Home Alone (7 page)

"Hey, that must have been what I saw bobbing up and down at the beginning of the storm yesterday," Alec interjected.

"Probably so," the man went on. "I guess it took Chet quite awhile to get out of the water in all this rain. He managed somehow, though, and then tried to come up here for help. He said he was almost to the house when a strong wind gust came. He felt something hit him. He radioed for help, but before we got all the information, he passed out cold. He's been lying there, in and out of alertness ever since, poor guy."

Winnie listened to the story with interest. She wanted to stay quiet but couldn't do it any longer.

"Are we the two kids he was trying to check on?" she asked, the guilt obvious in her voice.

"Yes, but don't you go worrying yourself over that. He had to come out here anyway. Why, that poor woman up the road needed his help. Once he took care of her, this was on his way back to the station. He didn't even know this was your house. He said he had lost his way in the darkness, and the boat just happened to capsize here. He was over there in the ambulance, worried sick about the two kids he was to check on. You can't imagine how thrilled he was to know it was you two, and you are safe and sound."

Winnie felt the relief sweep through her body.

"So rather than feel bad over this, you ought to be feeling pretty proud about now," the man said, looking from one child to the other.

"And our parents?" Alec asked, jumping ahead to the obvious question. "They are okay?"

"They are great," he said, "except for worrying about you. I just radioed them and told them the road is safe. They are on their way home now."

Alec and Winnie jumped up and down, delighted with the news. The last hour had brought so many emotions, Winnie felt like she was on a roller coaster. Fear, guilt, and worry were now replaced with pure joy. She was grateful for this last feeling and hoped it would stick around for a while.

It was only another fifteen minutes before Winnie spied her dad's car pulling into the driveway. Her mother's door was open before her dad even got the vehicle stopped. The children ran to their parents, arms wide open, tears streaming down all their faces.

"You poor, poor things," Winnie's mother said over and over. "Let me look at you. Are you all right?"

"We're fine," Alec said, acting like it was nothing. "Look what we got!"

Winnie laughed that after the horrendous night they'd been through, her brother still gave the kitten top billing.

"You'd never believe what we went through to save this little baby," Alec said, hugging it to his chest. "We named her Lucky. Can we keep her?"

Mrs. Frazier was too overwhelmed to speak. She nodded a quick 'yes' to her son then moved in closer to Winnie.

"My big, responsible girl," she said, giving her another hug. "I had no idea what I was getting you into. You must be furious with us for leaving you two out here like this."

Winnie laughed through her tears.

"We knew you were trying to get home to us, Mom. We just did our best on our own. I just tried to pretend you were here and do what you would have done."

"You're a wise girl," Winnie's mother said. "I can't wait to hear all about your adventure. I am just so proud of you two for handling all this. I'm sure you were scared out of your wits!"

Winnie looked over at Alec. "We had our moments," she said honestly. "But I think we managed pretty well."

"I say you did better than that," her mom clarified. "When we realized the roads were closed and we couldn't get home, I was frantic. But your father kept telling me you two would be fine. I was skeptical, but I see now he was right."

Winnie looked at her father and smiled. Just knowing the confidence he had in them made her feel warm all over.

"Why, you even took the sheets down from the clothesline," Mrs. Frazier said with surprise, looking at the empty line.

Winnie looked to Alec with a suspicious grin. "The flying ghosts?" she asked. Alec nodded his head, remembering the visions they saw flying past the window the previous night.

"Ghosts?" she asked.

"It's a long story," Alec answered with a bit of a giggle. "And we'll fill you in on the monster in the basement later, too."

Winnie smiled remembering the pile of objects barricading the basement door. When they had come outside early that morning, she had noticed the basement window banging in the gentle breeze. She was sure that was the noise of Alec's monster.

"I can't wait to hear all about your experience," Mrs. Frazier said, putting her arms around her children. "Let me see, so far I know you've saved a man's life, rescued a kitten, and survived a pretty incredible wind storm… almost a hurricane, in fact. I think you two have passed the test. You have earned the privilege of being able to stay on your own while Dad and I go on errands from now on. I think if you handled these past fourteen hours, you can handle just about anything."

Winnie looked over to Alec and returned the smile he was giving her. She felt a closeness to her brother now, a bond from their experience. They may still not see eye-to-eye on everything in the future; but she also knew this experience had brought them together in a way nothing else could.

"If it's just the same to you, Mom, I think we're going to be going along on the next few trips to the grocery store." Winnie gave her mom a big hug and winked at her brother. He gave her a grin, letting her know he felt exactly the same way.

Lisa Church
is a writer and schoolteacher in central Pennsylvania. She is a wife and mother of three children: Tommi Ann, Alexander, and Allison. They all love to write just like Mom. Lisa teaches 4
^th
graders and loves reading to her students. She usually writes children's fiction but has also had adult fiction published as well. In her free time, Lisa enjoys hiking, needlework, and spending time with her three dogs (Brooks, Jenna, and Duke) and one finicky cat named Phinneas.

Chapter One

The orphanage was full. That was a blessing for Mattie Blackson. The twelve-year-old wasn't sure she could have lived in such a place. She had been through too much in the last year. It started with the tragic loss of her parents. The two people she had loved and counted on most vanished from her life in an instant. The fire also took her home and everything else she held dear. Her grandmother said it was a miracle she had gotten out alive. Mattie often wondered about that herself.

The young girl had plenty of time to think. Her elderly grandmother took her in after the tragedy. She lived in a tiny house hours away from the friends and life Mattie knew. The fragile girl had only been there a few months when the old woman succumbed to death as well. Mattie once again felt her world crumbling around her.

With no other relatives known to her, Mattie became an orphan. A child who belonged to the state. Usually, those unfortunate children were placed in a home together. But this was 1929. Times were hard everywhere. Parents had children they could no longer feed and take care of. Orphanages were full of children waiting for their parents to get their lives back on track. There was no room for a new girl, despite the fact she truly was homeless and without anyone.

But that proved lucky for Mattie. For in the deepest part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a small town in Virginia, lived John and Emma Sue Grady. This couple had been a godsend to many children over the years. When the Rockport Orphanage grew too full, this couple would take that next child, that poor little boy or girl who needed a home. This time, Mattie Blackson was that next child.

John and Emma Sue welcomed their new guest with open arms. Dismissing the fact they could barely feed the seven children they were keeping now, they agreed to take in just one more. In the beginning, it took some persuasion from the government woman who brought Mattie there. But when they realized the alternative for the young girl, something that Mattie never allowed herself to hear, the couple took the girl's tattered suitcase and introduced her into the fold.

At first, Mattie was shy. After all, she had been an only child. She wasn't accustomed to the noise and commotion that came with a house full of children. With time, though, she learned to love and care about every one of her new brothers and sisters. The young ones were easy to love from the start. Gretal, the baby of the group, was a mere two-and-a-half, “the perfect age for huggin,'” Emma Sue would say. Jessie Lyn, newly turned three, was round and chubby and the apple of John Grady's eye. As much mischief as she got into, she never got scolded. The five-year-old twins were next in line. Ethan and Thomas had been there the longest. Abandoned by their mother at six weeks, the two had been officially adopted by the Gradys. Few knew this, though, since the couple treated all the children the same.

Annie Lane made number five in the family. Mattie found her the most intriguing of all. She insisted on being called by her first and last name, even though her parents had given her up long ago. She was feisty and mischievous and the most likely child to be in trouble. And yet, Mattie found her to be quite likeable. The age difference of four years kept them from being best friends, but she held a special bond with Annie Lane that even she herself didn't quite understand.

Mary Margaret, aged ten, was the shyest of the bunch. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty was secretive about her background, so Mattie wasn't sure of the reason why this young girl rarely spoke and kept mainly to herself. She preferred to sit in the house when the others were playing outside and never joined in on the normal teasing and joking that comes with being a sibling. There was a sadness about her that Mattie accepted as part of her personality. Maybe someday, Mary Margaret would open up and become happy, or at least as happy as an orphaned girl could.

The oldest of the youngsters was James. At thirteen, he was at that stage between boyhood and manhood. Mattie loved him right from the start — not a romantic kind of love, but the kind of love that a little sister feels for a brother. Mattie had always longed for an older brother, someone to stand up for her and calm her fears when she felt afraid. James was all that and more. He was a big help to John around the house, and the younger children just loved the rough and tumble play that he introduced right before bedtime. Occasionally he even made Mary Margaret smile.

The Gradys' home wasn't meant for such a big family, but somehow they all made do. Mattie had the good fortune, or misfortune, depending on the season, of sharing a room in the barn with Mary Margaret and James. Mattie helped Emma Sue make the stable corner as attractive as possible. The girls shaped a comfortable mattress of hay and blankets, while James preferred a hammock in the loft. It wasn't much, but the extra space it created in the household was well worth the effort.

Mattie found most nights with her two siblings to be enjoyable. She and James would stay up late talking, while Mary Margaret would occasionally listen in or read. The two talked about their past lives sometimes, but mainly it was about their dreams and hopes for the future. Mattie rarely spoke of such things with Emma Sue or John, but for some reason, when she was with James and Mary Margaret, talking about such things was acceptable. It made her feel alive and hopeful, quite opposite from what her heart knew the past several months.

This promising look to the future got Mattie through some very tough days. Even though the eight children had become close, there was still bickering and normal quarrels amongst them. And then there were the chores… oh, the chores! Mattie did laundry some days until she thought the skin of her hands would peel right off. And when she wasn't cleaning, she was cooking. Feeding ten people each day was time consuming and challenging. Money was scarce. It was all Emma Sue and John could do to offer one wholesome meal a day. Many times Mattie watched as the “parents” of the family did without so the many children could fill their stomachs. More and more, with each passing day, Mattie was beginning to realize the sacrifices this couple made to keep her and the others together. And little by little, her heart ached as she knew the reality of it all. How long was this going to last? The Gradys couldn't keep this large family with the way times were. She had heard Emma Sue and John discussing the matter many nights on the porch. She shuddered to think what would happen to her, or any one of the children, if they had to leave the Gradys' home.

One quiet summer night, Mattie heard the Gradys mention her name in their talk. They thought, perhaps, they could find a new home for her since she was older and could help tend to housework. Someone would surely take her in.

Mattie could scarcely catch her breath. In fact, that night, Mattie didn't lie awake talking with John or brushing Mary Margaret's hair. That night, she lay awake praying. Praying for a change that would make things all right. Praying for a miracle that would keep the family, her family now, together forever. But Mattie knew, sometimes… many times… people didn't get what they prayed for most. She could only hope this wasn't one of those times.