A snippet today from my novel! If you want
more, just click on the link!
CHAPTER ONE
March 1908
Five
times she stood on the front porch.
The
first time, she squinted her hazel eyes against the glare of the late afternoon
sun that stabbed through the west bank of live oaks. The second time, the trees
stood like black sentries against a bleeding sunset. By the third time, her
fretting hands twisted the dish rag as the hush of dusk descended across the
farm. Behind her floated the muted voices of her sons. Far in the distance, the
howl of their shepherd, Ranger, carried on the whispering breeze. The hair on
her arms pricked to attention as the dog’s howl mutated into insistent barking.
“Mom?”
She
didn’t shift her gaze from the far field when her eldest son, Lewis, stood next
to her. Instead, she cocked her head to listen again for Ranger’s far-off yelp.
“He’s
found her.” The certainty of her words belied the fear wrenching her heart.
“Get your brothers and the wagon.” Peering into the gray shadows, she continued
with instructions. “Take lanterns and blankets. Water. She’ll need water.”
The
fourth time she stood on the front porch, she wrapped herself within the
blanket of early evening. Her eyes picked out pinpricks of light playing
hide-n-seek among the stalwart trees.
The
final time, her legs shook uncontrollably that she gripped the porch banister
for support. Her stomach pitched, and she fought back bile as it pressed up her
throat. In the wagon lay her beautiful daughter, deathly pale in a golden halo
of lantern light.
“She’s
alive.”
Copyright 2018 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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