Free To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling

turns into a suffragette rally.”
    â€œâ€™Night,” Astrid called over her shoulder as Daniel steered them down the street to their house, where candles waited in the windows on either side of the front door. Daniel’s mother insisted that candles always welcome those coming home, winter or summer.
    Tonight, Astrid did indeed feel welcome as she climbed the steps to their front porch. What did her husband really believe in regard to permitting everyone to vote—either sex and any color? The thought made her realize there were many areas of life they had not discussed before their wedding.
    Not that that would have changed anything.

Chapter 7
    A nner Valders carefully lifted the front door latch and stepped inside. Had Hildegunn gone to bed yet? Apparently not. A light shone from the kitchen. He crossed the front room and paused in the kitchen doorway.
    â€œSo how did the meeting go?” Hildegunn was toweling a large bowl dry.
    â€œWell, I think. We’re all aware of the possibility of a robbery. Forewarned is forearmed. They’re talking of hiring police protection, or at least a presence.”
    â€œDid you stop by Toby’s for the molasses?”
    Molasses! Of course. He scowled, not just because he had forgotten all about it, but because hers was a rather silly question. He wasn’t carrying anything, was he? “I’ll go get it. If they’re not up, can it wait until morning?”
    â€œNot if you want sticky buns for breakfast. I’ve set the sponge.”
    Mustn’t waste good flour and eggs. With a sigh, he headed back out the front door and up the street. If Toby was not still up, he would pound on their door until he was. After all, they would not hesitate to pound on his door if the need arose.
    Someone’s dog barked as he passed the bank alley, which set someone else’s dog to barking in the distance. The air hung humid, dark, gloomy. In a way he felt dark and gloomy. What if no one caught those robbers? His bank was vulnerable. In the distance a horse sneezed.
    Anner stopped, listening. The sneeze seemed to come from behind the bank. There were no horses stabled near there. Was a horse really back there, or were his ears deceiving him? His hearing was certainly not nearly as sharp as it used to be. He often had trouble discerning directions.
    He would check, though, just to make sure. He crossed to the bank and slipped into its shadow. Cautiously he moved to the back alley, remembering just in time about the rain barrel against the wall. He groped until he found it, stepped out around it, continued to the back. He peeked around the corner.
    There stood four horses near the back door of the bank. It was so dark, Anner could barely make out a small man sitting on one of them with his back to Anner. He held the other three horses’ reins. The horses seemed nervous. They moved about, their hind legs sidestepping, their ears going every which way.
    They were here! Those robbers! Right now! Anner needed a gun! He needed Toby! He needed others! What to do? His mind charged off in six directions at once.
    What could he do? By the time he ran to someone’s house to fetch help, those men might well be done with their thieving business and escaping on their horses. Even if the townsmen could be aroused, by the time they got their horses saddled, the fellows would be long gone. Why, oh why was he not carrying a gun?
    Anner was suddenly struck by a horrific, paralyzing thought: Big-city banks insured their holdings. Blessing’s bank could notafford to. Any money lost was Anner’s responsibility, not some insurance company’s.
    On impulse, because he couldn’t think, Anner slipped out of his jacket. Then he bolted forward toward those horses at a dead run, waving his coat frantically like a brakeman’s flag and shrieking at the top of his lungs.
    All four horses flung their heads in the air, and as one they wheeled away from him,