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known until then that he was as fearful as she. He began to cry, and now he refused to walk any further.
She bent down and, laying her doll in the snow, wrapped her arms around him. He was shaking so hard she could hear his teeth rattle. Then she realized he didn’t have the toy truck any longer. She started to ask him about it, but clamped her mouth shut in time. No use upsetting him more.
Rachael looked down at the doll. Should she leave it here and come back for it later? It was getting harder and harder to walk, weary as she was, without the added burden of the doll. But how could she leave Shirley out here, especially with her injuries? She reached out and pulled the blue sweater away from the doll’s face, just to make sure she hadn’t been dreaming about what Lyssa had done.
Wait! The sweater! Quickly, she unwrapped the doll and threw the woolen garment over her brother’s shoulders, buttoning it up to his chin. It was big enough that his arms wouldn’t feel trapped inside. Then, she stood up and tugged at his hand.
“Come on, Bobby, we have to keep moving.” Quickly she turned away, leaving Shirley lying in the snow.
They had been walking through sparsely wooded countryside, on a road covered in so much snow that they couldn’t see where it ended and the ditch began. They had wandered off the road several times stumbling over rough ground until they found their footing again, and managed to get back onto the roadway. Only one car had passed by but that seemed a long time ago. Rachael, with sudden presence of mind and a firm desire not to be caught, had started frolicking in the snow until it passed. Just as she hoped, the driver probably thought they were out for a walk. It hadn’t been snowing then, and the sky had been much brighter than now.
But she knew that the next vehicle to come along, if one ever did, would stop for them because she would flag it down. It had finally dawned on her that if they didn’t get help soon they would be out here all night. She began to pray as she remembered Uncle Morley had taught her.
“Please God, don’t let anything bad happen to Bobby and me.
Libros Libertad 