Free The Winds of Autumn by Janette Oke Page B

Jack and I had agreed to meet at the corner of Main Street and all go to school together. None of us could live with the thought of one or the other of us fellas getting the first look at that new schoolmaster.
    Willie and Avery were already there when I came puffing up. The air was frosty and it hurt one’s lungs to run hard on such a morning. My insides felt frozen as I came wheezing up to the fellas.
    We had to wait for Jack. The three of us stood there stomping our feet and clapping our hands, trying to keep warm. We were about to give up on Jack and go on to school when he came panting around the corner. His cheeks were red—I just figured it to be the cold wind. Then he grabbed my arm and squeezed it real tight.
    “You’re not gonna believe this,” he said. “I wouldn’t have believed it myself iffen I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
    “Seen what?” asked Willie, and Avery and I both perked our ears up too.
    “Well, you know the new teacher moved in over near us.”
    We waited, wondering what news Jack had that would top the tales we’d already heard.
    “Well, on Saturday Ma sent me into town for some eggs and milk, and there she was—comin’ right outta their gate.”
    “Who?” we all said together. “Who?” I know our minds were all busy wondering where this new story was going.
    Jack looked at us like we should have known “who” without asking.
    “His daughter,” he said. “Who else?”
    “His daughter!” we all fairly exploded.
    “Good grief!” said Avery. “I thought you had some news .”
    “Guess his daughter can come out of her own house iffen she has a mind to,” I stated sarcastically and turned away from Jack.
    “Come on,” chimed in Willie. “Let’s get to school before we freeze to death.”
    Jack looked disappointed. For some reason I failed to understand; he had been so excited over his silly bit of news.
    “Wait, fellas,” he said as we walked away. “Wait—”
    But we didn’t even want to hear about it.
    Jack tried again. “Why the rush? Don’t you want to hear—”
    “Why should we care if his kid runs down his walk?”
    demanded Avery. “Is she weird or somethin’?”
    Jack pulled me to a stop and the other fellas turned to look at him.
    “You haven’t seen her?” asked Jack.
    We shook our heads, and I tried to shake off Jack’s restraining hand.
    “Have ya heard about her?” Jack continued.
    “I heard he had a kid,” I shrugged.
    “Yeah, me, too,” said Willie, his expression saying, “So what?” He turned away. “C’mon, let’s get in there before that bell rings.”
    Jack let me go then but he had this funny look on his face.
    “I think you boys are in for a big surprise,” was all he said.
    We looked at Jack like he’d lost his senses.
    We pushed our way into the small hallway and shook the snow from our coats before hanging them up on our assigned pegs. I felt myself straining forward, trying to catch a glimpse of that new teacher.
    Other students crowded into the entry. We exchanged a few teasing pleasantries with the other fellas and let the girls pass without comment. One or two of them looked our way and giggled a bit. Girls were awfully silly, if you asked me.
    There was no way we fellas would have entered the schoolroom before the bell rang. It just wouldn’t have looked right, somehow. Yet all of us were so anxious to get a look at the man who would be teaching us for the rest of the school year. From the stories that had been circulating, I didn’t know whether he would have a long, curling black mustache and shifty eyes, or horns and a red tail.
    Anyway, we were still standing there, straining to look around the door that wasn’t opened quite wide enough for us to see into the room, when the other door opened and a gust of winter snow swirled in. Behind the snowflakes was the most beautiful creature we had ever seen. I guess our mouths all dropped open. I mean, there she was just a few feet from us, brushing the snow