She hoped her horse was alright. She had left plenty of food, and there was a bucket full of water. Heather prayed the water bucket in the barn didn’t freeze. Altar had already used the second bone and the last of the potatoes and carrots to feed the hungry children. Heather could see the frustration on Millie’s face as she tried entertaining her class.
The children sat quietly and played games such as dominos and checkers. Millie had disbanded classes for the few days, much to the delight of the children.
Fox and Geese appeared to be popular, but it was a one-person game. A green peg represented a fox and white pegs represented geese. The children moved the geese around and the fox had to jump over the goose peg so it could be removed from the board. The object was to just have the fox remaining on the board. All the children wanted to play. Millie kept a list on the chalkboard, so the children knew the order when they could play the game.
Altar entertained the children by teaching them songs, such as Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Go Down Moses and teaching them how to knit with the bits of thread and needles she had in her bag.
The children entertained the adults by teaching them Camp Town Races and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Heather didn’t know how Millie kept it all together. By now, she just wanted to cry. She was tired of sleeping in a chair. They had resorted to breaking apart the chairs, so they had firewood to burn. At least they were warm. She desperately wanted to take a bath, or at the least, wash her face.
The children appeared to be taking it in stride. They all cried at some point. Each at different times and between Altar, Millie and Heather, no child went without a hug, or someone rubbing their back while they cried about being stuck at the school.
Heather was looking through the window out towards the river when she noticed that the snow was melting. Quite a bit of snow and ice had fallen in the water and was now making its way downstream in large chunks. She was just about to say something when she thought she heard what sounded like scratching towards the front of the schoolhouse.
“Did you hear that?” Heather asked Altar.
Altar tilted her head. She bit her bottom lip as she strained to hear any sound. “I don’t hear anything,” she said.
“Shhh!” Heather directed the children. “Everyone be quiet for just a minute.”
The children went silent, their big eyes looking at her.
“What is it?” Millie asked.
“Shhh!” Heather said again, lifting her finger. There! She heard it once more. It sounded like scratching. “I think there is someone outside.” Heather moved from the window and walked to the front door. The children scrambled around her and Little Jake opened the door. The wall of snow blocking the door crumbled and fell into the foyer.
Jake laughed as the snow hit Everett in the face.
“Stop that,” Millie gently scolded, taking the edge of her wrap to wipe the snow from Everett’s cheeks.
Heather used the broom to push the snow aside. It was slow going, but soon she was able to put her head out the door and look around. Her face broke into a large grin as she saw three men with shovels, working their way towards the school.
The sun had melted much of the snow. There was only about two feet remaining on the ground. And it was more of a slush now, than the lovely white snow that Heather first saw.
“Sheriff Applebee!” Heather shouted and waved. He straightened up and gave a wave. “Mr. Talley, Mr. McFarland! I am so happy to see you.” The other two stopped their shoveling for a moment and lifted their hands in greeting.
“We are almost there, Mrs. Barnes,” the sheriff said.
Heather ushered the children back inside the main room of the schoolhouse. “The sheriff should be here shortly.”
“I want to see my Pa,” Leah said. Her brother put his arm around her and gave her a side hug.
“We’ll get to see him soon,” Tommy said.
It seemed like forever, but it wasn’t more than an hour before Heather could hear the shovels scraping on the porch. She raced over just as Sheriff Applebee lifted his hand to knock.
“Oh my!” Heather exclaimed throwing her arms around the sheriff. She didn’t care if it was inappropriate or not. She was just so happy to be rescued. “I’ve never been so happy to see anyone as I am to see you three.”
“Mighty glad to see you too,” Mr. Talley said, laughing as Heather gave him a hug.
Mr. McFarland put up his hands in mock surrender. “No need to hug me, Mrs. Barnes. Glad we could get to you.”
“Are you the only ones working?”
“No,” the sheriff said. “Men and women all over town are trying to at least clear in front of their houses. The school, the church and Ranch Road are what we need to worry about right now. Then I’ll start taking a census to make sure everyone is accounted for.”
“Can we go home?” Marcus asked stepping out on the porch.
“That you can, son.”
Marcus didn’t wait but a minute before grabbing his coat and lunch pail and taking off down the road.
“Marcus!” Millie called. “You forgot your slate and reader.”
Marcus didn’t turn around. “I don’t think that is as important as getting home,” Heather said softly.
Millie turned to the children. “Let’s get on our coats and I’ll make sure everyone gets home safely.”
“What if we can’t get home?” Emma asked.
Millie cupped the child’s chin. “Then I guess you’ll just have to come home with me.”
