“Can’t get all of ’em, little one. You’d best play closer to the house for a while,” Stebbs said. Lucy made a face but Lynn knew she would listen. The wild dogs scared the little city girl in a way that other, less obvious dangers didn’t.
“The big one, you know . . .” Stebbs trailed off, watching to see if Lynn caught his meaning. “He’s still out there.”
“You see him?”
“No, but I’ve seen his track.”
Lynn didn’t want to speak about what had happened to Mother in front of Lucy. “Why don’t you run off and see if you can’t find that toad in the pantry?”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “You think he’s still there?”
“I thought I saw him when I went in for the vegetables. Take the flashlight, see if you can catch him.”
Lucy jumped at the chance to use the coveted flashlight and disappeared behind the woolen blanket separating the two rooms. Lynn offered what was left on her plate to Stebbs, having lost her appetite. “You think he’d come up to the house again?”
“Not to be crass, but he’s found food here before. And Lucy would be an easy kill for a pack like the one I heard the other night.”
“I’ll keep her close by,” Lynn assured him. “I hate keeping her inside though. There’s so little daylight as it is and this basement doesn’t let much in.”
“That’s the next bit I wanted to talk to you about,” Stebbs said. “The harsh part of winter is over, and Eli is much more capable than he used to be.”
“I know it,” Lynn said. “And I know what you’re driving at. We talked it over the other day, and he thinks maybe Neva will come here to see Lucy. We thought maybe they could readjust to each other kinda, before she moves over there.”
“Sounds like a good idea. When?”
“We thought next week maybe, once the weather breaks. You said it would be warmer soon?”
“I’m counting on a total melt, then it’ll freeze up again and maybe one or two good snows before winter’s done with us for good.”
Lynn ignored the dropping of her heart at the thought of Lucy leaving her. “After the melt then.” She glanced toward the blanket dividing the two rooms, where Lucy’s voice could be heard calling out for the toad she was looking for. “I saw something to the south, a few nights ago.”
“What was that?”
“There was a glow up in the sky. Kinda like the sun was trying to come up in the wrong place.”
Stebbs’ mouth drew tight and his eyebrows came together. “What color was it?”
“Yellow, I guess. It didn’t look right though, like the yellow of a dandelion or anything like that.”
“More sickly?”
Lynn nodded slowly. “Yeah . . . that’s a good word for it.”
“And you saw it when?”
“Just the other night, when there was no moon. Not since then.”
“You probably wouldn’t, if there was any kind of moon in the sky, it would drown it out.”
“Drown out what?”
“The glow of electricity from a small town or even a group of houses. On a black night it wouldn’t take much to light up the sky.”
Lynn was quiet as Stebbs’ words drilled down inside of her to a place that was even darker than that moonless night had been. “They’re still alive then? The men from the south?”
Stebbs nodded grimly. “If they’ve got generators to make electricity then they’ve got heat, too. No need for fires.”
Lynn closed her eyes against the thought. “Generators, huh? Assholes.”
Lynn found herself bestowing small luxuries on Lucy. A new black button nose for Red Dog, the last cup of hot chocolate, a new pair of striped socks that she had knitted for her on the sly. The night before Neva’s arrival, Lucy stumbled for Lynn’s cot in the dark. Small, cold fingers found her face.
“Can I sleep with you?”
Lynn sighed and pretended to be irritated, but allowed Lucy to climb in beside her. Curled together in the dark, Lynn found the courage to broach the topic she’d been avoiding since Stebbs’ visit.
“So tomorrow’s going to be a big day,” she said.
Lucy’s voice, drowsy and content, hummed against her neck. “Wuzzat?”
“Your mother is coming to see you.”
“Okay.”
“That all you got to say?”
The small shoulders shrugged, and a light snoring soon followed. Lynn wrapped her arms protectively around the small frame. “It’ll be all right,” she said. “I promise.”
Lynn slept in much later than usual, as anxious about facing the day ahead of them as Lucy was. Lucy resisted all attempts to wake her. Lynn had expected resentment, possibly even outright anger toward the mother who had been absent for so long. But the blanket-covered form in the cot was ignoring Lynn completely, presenting her with her back and pretending not to hear when she told her it was time to get up.
“All right, little girl,” Lynn said as she pulled on her knitted cap. “I’m going outside. I might hunt a bit but I’ll stay within sight of the house. Once you get up keep an eye out for Stebbs. He’s coming too, you know.”
No reaction.
“And Uncle Eli.”
No reaction.
“Fine. But when I come back down here I want you up and out of bed, or I will
The curly blond head on the pillow nodded almost imperceptibly and Lynn stomped up the stairs and out into the late morning air. Dead grass showed in large patches around the yard, and Lynn had to walk a ways from the house to find a clean patch of white snow to freshen her mouth with.
The sporadic, panicked tracks of a rabbit tore across the yard at one point, nearly obliterated by the blundering leaps of the coyote that had chased it. Lynn was in no hurry to force Lucy out of bed to face Neva, so she took her time tracking the two animals, curious to see if the rabbit had managed to escape. A patch of blood a mile from the house told her it hadn’t. Lynn rested under the trees and watched two blue jays bickering. Their harsh voices bounced off the snow, masking the sound of Stebbs’ approach.
“Hey there,” he said, leaning against the tree with her. “Not used to seeing you out alone.”
“Lucy’s back at the house.” Lynn nodded toward the roof in the distance. “I thought I’d give her some time to . . .”
“Think things over?” Stebbs suggested.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Looks like maybe you’re doing the same.”
“Maybe.” Lynn rubbed the stock of her rifle, but the gun didn’t bring the comfort it used to. “Best head back, I suppose.”
Stebbs fell into step beside her and they walked in companionable silence until they reached her pond. “Quite the melt,” he commented. “Your pond’s high. I see you’ve still got ice on the edges though.”
“Can’t skate anymore. Lucy’ll be disappointed.”
“It’ll freeze over again, before the winter’s over.”
Without commenting on it, Lynn noticed that Stebbs was struggling against the snow with his lame leg. She leaned against the house under the cover of a large pine, and he joined her, his breath coming a little faster than usual.
“When you expecting Eli and Neva?”
“Don’t know. He said sometime this afternoon, but I slept in quite a bit and then went out tracking for a while. I imagine they’ll be along soon enough. I told Lucy I’d be in sight of the house. If she wanted to find us, she
