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Once again, I looked around for her. It was unlike Kit to disappear for long without telling me where she was going. Perhaps she’d found a rabbit and was freeing it. Ever since we’d found one nibbling on the lettuce, she’d refused to let anyone even think of adding it to the stew pot. Instead, she’d carry the safe trap her brothers had built into the woods at the west edge of the land and release the frightened rabbit. I’d smiled when Banks told her they’d just come back again and Kit had informed him she’d spoken to the bunnies and they’d promised to find their supper elsewhere.
Well, I could hold off on choosing a few tomatoes as those could be gathered right before our evening meal.
I set my basket down on the ground, kneeling in the rich earth. Using my spade, I carefully loosened the soil around the feathery tops to expose a band of orange. Setting the tool aside, I pulled a few of the plants from the ground, always a bit amazed at how a seed so tiny could produce big, fat carrots. They would be delicious steamed with a bit of honey drizzled over the tops. Stepping between the plants, I moved down another aisle to the back of the garden.
Bending down, I brushed foliage aside and wrapped my hands around the base of a plant. It was far harder to pull out of the earth than the carrots had been. But finally, with a bit of huffing, I yanked it free, and shook it hard, watching clods of dirt drop off.
“Very nice,” I said, rubbing some more dirt from the potatoes. After they’d roasted with the meat, I’d remove them and turn them into the garlic mashed potatoes the men loved. I’d serve them with a blob of butter I’d churned myself sitting in the center, and topped with shredded cheese and bits of crispy bacon. I was pulling on a second plant when I paused. What was that? Straightening, I looked around, twirling to look behind me when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
“Kit, is that you?”
She didn’t answer. I was about to call out again but caught myself at the last moment. Hadn’t I always rolled my eyes in horror movies when the actress knew something was wrong but kept yelling, communicating her location to the serial killer?
Serial killer? Great, Goldie, way to freak yourself out. I chided myself, but couldn’t brush off the sense of unease that had rolled through me. I might not see anyone, but I knew something or someone had ducked around the corner of the cabin.
“Shit!” I jumped two feet in the air when it was split with a scream.
It took me a second to properly identify the god-awful racket. It hadn’t been a scream, but a squawk. Make that a bunch of squawks. I’d grown accustomed to the chickens clucking, their occasional squawk, but this was different. This sounded as if they were panicked. I remembered Jay saying they’d seen some tracks around the barn. Could it have been a fox I saw, the animal trying to get a free meal? Were there even foxes on the mountain? Of course there were foxes…
Still, even if they were common, it would be unusual for one to be out in the day, around people. Yet, I hadn’t seen anyone in a while. The men could be anywhere. Out mending a fence, moving the small herd of cattle to a different pasture, checking on any one of a hundred things. But even if Kit had gone to the woods, she should have returned by now.
“All right!” I said, abandoning my gardening when the chickens didn’t stop and were actually joined by the sound of other animals… animals that sounded scared.
I ran back down the path, grabbing up the hoe on the way out the gate. I didn’t have any illusion that I’d actually be able to kill any wild animal, but I figured I could yell and wave the hoe to perhaps scare it off.
I was already yelling when I turned the corner of the house, waving my weapon of choice, only to come to an abrupt stop. “Oh my God!” I said, dropping the hoe. The barn had black smoke billowing out from it. My heart plummeted as I tried to figure out what to do next.
“Fire!” My scream was louder than the animals’ cries, the terror in my voice unmistakable. “Rye, Banks! The barn’s on fire! Jay!”
There was no sign of the brothers anywhere. No one came running, and I remembered them at breakfast stating they needed to go into town to meet a delivery they’d been expecting.
Oh dear God… where was Kit?
“Kit! Kit!”
What if she was in the barn?
Quicker than I thought possible for my legs to move, I ran toward the burning building, stopping to fling open the gate to the chicken coop. I couldn’t take the time to go into the hen house, but at least they’d have a path to escape and from the flurry of feathers flying about, they weren’t wasting time.
The barn was next, the closed door not able to silence the sounds of frantic animals inside. They were at least alive… for now.
“Kit! Are you in there?”
I yanked open the door of the barn with all my strength. The smoke, and the fumes hit me with a force that obstructed my vision. I immediately started coughing, wheezing as I tried to draw in oxygen that was tainted with poison.
“Kit!” I screamed again, ignoring the burning in my lungs as I made my way inside.
I could see the fire engulfing the hay, flames licking up the wood of the back wall, moving toward the ceiling overhead. It was like some hungry beast, devouring everything in its path… the animals wouldn’t stand a chance shut up inside their stalls. Smoke clouded my vision and made it close to impossible to breathe, and I wasn’t even all the way inside.
“Kit! Kit, are you in here?”
Oh, please no. Please don’t be in here, I prayed.
Each beat of my heart pounded against my chest. Fear nearly paralyzed me as I scanned the inferno. Running to the stalls, I began to unlatch the wooden doors, allowing the animals to make their escape. Cocoa was backed against the far wall of her stall, her eyes rolling in fear.
“Go,” I yelled, pulling on her halter. “Please!” I cried when she refused to budge.
There was no way I could pull her out. She weighed ten times what I did. Running back, I grabbed a rake used to muck out the stall. I stood to the side, lifted it over my head and brought it down across her rump with all my force. I had to scramble back as she lunged forward, bellowing in fear and outrage. I’d apologize later, but for now, I was just glad to see her running past me and down the aisle toward the open barn door.
