Parched

by Lou Cadle

  “Ashes are good for the soil,” she said. “Two good things.”

  “So we can plant. Maybe even try to get a small plot going this year, harvest before it freezes. If it does freeze at all.”

  “Feels good today, with the clouds up there.” She looked up, and a fat raindrop hit her in the forehead. She wiped it off and looked at her fingers, making sure it was indeed water. “It’s starting to rain.”

  “I know,” he said. “I was afraid to say anything for fear of jinxing it.”

  She smiled at that. “If not mentioning rain made it happen, it’d rain more often.”

  “True.” His head was canted back and he muttered to the sky, “C’mon. Keep it coming.”

  The wildfire had destroyed, but it had also cleansed. They’d plant their grain here, and while it would be a lean winter, with luck they’d make it. The rain, falling faster now, made her believe that. The baby might even survive. She wondered if Emily had named it yet.

  “We’re going to be okay,” she said, suddenly feeling it was so.

  “Are we?” He glanced at her. “Hard to tell, feeling so sad over Kelly.”

  “It is hard. Must be terrible for Arch. But we’ll heal, and if it rains, the land will heal too. Plants will grow. The hens will lay better for the cooler weather. We’ll be okay.”

  “If you say so.” He wasn’t being argumentative. His voice had hope in it.

  “I do,” she said, feeling, despite everything, filled with gratitude for her life and everyone in it.

  The End

  www.loucadle.com

  Author’s Note

  I plan to continue the series after ten years of story time has elapsed. Keep an eye out for that book, probably in 2019.

  Sign up for my mailing list and get a free story! www.loucadle.com Thank you for reading.

  Thanks too to my pro proofreader Nick Bowman and wonderful cover designer, Deranged Doctor Design.

  Also by Lou Cadle

  Gray, a post-apocalyptic disaster series:

  Gray, Part I

  Gray, Part II

  Gray, Part III

  Gray, The Complete Collection

  STAND-ALONE NATURAL disaster novels:

  Erupt

  Quake

  Storm

  Crow Vector: Pandemic

  41 Days

  DAWN OF MAMMALS series, time-travel adventure:

  Saber Tooth

  Terror Crane

  Hell Pig

  Killer Pack

  Mammoth

  OIL APOCALYPSE series, post-oil near-future survival adventure

  Slashed

  Bleeding

  Bled Dry

  Parched

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