'When you see the sky at your feet, you'll know that you're home.'
      These were the words that came to my mind even before I had left my home.

      It was mid afternoon on my second day of walking and I felt the need to stop and rest for a spell when I saw the cabin, just waiting for me it seemed.   It was like a little paradise, this little cabin in the middle of the forest.
      I sat on a log just outside of the clearing to see what sort of people lived here before I went up to the house.   I'd come too far to just rush in because I was tired.   Raised in the forest, I knew what signs to watch for.   After what seemed a good wait and not seeing man nor beast, I began to walk slowly, staying just inside the trees.
      There were two graves, a small one and a little bigger one amidst the flower beds, a few yards from the side of the house.   The fever had caught this home, too, I thought.
      The kitchen garden needed work, to be sure.   There were a few chickens pecking around on the ground by the back door.
      I 'yoo hooed' loudly and got no answer so gingerly approached the house.   I walked around the cabin, calling out as I went.   I knocked on the back door and 'helloed' loudly but no one answered.   The door wasn't locked so I knocked on it as I opened it and as I was walking in.
      There were no live embers in the fireplace so I judged that no one had been here for a couple of days, at least.
      Feeling a chill, I found matches and made a fire in the fireplace.
      There was a pump at the little sink like the one at home.   Water wouldn't come out when I pumped it, making me to realize once more that no one had been here for a while.   I primed it from a pail of water and taking a cup from the cupboard, I poured myself a drink of water and washed my hands and face.
      Weary to the bone, I couldn't wait to see if someone would come to tell me to leave.   I secured the doors, and took off the top layers of clothes that I was wearing and felt lighter.   I got into the bed and for the first time since I had left home I was able to relax and slept until it was nearly dawn.
* * * * *       Ma and Pa had passed on last year and William and Henry had taken the fever last week and had died a few days ago, on the same day.
      Having no close neighbors, it was up to me to take care of their burial.   I made their coffins and put in their own quilts and pillows for them to lie on.   I dug shallow graves next to Ma and Pa's.   It was hard work that I never want to do again in my lifetime.
      I got the family Bible and put their names after Ma and Pa's names.   I wondered briefly if someone would be putting my name in there soon to complete the family circle.
      I was too tired to eat and fell into Ma and Pa's bed that I had taken after they had died.
      After a sound sleep and I awoke to find myself completely alone, I knew that I couldn't stay.   It hadn't been so bad when the boys were there but with them gone, I was just too sad and lonely.
      I got Pa's backpack/bedroll that he had used in the war from the attic and put my clothes and what little precious things I could in it.   I made up a parcel of food that I hoped would last until I got someplace where I could stay for awhile and opened the pens where the cow and chickens were kept.
      I didn't look back, I knew that it would just drive the knife deeper into my heart.
      I watched the sun for my main direction and had Pa's compass and timepiece which I kept in the pockets of Will's trouser's that I was wearing.   I had begun wearing Will's and Henry's clothes whenever I went out hunting with the boy's.   We wanted to stay together as much as possible for protection.
      They were a little big for me but since I was wearing all of the clothes I could get on so I wouldn't have to carry so much, I filled them out okay.   It was good having the boys clothes, it was a little like they were still here with me.
      I knew that I could survive, even alone, Ma and Pa had trained us in case that time came.   I didn't know if I wanted to, however. .
* * * * *       I couldn't remember where I was for a few moments when I first woke up in the dimly lit room.
      I got up and looked out of the small windows to see if there were signs of people but saw none.
      I began a new fire from the embers that were still in the fireplace.
      This cabin was smaller than ours was.   Our cabin was a lot older and we had a large attic where the boy's bedroom's were.   This cabin just had enough of an attic to be able to hang vegetables to dry and store some in baskets.
      There must be a small family living here, I thought. I saw a chest of drawers similar to the one my own Pa had made for us.   I wondered if it had a secretary in the middle of it like our's has.   The wardrobe had a man's and a young woman's things in it and there were a child's things, a high chair, a few home made toys and under the bed, a smaller bed for a child.
      I took my comb from the pocket of the overalls bib and combed my hair looking in the little mirror hanging on the wall. I hadn't seen my own face in a few days and was surprised at my appearance.   I seemed thinner and was tanner on my face than usual from being outside for so long.
      I was pretty hungry and opening a door, discovered a pantry.   There were drawers of flours and meals and barrels of crackers and salted fish and different pickles and cheese and spices in jars and a large assortment of dried vegetables and canned food that looked fresh.   These people kept a good store, no doubt about that, I thought to myself.
      I hadn't eaten anything good for two days and was excited at the sight of so much food.   I got the little that I needed and after I ate, I felt refreshed.
      I tidied the cabin as it had been when I entered, got my pack, strapped it across my shoulders and headed out the back door.   I was going down the steps when I realized that I had no place to go, I'd been traveling for several days without a real destiny in mind.
      I was all alone in the world.
      Not relishing the thought of going back into the forest by myself, I decided to stay at the cabin for a while longer.

Chapter Two
THE SICK STRANGER



      I was outside hanging the wash when a horse meandered in sight.   It looked like there was a man on the horse hunched over in the saddle, barely hanging on.   Making sure my little pistol that Ma had carried when she was alive was secure but in easy reach, I went over to the horse and taking the reins, I brought him close to the porch and pulled the unconcious man off.
      I managed to get him into the cabin and onto a pallet near the fire.   I'd seen this too much, how the fever would ravage a person until they were just too weak to live.
      I got a bowl of cool water and a wash cloth and wiped his face and hands to cool him down.
      He was delirious and calling me Sally, murmured something about a place by the sky.
      Maybe he was talking about heaven, I thought.   That's it, he knows he's dying and is talking about going to heaven.
      The horse didn't look like it was going any place any time soon so I looked in the man's overall pockets to see if I could find out anything about him and found precious little.   A small comb and the image of a woman with a small child in a leather billfold.   I pulled the picture out and turned it over.   On the back it read 'To my darling, your Sally and Little Monty Skye', probably his wife and child, I thought.
      I went outside to the horse to see what might be in the saddlebags.   I took the rifle and saddlebags off the horse and brought them inside the cabin.
      They had a few odd things in them.   He must not have been planning on a long trip. There was a change of clothes, a small tin cup and pot, hardtack and beef jerky, a small twine wrapped bundle of 'sass' roots that gave the whole bag a pleasant aroma, a small leather bag with green stones in it, and a map.
      No identifying papers but the letters M. S. were on the outside of the bags. Looking at the initials, I decided they stood for Monty Skye, the names on the back of the picture.
      I opened the map and too tired to understand it, folded it back up.
      The man had his eyes open and he was watching me.   "How're you feeling?"   I asked him, not knowing if he was really awake or not.
      "Sally, why're you wearing my overalls?" he asked me.
      I looked down, I'd been wearing the boy's clothes for so long that I didn't even think about it.   Without my hair pinned on my head and a hat pulled down over it, I supposed that I did look like a female.
      "I didn't want to wear out my good clothes working around the house so I put these old one's on.   You don't mind, do you?"
      "No, I don't."   He looked around him,   "Why am I on a pallet?   Is the baby in the bed with you again tonight?   Is he sick again?"
      "We're alright, you just rest."   I tried to put his mind at ease.
      Instead, he sat up and tried to get up but was too weak.
      Laying back down, I could see that he was shivering and piled another quilt over him.   He looked just like the boys did before they died.
      "God, please don't let this man die, too, I'm so tired of sickness and death." I burst out with the prayer without even thinking.
      I felt that my heart would break and began to weep and felt the touch of a hand on my arm.
      I looked up and Monty was staring at me in a pleading way,   "I can't stand it when you cry, Sally, I'll get well, you'll see."
      I built the fire up and went outside to bring in the clothes and then checked on the horse.   He seemed to pretty well know his way around here.   He was already in the barn eating his fodder.   I pulled the barn doors closed and walked back to the house.
      It looked like I'd have to stay at least until Monty, as I was calling him in my mind, got well.
      If the people who lived here came home, I'm sure they'd understand.
      I didn't believe I had it in me to bury another man. Maybe the family who lived here would come back and do it for me if need be, I thought.

Chapter Three
MONTY SKYE



      During the night, I woke up with the sound of Monty thrashing about and saw that his face was glistening in the firelight from the fever breaking and he was trying to get the covers off.
      I got up to help him.
      I began humming, hoping to settle his spirit.   The fever breaking was a good sign, I knew.   The crises may have passed.   "Thank you God,"   I spoke aloud.
      Leaving one quilt on Monty, I wiped his face with warm water and put an extra pillow under his head.   He slept and so did I.
      The morning sun was streaming through the front door when I woke again.   I looked over to the pallet and Monty was not there.
      I looked around the room and hurried outside.   He was sitting in the rocker on the front porch.
      He turned expectantly when he heard me but frowned when he saw me.
      "Who are you, where's Sally?"
      "I'm Sunnie, does Sally live here?"
      Monty looked confused, then said slowly,   "Yes, she did live here until the fever took her and our son, Little Monty."   He looked like he might cry.   "How do you happen to be here, Sunnie?"
      "So, you live here, I didn't know.   I happened on this place a few days ago and then you came up on the horse, sick, yesterday.   I'll be leaving as soon as you're able to take care of yourself, I was just going to stay for a few days or until the people who live here came back.   I haven't hurt anything. I'll pay you for the food I've eaten.   Yesterday I washed the sheets I've slept on."
      Looking at me in a gentle way, he said,   "It was you in my dreams.   I thought that Sally was taking care of me.   I would have died if you hadn't of been here to help me.   God sent you here.   I don't want you to go."
      I almost cried, I was so grateful for his kindness.   "I'll make you some breakfast."
      "That'll be fine,"   he said and closed his eyes and smiled a little.
      I brewed a pot of the sassafras tea and took a warm cup out to him.
      "Here, sip this, it'll help you."
      Sipping the tea, he said,   "It's sassafras, you got it from my saddlebags?   I found it before I got sick.   There was a bush of it beside the trail.   Sally called it 'Spring Tonic', I guess it is, at that."
      "I looked through your bags to see what I could find out about you, silly, huh, since I was in your own house, to start with."   I said, feeling relieved that he was able to talk so much.
      Finishing his tea, he started to get up and sat back down abruptly.
      "You really should wait a few days before you begin to do anything,"   I admonished,   "You could have a setback, you know.   I'm a strong, healthy girl and can do anything that needs doing for now."
      "Well, it doesn't look like I have much choice, do I?   How about telling me a little about yourself?   What's a youngster doing out here by yourself, anyhow?"
      I pulled myself to my full five foot, five inches height and declared,   "I'll have you know, I'm a full grown woman, turned seventeen just last month.   I've done buried my Ma and Pa and two brothers and just needed to get away from it all for a while."
      He looked at me odd-like and said,   "Where do you come from?   What's your full name?"
      "My name is Susanna Robinson but my folks always called me Sunnie.   I come from over at Bessie's Way."
      "Bessie's Way is a pretty far piece from here, how did you get here?"
      "I walked.   Didn't have nothing to ride on.   The horse up and died on us not long after Pa and Ma died."
      I went into the cabin and got busy.   There was too much to do to sit on the porch and be a chatter box.
      He stayed in the rocking chair on the porch, letting the sun soak into him.
      When I saw that the sun was off of him, I helped him in and this time, I made him take his own bed, saying I would sleep on the child's bed that I pulled out from under the big one and set close to the fire.
      He didn't have the strength to argue and went quickly to sleep.
      I went to bed right after the sun set and woke up to the sound of grunting.   Looking outside, I saw a Momma bear with her two cubs, in the clearing, playing in the moonlight.   I enjoyed watching them until they left.   They must not live very far from here, I thought.   I'll have to be careful about leaving food out or they might decide to take up residence right under our noses.   They might be fun to watch but I didn't believe I'd like them under foot.   We'd have to wait and see.
      Listen to me, I thought, making plans like I'm a permanent resident or something.   I smiled to myself at my silliness.
      Day by day, Monty was recovering until one day he came to me and said,   "Sunnie, I've been thinking, before I got sick, I was going to write a letter to my sister and see if she'd mind coming out and helping me out here.   I thought that we could be company for each other, you know?   I never did write the letter and am wondering since you're already here and are learning the ways about the place, would you like to just stay on?   We could be of help to one another, now that I'm on the mend.   I'd even marry you, if you'd be agreeable to it."   Having said so much in one mouthful, Monty turned and not looking at me, waited for my answer.
      "Thank you Monty, I'd be pleased to stay with you and later on, if it seems to be right, maybe we could think of getting married.   I really should get back to my own house and settle it up, though.   Pa and Ma worked too hard for the place for me to just up and desert it."
      "Whenever you like we could take the buggy and go over there and take care of things, maybe you'd like to sell it and we could move your things here."   Monty answered.
      We decided that we'd get this place ready for us to be gone for a couple of days and left the next morning.
      Going back home in a buggy with my new friend, on a well traveled pathway instead of traveling on foot through the forest was different.   I felt like a more mature person than the girl that had run away from the darkness that had tried to envelope me.   I felt lighter, happier.   I would always miss my family, my brothers and parents but my new life ahead of me was bright.
      We passed a lake on the roadside and looking into it with the sky reflected on it, I remembered the words,   'When you see the sky at your feet, you'll know that you're home.'   I had a warm feeling inside and took Monty's hand.   He squeezed my hand and we smiled.

THE END



All rights reserved, owned by Ora Lea Harrison, Author, March 25, 2011

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