know, he has that big white billy …”
The sentence died in Kate’s throat because Mom had stopped smiling. Instead of looking pleased, she was looking upset.
Kate got her voice back and said quickly, “Billy’s a real good goat. He takes first prize every year at the fair.”
“Look, Katie, we cannot afford—”
“We already paid,” Kate explained. “With duck eggs. Mrs. Wilson says they’re better than regular for baking. And Ruby says—”
“Ruby?” Mom interrupted.
“The Wilsons’ daughter.”
“The one who dropped out of school and ran away from home?” Mom stood up and reached for a towel, which she wrapped around herself.
“Ruby,” Kate repeated. “Who used to live in New York but now she’s come home, her and Luther, and—”
“Is this the same Luther that Chip talks about all the time?”
“Well, yes.”
“I thought Luther was somebody in Chip’s class.”
“He is. He’s the Wilsons’ grandson and he’s in Chip’s class. He’s Chip’s best friend.”
“How do you know these people?” Mom asked. There was a sharpness in her voice that made Kate nervous and caused her to stumble, not sure exactly how to explain something that a second ago had seemed so simple.
“Well, uh, we just go there and—”
“Go there?” Mom demanded. “When do you go there?”
“Uh, well, Chip usually walks home with Luther after school, but Justin and I have our own homework to do, so we mostly go on weekends.”
“What about Chip’s homework?”
“I told you,” Kate said impatiently. “Chip and Luther are in the same grade. They have Ruby and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson all three to help them. When I have to help Chip, it takes so long sometimes I don’t even get my own homework done!”
“Kate,” Mom said in a voice so sharp Kate felt as if she’d been slapped. “It is your responsibility to look after Chip, yours and Justin’s. I do not want you kids g
oing down there every day. I don’t want the neighbors to think I can’t look after my own children.”
“I just thought …” Kate started in a small voice. Then all the excitement and fear and exhaustion of the night flooded in on her. She felt as if it was impossible to explain anything. “Never mind,” she said. She got up and went out of the bathroom with a tight ache in her chest. It was the most special moment she and Mom had ever had, and it had barely lasted one minute. Mom didn’t even seem to care that Sugar was going to have a baby.
Kate climbed into bed and lay there listening to the wind howling and the rain pounding against the house. With the electricity off and no moon or stars and wooden shutters covering the windows, it was the blackest darkness Kate could remember.
She saw a wavering light in the hall and knew it was Mom, carrying the candle. She stopped at Kate’s door and whispered, “Katie?”
Kate pretended to be asleep, and in a second Mom went on down the hall to her own room.
Kate didn’t know why she had pretended to be asleep. But she had thought it was a good time to talk to Mom, and it turned out not to be. Maybe there would never be a good time.
When the light disappeared, Kate knew Mom had blown out the candle and gone to bed. Kate got up and tiptoed into the kitchen. She heard a couple of little click-click-click steps. Sugar was no longer lying down. Kate felt around in the dark until she found a sleeping bag. Then she took hold of Sugar’s collar and led her back to her bedroom.
Kate knew that in the morning she’d find little round marbles of poop on the floor, but she didn’t care. She spread the sleeping bag next to her bed and climbed into it, then tapped the back of Sugar’s knees. The goat folded her thin legs and lay down next to Kate on the floor.
Kate put her hand against Sugar’s soft belly and waited. In a moment she felt a small kick from inside, and then another, and another. Kate smiled. This baby was all legs. Either that or it was twins.
8
Chip Alone
By morning the hurricane wind had passed, but it was still raining. There was no school because so many of the streets were flooded or blocked by blown-down trees and other debris. It was just as well Kate and her brothers stayed home, because there was a lot of work to do. The animals were still penned up in the kitchen, which was beginning to smell pretty bad. Mom had left early like she always did, and she didn’t come home from the dairy at noon because they had to clean up some hurricane damage there, too.
In the afternoon, when the rain finally stopped, Kate threw down fresh hay in Sugar’s shed and put her back in her pen. Then she and Justin set about getting the calves back to their corral. By then the calves were used to the warm, dry kitchen and didn’t want to leave. Justin had to drag each one down the back steps with Kate pushing from behind. But once a calf got down the steps, it ran for the pasture so fast that Kate and Justin could barely keep up.
Next Kate and Justin gathered up the sheets of tin that had blown off the duck coop. Chip disappeared. Kate figured he had gone down to see Luther. He hadn’t said he was going, so she didn’t have to mention what Mom had said about their visiting the Wilsons. Anyway, she was glad not to have to look after him for a couple of hours. It was hard work dragging the big sheets of tin from wherever they had blown, and even harder to hold them into place while Justin nailed them back on the duck coop where they belonged.
After awhile Chip came back, and Luther was with him. “Guess what?” Chip said, breathless. “We saw a cottonmouth water moccasin!”
“It was shiny black!” exclaimed Luther. “It opened its mouth and flicked its little black tongue at us, and we saw the inside, all white.”
“I hope you know how poisonous cottonmouths are,” Justin said. “With water all over the place there’s no telling where they might be, so you be careful where you step!”
“You think we’re stupid?” Chip shot back. Chip hated being told things he already knew.
Justin ignored Chip and started banging nails into the tin. “Don’t know why we’re bothering to fix this junky shed,” he muttered. “It’s not like we’re going to be here that much longer.”
Kate looked around quickly to see if Luther had heard. She didn’t want the Wilsons to know how the bank might take the farm because they were behind on the payments. Although it wasn’t her fault, she felt ashamed. She was relieved to see Chip and Luther halfway up the lane, headed off on some private mission of their own.
“Justin,” she said, “is that why you aren’t keeping up your grades? Because you think we might have to change schools if—?”
He gave the nail a vicious whack. “That’s right. Even if I got straight A’s I couldn’t go out for the baseball team, because we’re not going to be here.”
“We might not have to change schools,” Kate argued. “There’s only the one high school in our district. Wherever we move, it’ll probably be someplace close by.”
“Kate! If we lose the farm,” he yelled, banging the hammer hard every few words, “there’s no way Mom’s going to stick around here and let people feel sorry for us. She’d hate that.” Bam! “She’ll want to move to where nobody knows us.” Bam! “And even if she didn’t, I would.” Bam! Bam! Bam!
Kate didn’t answer. In the first place, Justin was hammering so hard on the tin that he couldn’t have heard her, and in the second place, she didn’t know what to say anyway. Mom had assured her that they weren’t going to lose the farm. Justin seemed sure they would. The way it looked to Kate, neither one of them really knew what was going to happen.
When there were enough nails in the tin that Kate didn’t need to hold it in place anymore, she walked away. She had that same terrible feeling she used to get when Justin talked about leaving, only worse. Much worse, because now she was thinking that maybe all of them would be leaving.
She went back into the house and cleaned up the kitchen, which was a mess after a goat, three calves, and a dozen ducks had slept there. Even after it was clean it smelled like a barn, but with the window open and fresh air blowing through, Kate figured it would be nearly normal by supper time.
After that Kate went to milk Sugar. She saw Justin out feeding the calves, but Chip hadn’t come back yet. She picked her way across the debris-strewn yard, annoyed that Chip had run off to play with Luther when there was so much to do. He could have helped pick up some of the broken limbs and stuff, and he definitely should have come home in time to get the ducks fed and the eggs gathered, since those were his chores. If he wasn’t back by the time she finished the milking she’d have to walk down to the Wilsons’ to get him, which meant Justin would have to fix supper by himself, when that was supposed to be everybody’s job.
Kate was just coming out of the goat shed with a pail of foaming warm milk when she saw Chip and Luther out on Lost Goat Lane, coming from the direction of the highway. They separated, Luther heading for his house and Chip coming up the driveway toward her.
It occurred to Kate that Chip disappeared quite often nowadays. Used to be he never went anywhere by himself, only tagged along with her and Justin. But now that he and Luther had become friends—no, even before that—ever since the alligator got Go-Boy, Chip had taken to going off on his own.
For a minute Kate wondered whether Chip might’ve gotten up his nerve to go back to the big canal. She sure hoped he hadn’t gone off toward the big canal again. A gator that big, if it got a chance, could catch a child as easy as a dog.
9
Jusfìn Alone
A few days after the hurricane, Mom had a “family conference.” She started by telling Justin, Kate, and Chip how important it was that they had managed to save the animals. It was especially important because they were still having serious money problems.
“I don’t see how we can have money problems when you’re working seven days a week,” Justin said sourly.
Mom made them all get a pencil and paper and do arithmetic—a budget, she called it—to see what happened to the money she earne
d.
“I make minimum wage,” she explained. “After taxes, I bring home about $1000 a month.” They all wrote $1000 on their papers. “Now subtract $600, which is the mortgage payment I have to make to the bank.”
That was easy. Even Chip could figure out that after the mortgage payment, they’d have $400 left.
“Out of that I have pay the utilities, buy feed for the animals and food for ourselves, and pay for gas and car insurance. I also have to keep up the health insurance payments in case anybody gets sick.”
Mom told them how much each thing cost per month. They subtracted the amounts she called out until they were right down to zero.
“Can’t you work out something with the bank?” Justin asked. “Maybe smaller payments or something?”
“I tried,” Mom said, her voice getting tight and angry. “Your father and I took out this mortgage fifteen years ago, and it’s real close to being paid off. So I asked the bank to give me a one-year extension. One year, that was all I asked. But there’s a new manager at the bank who doesn’t know me from Adam and doesn’t care. He’s not a people person like the old manager. This one, all he does is look at the numbers on the application and tell me my income’s too small and I don’t qualify. Not even for an extension. So I’m telling you now, we’re going to be living hand-to-mouth until I get caught up on the payments. We simply cannot lose this farm.”
“Or the animals,” Chip put in.
“Or the animals,” Mom repeated. Her lower lip was pushed out and her face was dead serious.
Kate looked at Mom’s determined face and felt just as determined. She didn’t know how she could help them keep the farm, but if there was any way, she’d do it.
Justin said nothing. He just stared at the numbers as if it was hopeless. If somebody told Justin he couldn’t do something, he just gave up.