Free The Winds of Autumn by Janette Oke

button up my coat.
    The butcher shop was always a busy place. Sometimes I had been there when I’d had to wait in line for ten or fifteen minutes. It wasn’t my favorite spot. I didn’t care for the smell, the mixture of sawdust and fresh meat. I didn’t like to look at the cases full of chunks and pieces that used to be someone’s cow or hog, either. I would have rather waited outside, but the wind was cold so I stepped in and took my place in line—for once a short one.
    The butcher took care of each customer one by one, and when he had handed Mrs. Olaf her brown-wrapped hamburger and marked it on her sheet, he turned to me.
    “Howdy, Joshua. I’m supposin’ you’ve heard the good news?”
    I hadn’t heard any news, good or bad, that I recalled, so I shook my head.
    “No, sir,” I stated.
    “You didn’t? Well, boy, yer holiday is ’bout over. The new teacher arrived on today’s train.”
    I guess he’d expected my face to fall or me to start to grumble or something, for he was all ready to laugh a big laugh at my expense. There must have been a little smile that crossed my lips or showed in my eyes or something, ’cause he looked real surprised and then sad, like I’d spoiled his fun or something.
    “Ain’t ya upset?” he asked me.
    “No, sir,” I answered honestly.
    “Ya like school?” he went on, incredulous.
    I was a little slower to answer that one. I mean, I didn’t want to be thought strange or something. I swallowed. “I reckon I do,” I said.
    He shook his head as though to clear it of cobwebs, and then he said a funny thing. “Good for you. Maybe ya won’t need to spend yer life standin’ over foul-smellin’ meat all day.”
    He handed me my package and turned to enter it on the sheet that he kept for Uncle Nat.
    I didn’t rightly know what to say, so I just mumbled my “thank you” and pulled open the door. Besides, I was suddenly in a great big hurry to get home. I had real honest-to-goodness news!
    When I reached the house out of breath from running against the wind, Uncle Nat had arrived home from the church and was sitting by Aunt Lou, looking relieved to see her obediently in bed and visiting with Grandpa.
    “New schoolteacher’s here!” I gasped out to all three of them.
    “Is she now?” said Grandpa with a smile. “Then the rumor was right this time.”
    “He,” put in Uncle Nat mildly.
    We all looked at him.
    Grandpa’s eyes returned to my red-flushed face.
    “When did she get here, Boy?”
    “He,” said Uncle Nat again.
    We seemed to catch his meaning then—at least Grandpa did.
    “It’s a man?”
    “Right,” said Uncle Nat.
    “How old a fella?” asked Grandpa, and I wondered if he was thinking about whether the new teacher would be able to handle the older boys.
    “Near middle age, I expect,” responded Uncle Nat.
    “Middle age,” repeated Grandpa, seeming to ponder the information. “Did he come alone?”
    “No, he has a wife and child.”
    “Child?” This question, too, was from Grandpa.
    “A girl,” said Uncle Nat, and I immediately dismissed the fact from my mind. If it had been a boy I might have been interested in his age.
    “That’s nice,” Grandpa was saying. “Real nice. You’ll be able to get back to yer studies, Boy.”
    I nodded and then realized I still held the brown-paper-wrapped pork chops in my hands.
    Grandpa stood to his feet and gathered up the cups. “I’d best be gettin’ on home ’fore that storm strikes,” he said. “Josh, did you bring in the milk and butter?”
    “Yes, sir,” I answered him.
    “Then I’d best get a-rollin’. You take care now, Lou, ya hear? Josh is here and he’s happy to do yer runnin’.”
    Lou smiled. “I promise!” she said. “Though I sure don’t feel sick anymore.”
    “I’ve had an awful time keeping her down,” remarked Uncle Nat.
    “No use takin’ chances,” Grandpa reminded Aunt Lou. Then he added thoughtfully, “I thought you had the measles when you were