Roxie: Daughter of the Mountains

But when I look around me, it is not Poppa who is calling but Will. He is shaking me carefully, but urgently as he repeats my name again. "Roxie, it has gotten dark and cloudy and I'm afraid this wind is blowing in a storm. I drifted off to sleep too, and now we may get wet if we don' t get moving/' Will calls back over his should as he strides to the horses and commences to hitch them hurriedly to the wagon. I am in such a muddle over where I am and what's going on that I stare after him stunned for a moment and then jump to my feet and begin to fold the quilt and follow him to the wagon. In very little time we are on the wagon seat and Will is slapping the reins against the horses' sides in the effort to make head way before the storm strikes. The sky is black and ominous ahead of us which means it is even more likely that the storm will hit before we can get home since it is before us. Then we begin to hear the thunder rolling threateningly in the distance ahead. Will is driving the horses in somewhat of a controlled frenzy as we approach the storm or it approaches us, whichever is the case. Just as we reach the last incline before home the first of the close bolts of lightning split down from the sky and cause me to jump as the horses try to rear. But Will cracks the whip at them again and they race on toward the fast approaching storm but it is also the safety of the barn. Huge fat drops of rain splash all around us now but before we can be caught completely in the deluge, the horses lunge into the entry way of the barn as the rain pounds down on the roof over our heads. The horses' sides are heaving and when I look to Will he shoots me a look of pure relief mixed with regret over his carelessness as he reaches out to me and asks, "Roxie, are you alright? That was some ride." I assure him I am quite alright and that I'm just thankful to be in out of this raging storm. The water is coming down in such sheets that I can't even see the cabin across the yard while the thunder and lightning are practically continuous. As soon as we alight from the wagon Will drapes the quilt around my shoulders since the air has turned cold as if there has been hail somewhere nearby. I stand and pray that we will not get any as it could destroy most of our much needed garden and crops, setting us back till much later in the summer or maybe losing the chance of some of them completely. While I watch and pray, Will unhitches the horses and rubs them down from their lengthy and heated run. I know he would not normally have run his horses like that but it was imperative that we not get caught out in a storm of this violence.

After a short while of watching the rain continue to beat down, I walk over and sit on the back of the wagon. And in a flash my mind is caught again on the memories of being at home with Mama and Poppa and it is so real I can’t quite grasp what is reality.