SCATTERED BY THE WINDS

"We'd best get going, horse. The whole sky's turned grey." She put her hand to her face before mounting. “My nose and ears are getting cold.” She buttoned the thin wool jacket and pulled up the collar. Frost crystals were forming on every blade of grass, and even on the tips of Pert's hair. The Bears Paw Mountains to the north were lost from view under a heavy grey curtain. Riding into the coulee, Pert's hooves had slipped on mud a few times, but now the ground was congealing. Little indentations where water had pooled now were frozen. Fascinated, she stopped by a larger puddle and watched short, thin needles of ice reaching out from the edges. They grew wider, and longer, joined adjacent crystals, and in just a few minutes, ice covered the entire pool. She shivered. "I'm getting chilly, Pert, let's cut across here. The road can't be far, and I'm sure we'll get to Johnson's faster this way." Cold pressed in on her, gently at first, working its way in between the jacket buttons, down the back of her neck, up her wrists and ankles. She wiggled her toes to keep them warm, and took her feet out of the stirrups to swing them back and forth. Suddenly, snow and fog moved in around her, blotting out the Highwood Mountains, then the closer hills. A huge white bowl filled with icy cold seemed to be descending on the landscape. She lost all sense of direction. "It's a good thing we're this close to Johnson's. C'mon, Pert, get us there." The mare started a rough trot. Molly's teeth chattered and she folded her right arm across her chest to conserve body heat. Somewhere I should have a scarf. Pulling off a glove, she fumbled in the jacket pockets. Ah, here's the blue muffler Johnsons gave me for Christmas. I can tie it over my head and stuff the ends inside the jacket to warm my throat. Darn, I dropped the glove. She started to turn the horse back for it, but saw a road a few feet to the left. "Good girl, you found it. I'll get that glove later. Let's get going." A raw wind started blowing, carrying fine, cutting snow. Recalling the trip from Buffalo Grass at Thanksgiving, she thought, It'll be warmer to walk, with Pert up wind. I can stomp my feet then, and maybe run a bit.” She had become so stiff with cold it was difficult to swing her leg over the horse's rump to dismount. Anyway, I can see the ground better down here, and keep us on the road. We must be nearly to Johnson's lane; it's only two miles from home. Pert raised her head and whinnied twice, but nothing answered her call. “I don't understand why we aren't there. We galloped part of the way. What did Calla say? ' Give a horse his head, and it'll take you home.' Good Lord, Pert, have you turned us around for home? It's too cold for me to walk that far. I'd better get back on." Numbness squeezed her. She leaned into the bay's warm body, drawing some heat into her chest and shoulders. “The blanket. I can wrap the saddle blanket around me. Then I can ride bareback, and be warm.” Painfully, she loosened the latigo, and undid the knot, but her numb hands dropped the saddle as she pulled it off. Pert shied away, nearly jerking the reins out of her fingers. "Whoa, don't you leave me, or I'll never get home." Molly picked up the wool saddle blanket, unfolded it, and wrapped it around her shoulders. She sighed with relief. Moist heat drove out some of the bone-chilling cold. Holding the reins in her bare hand inside the blanket, and jumping up and down in the lee of the horse, she warmed herself. “We've got to get home before I freeze. Calla was right; I wish I had that mackinaw.” She tried swinging on, then jumping up to mount, but Pert's height thwarted her best efforts, and she could see no rock or embankment. “I guess I'm stuck with going shanks-mare. I'll put the blanket back on, and we can find the saddle tomorrow.” The young woman trotted along for a few minutes, but such frigid air hurt her lungs, and her face felt frozen. The snow drove into it like pins on the bare skin. Clumsily she moved the end of the scarf across her mouth and chin, and nearly dropped the saddle blanket. The horse continued to walk. She lost the reins gathering the blanket about herself again. She grabbed for Pert's tail, and hung on, but the mare kept sidling away when she moved forward to grasp a dragging rein. "Well, I guess you can just pull me along by your tail. Giddap." Stumbling along behind the mare, she gave up trying to see through the blowing snow, and simply concentrated on moving. Her eyes teared and the lashes partly froze together. “I didn't know it got so cold. It hurts to walk. My hands and are numb. I think my brain's numb, too. It's hard even to think. Are you cold, too, big girl?" The mare started whinnying, and moved into a trot. Molly lost her hold, stumbled, and sprawled onto the frozen ground. "No, don't leave me!" She struggled to get on her hands and knees, and called, "Whoa, horse, whoa there!" Pert disappeared into the blizzard. “This ground's not so cold. I can curl up in the blanket and be fine. The grass is warm. I'll be real cozy. I don't need a horse tail to pull me. I'll walk when I warm up.” Her thoughts trailed off. “Momma, cover me more.” She sank into sleep.