Chapter 2

• Tightening the cord, she checked the tension of the furs. “We’ll be warm this year, Thera.” Leah glanced at the leopard laying on the platform. She lifted her head an inch, looked back at her, and then lay back in the sunlight. “At least you don’t try to eat them now.” Going over, she bent down and rubbed her hand along the animal’s soft coat. “Aunt Tillie would be so happy you’ve settled down.” Blowing out a breath, she got back up. Her head was aching, the constant pressure that made it feel like something was squeezing it, but that was nothing new. If she managed to get all the potatoes dug up, maybe she’d go have a short nap. There wasn’t much free time in the fall for taking long breaks.
• She stopped halfway to the garden and rubbed the center of her forehead. “I’m fine. I need to do this before winter hits.” Blowing out a breath, she concentrated on staying focused and here. There was so much to do before the cold weather hit. Leah looked around at the leaves, without Papa Low, she could only guess when that would be, she didn’t have his intuition about the weather. Her mouth quirked with a smile, Nana Pearl would have laughed at that and said it wasn’t intuition, but arthritis that told him when the cold was moving in.
• Pausing beside the shed, she opened it to get out a pail and shovel. The potatoes were the last to come out, she’d gotten the other root vegetables stored for winter in the last few weeks. Brushing her hair back from her face, she watched Thera pace back and forth outside the garden area. If it weren’t for her, she would be so lonely, so lost.
• As she started down the path along the rows, Thera came bounding after her, cutting in front of her. “We don’t have time for a run right now, girl.” She smiled at the way the large cat stared at her. “Let me get them dug up first, then we’ll go for a run and pick them up later.” Thera walked over to the edge of the garden and sat down. Leah chuckled to herself quietly. “I’d ask you to help, but then they’d be all sliced up with those claws.” Thera made a deep rasping meow noise. To a person that didn’t know better, it may have sounded like a huge bullfrog, but Leah understood as if she’d used actual words. “Of course, you’d get your paws dirty.”
• Picking up the shovel, she moved over to the row. The garden had been good this year, which surprised her. It was the first year without Papa Low’s secret fertilizer. She’d planted more than needed, but Papa Virgil had always said it was better to have too much than not enough.
• “I could preserve half of it and make the trek to town and sell it at the market…” Like they used to do. Biting her lip, she shook her head. “I could do it.” She nodded, “with a little help, but I could try it again.” Sighing, she looked across to the other side of the fence. She missed Papa Low. The others too, but her grandfather and Aunt Tillie had been her absolute favorite people on earth.
• Leah inhaled slowly. “Not that we know a lot of people.” She murmured and then started to turn the soil carefully, keeping the shovel turned to the right angle to not slice open the fleshy roots under the soil.
• “I miss people, Thera.” She didn’t bother to look at the cat, knowing she would hear her regardless of where she lay down. “I know, I know, I can’t handle people.” She paused and looked at the ground, not really seeing it. “They are terrifying, rude, pushy…” Minn didn’t like it when people weren’t nice to her. Blinking, she concentrated on the plant in front of her, bending down, she pulled it from the soil, shook it, and tossed it beside the row. “I could do it, get some other supplies,” she whispered. She was running out of so much including paper and brushes. Aunt Tillie had shown her how to use plants and other items to make paints, but she couldn’t find all the colors she’d like to have. Painting helped. Helped her stay grounded, stay present. “We could do it, together, go down the mountain.”
• Evanna had always protected her. Always kept her safe, even before Minn was around. Her heart accelerated, causing her to catch her breath. Pausing she looked at Thera, “I’ll think about it some more.” Even though she’d said it aloud, she knew already that there wouldn’t be a trip down the mountain, there wouldn’t be new brushes and crisp paper. She couldn’t even control her panic at the thought of doing it, so there was no way Minn or Evanna would let her load up preserves and trek down there and out of their safe place.
• She had to get her emotions back under control or she’d lose it and have one of those moments that left her feeling like she’d failed again. It had been better for the last few months, and she wanted to keep it that way. She didn’t like when she receded so far into her mind that when she came back there was no clarity on what had happened. According to her journal, Evanna hadn’t had to take over for a month now, at least there were no gaps, so she could only assume she hadn’t been here.
• Thera got up and came over and rubbed up against her. She offered her a quick look, “I’m fine, we’ve got this.”