Free Western Star by Bonnie Bryant Page A

tell us what happened,” Stevie urged. When Lisa was done telling the tale, everybody was doubly glad that they’d all gotten back safely.
    The living room in the lodge was old with high ceilings. A blazing fire in the fireplace warmed up the huge room and made it cozy. Flames licked at the logs and sparked upward, making everyone forget the miserable weather outside the sturdy walls of the lodge.
    The Katzes were playing bridge. The four girls started playing a raucous game of Monopoly. Frank worked on a crossword puzzle, and Phyllis sat at the desk, planning meals and shopping for the next week at the ranch.
    Every once in a while Frank would poke at the fire or toss on another log. The room was cheerful, buzzing with the chatter among the players and the snapping and popping of logs in the fire.
    “Three spades.”
    “You can’t buy Oriental. I already own it, and that’ll be six dollars please.”
    “You already own everything.”
    “Three no-trump.”
    When noon came, Phyllis served up big bowls ofsteaming soup and a selection of sandwiches. The girls took their lunches back to the Monopoly board.
    By midafternoon Carole had amassed an enviable fortune and was getting richer and richer by the moment because nobody could safely run her gauntlet on the fourth side of the board.
    “I give up,” Lisa declared.
    “Me too,” said Stevie.
    “Then I’m ready to pop some popcorn,” said Carole.
    Her friends looked at her. “For the tree,” she explained. One entire corner of the lodge’s main room was taken up by a tall spruce tree that was still bare.
    “We always try to make popcorn chains for our trees, too,” said Stevie. “Except my brothers eat the popcorn.”
    “Just your brothers?” Kate asked.
    “Well, Mom and Dad, too,” Stevie said. “And every once in a while I have some.”
    “We make chains out of colored paper,” said Lisa.
    “And we make chains out of popcorn and cranberries,” Kate said. “So what are we waiting for?”
    The four girls went into the lodge kitchen, already filled with tempting smells from the morning’s baking and the huge vat of stew that would be dinner. Stevie declared herself in charge of popping popcorn. Kate located the bags of cranberries. It didn’t take long before the irresistible scent of fresh popcorn joined the other delicious smells in the kitchen. Phyllis produced needlesand thread, and the four girls sat in a circle on the floor around the bowls, ready to create “the most spectacular decorations ever put on a tree,” as Stevie had pronounced they would be. It seemed like the perfect activity for a wintry afternoon three days before Christmas.
    The lodge door opened wide, bringing in a gust of wind and a brushing of snow.
    “Hello!” called the three Finnegans.
    “You made it okay from your cabin?” Phyllis asked, standing up to greet them.
    “The snow seems to be letting up now,” Mrs. Finnegan said. “There’s a lot of it and plenty of it is blowing around, but not so much is falling down.”
    “Well, come on in and get warm by the fire,” Phyllis said. “The girls are making chains for the tree—”
    “And we need two more for bridge,” said Ellen Katz. “Would you like to play some more?”
    “Sure,” said Gary’s parents. They joined the Katzes at the card table.
    Frank Devine looked out the window and then opened the door to check on the weather. It was still snowing, but it didn’t seem to be a blizzard anymore, just a gentle snow. Lisa peered through the window. The whole world was fresh, clean, and white. It looked so beautiful and serene, it was hard to imagine that only a few hours ago it had been dangerously fierce.
    There was a loud noise then, approaching the lodge.
    “It’s the snowplow,” Frank said. “They’ve cleared the main road and our drive is open.”
    “That’s always nice,” said Phyllis. “Even when we have no intention of going out, it’s good to know we can.”
    “Actually, I do have an