Free Winter Is Not Forever by Janette Oke Page A

usually left her at home when we went to town, but today I tucked her inside my heavy coat and she managed just fine. Sarah loved her, and I put Pixie through all of her tricks just to make Sarah squeal and giggle. She seemed to like it best when Pixie “spoke” for a little taste of turkey. Then Sarah would wave her chubby arms and squeal at the top of her voice. We all had a good laugh over it.
    In the afternoon I slipped out and hurried over to the Foggelsons’. I wanted Mrs. Foggelson to know that I was thinking about her—still praying for her, too. Besides, I was a little anxious to hear any news about Camellia.
    Before I went up their walk, I could see that there was no one home. The heavy curtains were pulled shut and no one had cleaned the snow from the walk for several days. The shovel was leaning up against the back porch, so before I headed home again I decided to clear the snow from the walk. I didn’t know when the Foggelsons would be back again or if it would even be evident to them that someone had been there, but I did it anyway.
    I wondered if there was some chance that Mr. Foggelson had changed his mind and they had gone together to see Camellia. I hoped so. It would be a lonely Christmas for both Mrs. Foggelson and Camellia if they were to spend it apart.
    I thought of Willie, too. I had received a letter from him just a few days before Christmas. “I really miss the family and friends,” he wrote. “As exciting as my studies are, I’m lonesome, even weary. But I’ve been invited home with one of the guys from the college who lives nearby.” I was glad that Willie had somewhere to go.
    When I was younger, I had always thought that as soon as Christmas had come and gone, we should be working our way toward spring. I hoped that it would be true this year. I had loved winter as a boy, but then I hadn’t had the responsibilities of seeing that everything and everybody made it through without mishap or suffering. Winter had simply been a time of sport— sleigh rides, tobogganing, ice skating, snowfalls and snowmen. I had loved it. Now winter was a time of struggle against the intense cold, the biting wind, the deep snow, the shortened days. The weather made it harder to chore, and the supply of winter feed and cut wood seemed to evaporate before my eyes.
    Thinking of all this as I walked back to Aunt Lou’s, I began to feel rather dejected. Then, it began to snow again—huge, soft, gently falling flakes. I looked up toward the sky to see the snow drift toward my face and marveled anew at the beauty of it. It might not be easy to live with winter, but it certainly was beautiful when I just took the time to look closely at it.

C HAPTER 10

    Making It Through
    I MAY HAVE BEEN READY for spring as soon as Christmas was over, but I guess no one thought to tell Mother Nature. She stormed and fretted and gave us a hard time all through the month of January. I looked forward to February—surely things would improve!
    But they didn’t. When we couldn’t get to church a couple of Sundays, I missed the church service, the good dinner, and the brief visit with little Sarah.
    And the bad weather didn’t help Uncle Charlie improve, either. His arthritis seemed to twist his fingers off to the side more and more each day. I inwardly ached for him when I watched him trying to accomplish some simple task. But he was independent and needed to feel that he was carrying a full share of the workload.
    About mid-February, Grandpa came down with a bad cold.
    He struggled along trying to treat himself for several days but got no better.
    “Grandpa!” I insisted. “You’re just getting worse. I’m gonna fetch Doc to take a look at you.”
    “Bah!” he sputtered. “Doctors can’t do nothin’ I’m not already doing.”
    When it got worse and he had a hard time breathing, I saddled Chester and headed for town—over Grandpa’s protests.
    “Sure enough,” Doc murmured. “Pneumonia. You get that girl of yours