Free Westward Skies by Zoe Matthews Page A

do the dishes while I finish up some chores.”
     
    “I will, Pa.”
     
    He went out to the wood pile and found a long branch.  He quickly shaped it into a large bat. This will help Jessica see she is strong.  She needed to believe in herself.
     
    He went back into the house to find the dishes washed and put away.  Jessica was sitting at the kitchen table doing her schoolwork.  He gave her the stick. 
     
    “Take this with you.  Wave it around when the dog comes.  He’ll leave you alone.”
     
    Jessica took the stick.  “Thanks, Pa.”  She stood up and started to wave the stick around.
                 
    “What are you doing?” he asked her.
     
    “I’m practicing, so I can be ready.”
     
    “That’s a good idea,” he told her with a smile.

Chapter 10
     
     
    The next morning, Lizzie had started school and ten minutes later, Jessica still hadn’t shown up.  Was something wrong?  She hoped not and that Austin had just kept the child home for some reason.  Then she saw Jessica slip into her seat.
     
    “Good morning, Jessica.  Is everything okay?”
     
    “Yes, ma’am,” Jessica responded, but she wouldn’t look at Lizzie.  Lizzie wanted to keep asking questions but decided to back off.  Maybe she was just embarrassed about being late to school. 
     
    At recess, she dismissed the children and then sat at her desk.  Jessica had been very quiet all morning and had not looked at her once.  She hadn’t been able to answer Lizzie’s questions about a math problem.  Lizzie hoped everything was okay at her house.  It seemed obvious to her that Austin had driven a wedge between her and Jessica. 
     
    Well, I did what I could for her , she whispered to herself. That will have to be enough .  She went outside to make sure the children were okay when Helen, one of the oldest girls, came up to her.
     
    “Miss Carter, you need to look at Jessica’s leg,” the girl whispered to her.
     
    Lizzie instantly felt concern.  She looked around and saw Jessica sitting on a log away from the other children.  Usually Jessica was in the thick of things during recess, running around and not stopping for a second.
     
    She headed towards Jessica, but the child saw and instantly went into the outhouse.  Lizzie could see she was slightly limping.  What was going on?  She called Helen back to her. 
     
    “Please ring the bell and get all the children started on their spelling words. I need to take care of something and will be back in a moment.”  She knew Helen would be able to handle things if she needed to be gone for a while.  Helen had expressed her desire to be a teacher when she graduated next spring and so Lizzie had been giving her opportunities to teach small lessons to the other children.
     
    Helen nodded her understanding and went to ring the bell.  Lizzie waited by the outhouse.  She knew Jessica would come out soon, especially if she thought everyone had gone into the schoolhouse, including Lizzie.
     
    When Jessica opened the door to the outhouse, she froze when she saw Lizzie, who looked down at the leg Jessica seemed to be favoring.  She could see her overall pants were torn and she could see some blood.
     
    “Oh, Jessica,” Lizzie breathed as she moved closer to the child.  “What happened?”
    “Nothing,” Jessica tried to move away, but Lizzie caught her arm.
     
    “Let me see your leg.  It looks like you hurt it.” Lizzie waited until Jessica finally nodded her assent.  Lizzie lifted her pant leg and saw a flap of ragged skin that gaped open, and quite a bit of blood was running down her leg into her shoe, although some of it had dried.
     
    Lizzie tried to not look too alarmed, but the wound looked quite bad.  “Let’s get this cleaned up.” 
     
    Jessica whimpered but followed her willingly into the schoolroom.  Lizzie had Jessica sit in the small room where the coats and lunch boxes were held and she did her best to clean the wound, but she