by Alison Hart
Anna got to work copying the first problem on her slate: 13-6=___. The six came out looking like a worm, all dead and shriveled by a dry spell. “Sally Lil, can I borrow the eraser?”
Sally Lil handed Anna the block of wood wrapped in sheepskin. The little girl’s fingers were icy. Anna reached around Sally Lil and tapped Carolina’s shoulder. In silence the two girls switched places, Sally Lil by the stove so she could warm up, Carolina in the middle.
Anna erased the six and redrew it. This time it was as curly and smooth as a worm after a spring rain. Then she stared at the problem again. Thirteen was more than ten, she knew, but she only had ten fingers. And she couldn’t see her toes. She sighed in frustration.
Miss Simmons is wrong, Anna thought. My mind is not as sharp as the wind. It’s as dull as that sooty teakettle on the stove.
Frustrated, Anna sucked on the end of the chalk. The wind whistled through the holes around the stovepipe. A clod of dirt fell from the ceiling, plinking on top of the kettle. Steam hissed from the spout.
Anna looked up. The tip of a brown nose was sticking out from one of the holes. “Look, Sally Lil.” Anna was about to show the mouse to the little girl when a long forked tongue darted from the hole.
Anna inhaled sharply. That was no mouse. It was a snake!
Goosebumps raced up Anna’s arms. Clutching the slate, she watched as the snake slithered partway through the hole. She recognized the bumpy triangle-shaped head and the brown diamonds on its back.
Not just a snake. A rattler!
CHAPTER FOUR
M-miss Simmons,” Anna croaked, fear making her throat tight.
“What now, Anna?” The teacher turned impatiently in her seat at the recitation table.
“Th-there’s a rattlesnake in the ceiling.”
With a scream, Miss Simmons shot off the stool, sending it crashing to the floor.
“No, no, don’t move!” Anna cried out, her head tipped back, her eyes on the snake. The warning came too late. Eloise, Ruth, Hattie, and Carolina began to screech and rush around. The snake slid from the hole and wrapped itself around the stovepipe. It clung there for a moment and then fell, landing with a thud at Miss Simmons’s feet.
Frozen in place, Miss Simmons screamed again. The rattler coiled, lifted its head, and shook its tail. Anna sprang from the bench. She grabbed the hot kettle off the stove. In one swift move, she poured the boiling water onto the rattler.
The snake flailed in agony. Its head struck wildly.
Anna backed out of the way. “Run! Get!” she hollered. Behind her, she heard the scurry of leather soles on the plank floor as the other children ran toward the door at the back of the school. Anna looked over just as Miss Simmons’s eyes rolled back in her head and her teacher collapsed in a heap.
The rattler struck blindly at the teacher’s skirts. Anna lifted the empty teakettle and brought the bottom down hard on the snake’s head. Eugene ran up holding a chunk of wood. Using it like a hammer, he beat the rattler until it stopped whipping around.
Panting, Anna stood back. By now, John Jacob, William, George, and Karl were crowded around, watching the dying rattler. Its body twitched once more, then grew still.
John Jacob whistled. “Whoo-wee, Anna. Lucky you kilt that snake. It could’ve bitten Miss Simmons!”
“Is she all right?” Anna asked Ida. The older girl was stooped next to the teacher slapping her hand.
“She’s out cold,” Ida said. “Best get a cool rag on her head. Eloise, would you please dip your handkerchief in the water bucket,” she called toward the back of the room, “and bring it here?”
The other girls were huddled by the door. Eloise shook her head. “No, Ida, I will not come up there as long as that snake is on the floor.”
“Then at least give someone your handkerchief!” Ida said.
“I’ll do it,” Sally Lil offered, taking the hanky from Eloise.
Anna studied the snake. “It should be hibernating. Why do you suppose it woke up?” she asked the boys, who were still gathered around.
John Jacob shrugged. “Might be it was moving toward the heat of the stove.”
“But why move now? I gather the critter’s been living in the ceiling all winter.”
“Might be the warmer weather woke it,” Eugene suggested.
Anna glanced toward the window. It was now covered with frost. “Might be the threat of a storm woke it.” She crouched beside the snake. “You got your knife, Eugene? I want to cut off this rattle and add it to my collection.”
Just then Miss Simmons moaned.
“She’s coming to,” Ida said. Sally Lil hurried over and gently set the damp handkerchief on her forehead. Anna and the boys left the snake and circled the teacher. Her long lashes fluttered. Her hand reached up to touch the cool cloth. Then her eyes opened. For a moment, she stared at them, a confused expression on her face.
“What happened?” she asked weakly.
“A rattlesnake fell from the ceiling, Miss Simmons,” Ida explained.
“Don’t worry, Anna whacked it with the kettle,” William said.
“Then Eugene beat it,” Karl chimed in.
The teacher pressed her hands to her face. “Oh my.”
“Don’t be afraid, Miss Simmons,” George said, toeing the snake with his boot. “This is just one little rattler. This summer Pa ran over a whole nest of them with his plow. Cut their heads right off.”
William waved his arms excitedly. “And last winter one climbed up my bedpost! Ma had to blast it with goose shot.”
“Shush! You’ll frighten her worse,” Ida snapped at the boys. “Anna, you and John Jacob throw that thing out of here.”
Anna picked up one end, careful to grasp the snake behind the head. Its mouth gaped and she could see the fangs. John Jacob grabbed the tail. The snake was heavy and it sagged between them. As they walked toward the door, the four girls squealed and ran in the opposite direction.
John Jacob opened the door and they heaved the snake outside. It landed on the frozen ground at the bottom of the stoop. “I can cut off the rattles during recess,” Anna said. “Then I’ll count them. See if I can tell how old it is.”
Arms wrapped around her for warmth, she gazed across the prairie. The air was moist. The sky was heavy with roiling clouds. The prairie grass rippled like a wind-whipped sheet.
“You’re right about a storm coming,” John Jacob said.
“I hope it snows! I want to pelt Eloise with a snowball.” Anna made a disgusted sound. “It’d serve her right for screaming like a baby when that snake fell. She’s such a sissy.”
“I know.” John Jacob said. “She’s a prissy sissy.”
Anna grinned at him, hoping they were friends again. But before she could say anything else he muttered, “I wonder how Miss Simmons is getting along,” and hurried inside.
Anna trudged in after him.
In front of the room Ida and Ruth were helping Miss Simmons over to her desk chair. Eugene stood awkwardly, his big hands clasped behind him as if afraid to touch her. Ida had hold of the teacher’s left elbow. Ruth was guiding from the right. Hattie and Carolina darted behind, stepping on her skirts and getting in the way.
Eloise sat on the second bench, as pale-faced as Miss Simmons. “Wait until my father hears about this near tragedy!” she said loudly. No one paid her any mind. Rattlesnakes were deadly, but all too common on the prairie.
The younger boys were busily counting at the recitation table. Karl was stoking the stove. Anna sat next to Sally Lil. “I filled the tea kettle again,” she told Anna. “Eugene helped me put it on the stove. We’ll need the water for washing up at lunchtime.”
“Thank you, Sally Lil. You were a good help.”
Sally Lil smiled shyly. “And you were brave, Anna.”
“Thank you, scholars,” Miss Simmons announced shakily. She was seated at her desk, Eloise’s damp handkerchief pressed to her forehead. “I feel much better. And I apologize to you all.”
; “There ain’t no rattlers in Boston?” Karl asked her.
“Not that I know of, Karl. Now, let’s get back to our subtraction lessons.”
Anna let out a groan. Neither a snake nor fainting could keep Miss Simmons from arithmetic. “She sure is persistent about learning,” she whispered to Sally Lil.
Once again, Anna picked up her slate. Despite all the excitement, 13-6=____ was still written on it.
“Unless I grow more fingers, I’ll never figure this out. Sally Lil, lemme borrow a hand.”
Using Sally Lil’s hand, Anna found enough fingers to solve the problem. She wrote down the answer and then looked back up to the blackboard. Her jaw dropped. Was it her imagination or were there more problems on it?
“Seems like numbers are sprouting faster than summer weeds,” she grumbled.
She propped her chin on her hand. Her mind strayed outside to the brisk wind and the heavy clouds. I better check on Top, she thought. She wanted to make sure he was still tied—as well as get out of ciphering.
Setting her slate and chalk under the bench, she raised her arm. When Miss Simmons looked her way, she held up two fingers, the signal to use the privy. The teacher nodded.
Anna jumped up, hurried to the corner, and pulled her jacket off the hook. She slipped it on as she walked to the door.
Karl looked at her over his shoulder. “Don’t let that rattler back in,” he joked.
Anna cracked open the door and slid into the icy wind. Holding her jacket closed, she leaped off the stoop and over the snake. She raced around the corner of the school and past the lean-to. Top and Champ stood side by side behind the schoolhouse, their rumps toward the wind. Their heads were down; their tails were tucked.
“Top, you all right?” Anna asked. She rubbed her hand down the pony’s soft face. “We had an unwanted visitor, and I almost forgot you in all the excitement.”
He nudged her jacket pocket.
“No apple until lunchtime.” She hugged his fuzzy neck. “Won’t be long though.”
She moved Top’s stake closer to the back of the school, so he’d be sheltered from the wind. She had to leave Champ tied to the tree. “Sorry,” she told him. “Maybe Eloise will think to care for you,” she added, although she knew it wouldn’t happen.
Then Anna ran to the not-so-nice. A gust threatened to blow the door from her grasp, and she struggled to shut it behind her.
Once it was latched, she pulled down her woolen drawers. She braced herself against the cold and sat over the hole in the wooden seat. An old copy of Frank Leslie’s Boys’ and Girls’ Weekly lay on the floor. The cover showed a lady riding sidesaddle. She wore a plumed hat and held a whip in one hand. With the other hand, she yanked hard on the reins of the rearing horse.
Anna snorted. That lady rides like Eloise, she thought, with stiff arms and fingers. Anna knew that a horse needed a gentle touch. No wonder the one in the magazine was trying to throw his rider.
She leafed through the curled and musty pages, looking for more horse pictures. A dead spider on the floor caught her attention. She picked it up and studied the dried body and crumpled legs. Eloise hated spiders. Grinning, Anna tucked it carefully in her jacket pocket.
She swung her feet, wondering how long she could sit out here without anyone noticing. Maybe she’d miss the entire arithmetic lesson.
Suddenly a mighty gust rocked the privy. Frigid air blasted up through the hole, chilling her bare bottom.
Anna ripped out a page from the magazine, finished up, and tugged on her stockings.
She opened the privy door and peeked out. She gasped. The clouds had brought snow! Papa might cuss it. And Mama might dread it. But Anna loved snow. It meant sledding, skating, snow forts, and, if deep enough, no school!
Anna shut the door and latched it behind her. Sticking out her tongue, she caught a flake. Then she twirled across the schoolyard until her hair was damp and her head swam dizzily. When she reached the schoolhouse door, she flung it open and shouted, “Guess what, everybody? It’s snowing!”
CHAPTER FIVE
Snow!” John Jacob leaped off the bench and joined Anna on the stoop.
“Bully,” said Karl. “It’s snowing like topsy!”
The three of them took turns swinging each other by the elbows until Anna was breathless.
Miss Simmons bustled to the doorway. “Children, stop!” She stamped her foot. “Come inside this instant. Lessons are not over.”
John Jacob’s face grew red. “I’m sorry, Miss Simmons,” he apologized as he darted past her into the building.
“Me too,” Karl mumbled, following him.
Anna sighed and hurried into the schoolhouse.
Eugene was by the door shrugging into his coat. “I need to get the cows in,” he told Miss Simmons.
“What about lessons, Eugene?” she asked, but he was already striding out of the classroom.
“His papa is sickly and his mama counts on him,” Anna explained.
“Yes, yes, I know.” Turning, the teacher clapped her hands sharply. “Now, let’s get back to arithmetic.”
William, George, and Sally Lil were over by the window, pushing to catch a glimpse outside. At the sound of the clap, they scurried to their seats.
“You’d think you children had never seen snow before,” Miss Simmons said.
Anna hung up her jacket. Reaching in her pocket, she gently plucked out the spider. Slowly she walked behind the row of girls on the second bench.
She stopped behind Eloise. “Champ is fine,” she whispered as she dropped the spider onto her puffy velvet sleeve. “In case you wanted to know.”
“I didn’t,” Eloise replied haughtily. “He’s just an animal.”
Anna had no reply for such a foolish remark. She slid onto the front bench. Carolina was next to the warm stove, a shawl over her shoulders. Sally Lil was in the middle. She was shivering and her lips were blue. “You smell like a horse,” she whispered to Anna.
“Top would be pleased.” Anna looked closer at the little girl. “Sally Lil, don’t you have a coat?”
The little girl flushed pink. “It was so sunny today that Ma said I didn’t need to wear it.”
Anna frowned. Now that she thought back, Sally Lil was always absent on really cold days. She guessed that meant she had no coat. Or it was so raggedy she was too ashamed to wear it.
“Then you need to sit next to the stove again. Carolina,” Anna hissed, “you’ve got a shawl. Let Sally Lil by the stove.”
Carolina gave her a snooty look. “No, Anna, I will not. It’s my turn by the stove.”
“Ladies, what is the problem now?” Miss Simmons demanded. She was again seated at the recitation table, helping William and George count using the abacus.
Anna stood up. “It’s actually my turn at the stove, Miss Simmons, and I give it to Sally Lil.”
“Thank you, Anna. That’s kind of you. Now please sit down and finish your subtraction drill or we’ll never complete our studies.”
Carolina stomped to the far end of the bench. Sally Lil scooted over toward the stove. Anna settled next to her, her slate on her legs. Carefully she wrote the second problem, 14-7=____. She gnawed on the end of her braid.
Raising her arm, she held up three fingers, the signal for a drink. Miss Simmons nodded but her face looked pinched. Anna slid the slate under her seat and walked back to the water bucket. It stood behind the second bench on the boys’ side. She stooped beside the bucket. Taking her time, she dunked the dipper into the water, breaking through a film of ice that had formed on top. She raised the dipper to her lips. She sipped daintily.
“Delicious.” She smacked her lips as if it was fine cider.
John Jacob turned slightly in his seat. “Think it’ll be a big ‘un?” he whispered.
Anna nodded. “Enough to bury the school. Then we won’t have school tomorrow!” She took another sip.
“I’d rather not miss Miss Simmons’s lessons.” John Jacob shook his head sadly.
&
nbsp; The sip slid the wrong way down Anna’s throat. She coughed hard, spilling water from the dipper across the floor.
“Anna?” Miss Simmons called toward the back.
“I’m all right, Miss Simmons,” she choked out. Grabbing the hem of her skirt, she wiped up the floor. When she hurried back to her seat, she glanced at Eloise. The spider still jiggled on her puffy sleeve.
Anna was just reaching for her slate when a scream pierced the room.
“Get it off! Get it off!”
Anna spun around. Eloise was hopping furiously up and down. Her head was twisted awkwardly. Her right shoulder was cocked.
“Get what off?” Hattie cried. Lifting her legs, she stared fearfully at the floor. “Is it another snake?”
Ruth scrambled onto the bench. “Snake!”
“No! A spider! A spider’s on my shoulder,” Eloise screeched.
Ida grabbed Eloise, who was twirling like a top. “Hold still.” She gripped Eloise’s arm and flicked the spider from her sleeve. “It’s dead. So hush.”
“Why, it must have dropped from the ceiling,” Anna said, straight-faced.
“Just like the snake,” Sally Lil exclaimed and all eyes looked upward.
“Enough!” Miss Simmons whacked the tabletop with her pointer. “Scholars, put away your slates. We will break for recess and lunch—”
Karl whooped. Anna let out a yee-haw.
Rap, rap, rap! Miss Simmons banged furiously. “Sit down. We will pass in an orderly fashion,” she shouted above the cheering and chattering.
The noise slowly died and everyone settled back on the benches.
Miss Simmons exhaled loudly. “Thank you. John Jacob, you are responsible for the wash water and soap. You may pass.”
John Jacob rose and lifted the teakettle from the stove.
“Second bench, girls. Stand, turn, and pass for lunch and recess.”
Eloise, Hattie, Ruth, and Ida walked single file to the coat corner. Anna wiggled impatiently on the bench. Recess was her favorite part of the school day, and it was even better when it was snowing! She glanced at Miss Simmons, slightly ashamed for disrupting arithmetic, but not ashamed enough to let it dampen her high spirits.