Chapter 15

Mira watched as Joseph laid the wood in the grate. Cold ashes covered the stone bottom of the fireplace.

"Don't you need to remove the ashes?" Mira asked.

"Not less'n they's too high." The boy frowned over his shoulder at her. "Don't you know nothin' about startin' a fire?"

She could almost see him wondering what kind of teacher she could be if she didn't even know how to build a fire. "When I was your age, we had a woodstove, but my mother wouldn't let me build the fire."

"Huh. Guess as how you was babied some."

"I did have to carry in wood." Mira hoped that would gain her a little respect.

"Did you chop it too?"

"No."

"Girls. Spoilt like babies." His voice had all the little-boy disgust for girls.

Mira had to smile. "Chopping wood might be more fun than cooking and washing dishes."

"I can reckon so on that. Did your ma cook on that stove you had?"

"She did."

He turned back to ease some bark and wood chips under the bigger log. "Ma heared of them woodstoves you kin cook on. She cut a picture out of a newspaper and pasted it up on the wall. Said it don't hurt to dream some."

"She sounds wise."

"I reckon she's the smartest woman in the hills 'cepting maybe Granny or Aunt Nicey Jane."

"I'll look forward to meeting her," Mira said.

He stacked another small log on the wood in the fireplace.

"Where are the matches?" She straightened up to see if they might be on the split log mantel over the fireplace. Nothing there.

"Don't need no match. I done run over to Mr. Frank's house and he give me some fire."

Joseph went out on the porch and came back holding a smoking iron pot out in front of him. With tongs beside the fireplace, he picked up the coals and stuffed them under the wood. Flames flickered up from the bark and kindling.

He must have seen her ineptitude for fire building because he said, "That there pan is for fetching coals. Preacher has to do it all the time 'cause he wanders here and there in these hills, but be best if you keep the fire going. Makes things a sight easier, but I reckon you could get coals from anybody around, were you to need to. Cheaper than matches."

"Thank you, Joseph. Preacher Gordon said you were a wonderful help to him and I'm sure you will be to me too."

He hung on to his scowl, but Mira could tell her words pleased him. "I reckon I kin help you if'n you need me to."

"I'm sure I will. Especially after school opens."

"I ain't too good at figuring and reading."

"You will be," Mira said. "But I was talking more about helping with the fire at school or with the other children's names before I learn them."

"School will have a stove for heating up the place, Preacher says. We done have one in the church. My grandpa carried over wood for it yesterday."

"That's nice. Thanks to him, the church will be warm tomorrow. Does your grandfather build the fire there on Sundays?"

"No'm. My brother Willard does that, but says he'd be glad to give over the job to me soon's Ma thinks I'm big enough."

"Doesn't she know you build fires here for Preacher Gordon?"

"Yes'm, but she holds more confidence in Willard doing it right for church."

"I think you must have done this fire just right." Mira held her hands out toward the flames. "Thank you."

The boy cocked his head to the side, studying her. "Was the preacher just funnin' about you playin' ball with us'ns?"

"I have been known to pitch a ball a time or two." Mira smiled at him and almost got a smile in return. She looked around. The trunks were beside the door, but Gordon was nowhere to be seen. "But where is Preacher Gordon?"

"Heck, I plumb forgot. I was supposed to tell you he was headin' over to check on what they been doin' to the schoolhouse. Aimed to see if the roof was tight."

"I see." Mira looked toward the window and was surprised to see a girl's face pressed up against the glass. "Oh."

The girl jerked back. Mira rushed to the door, but she was already off the porch and running away. She stopped behind a tree between the cabin and the church to peek back at Mira.

Joseph followed Mira out on the porch. "Don't let her bother you none. That's just Ada June."

"Go tell her to come warm by the fire."

The boy gave Mira a look. "I ain't sure you want me to do that."

"Why not?"

"Well, Ada June, she's liable to track mud in your door and sometimes she ain't too clean. She's half-wild. Lives in the woods about as much as she lives at Aunt Dottie's." He sounded disgusted. "And she'll expect that dog of hers to come in with her. She don't go nowhere without that dog, and he can be a mean one."

"Does the dog bite?"

"It would if she told it to."

"Does she tell it to?"

"Not unless somebody is pokin' fun at her."

"Then we won't poke fun at her." Mira watched the girl and remembered what Gordon said about her on the train. "Go on. Ask her to come in. Tell her the dog can come too."

"I kin tell her." The boy let out a sigh. "But that don't mean she will. And even if she did, she probably won't say nothing. I ain't never heared her say the first word."

"Preacher Gordon told me she talked to him."

"I reckon everybody talks to Preacher Gordon."

"I see, but I want her to come in whether she talks or not. Please, go tell her I want to meet her. And that I'll give her a piece of peppermint." She'd seen Gordon put the sack of candy in the cupboard after he gave Joseph a couple of pieces.

"That's my peppermint." Joseph's scowl was back.

"I think it's Preacher Gordon's peppermint." Mira gave him her teacher look that showed she meant business. "I won't give her all of it unless you keep acting contrary."

Joseph's shoulders drooped, but he climbed down off the porch and went toward the girl. Mira expected her to run, but instead she came out from behind the tree and stood up tall staring first at the boy and then Mira. She must think Mira was sending Joseph to run her off.

She was a head taller than the boy, with long legs that had to be freezing under her loose skirt. Her ragged coat looked too small. A black-and-white shepherd dog leaned against her legs until Joseph got close. Then the dog stood up, its head and tail rigid. Mira couldn't hear the dog, but she had little doubt it was growling.

Joseph stopped several feet away and yelled at the girl. "That dog bites me, my pa will shoot it."

"Joseph!" Mira called to him. "None of that."

The girl stood as still as the dog for a long minute and then put her hand on the dog's head. It sat down beside her.

Joseph took a step closer to Ada June. "Preacher's missus wants you to come to the house. If'n you want to."

She stayed still.

"Tell her about the peppermint," Mira said.

Joseph looked over his shoulder at Mira. He was scowling again before he turned back to the girl. "She aims to give you a piece of my peppermint."

That must have done the trick because Ada June started toward the house. The dog stayed in step with her and paid no attention to Joseph now as the boy scurried ahead of them. He stopped at the edge of the porch and watched the girl's dog with wary eyes.

She didn't even glance his way as, with no hesitation, she came up the steps to stand in front of Mira. Her face was as solemn as a church deacon announcing a funeral service. Mira smiled at her, but her face didn't change.

The girl's boots were crusted with snow. The dog's feet would be wet too. But Mira couldn't worry about that. She could clean floors.

"Stomp the snow off your boots and come in." Mira pushed the door open wide.

Instead of stomping, the girl pulled her feet out of the boots and stood in stocking feet.

"That's fine. You can warm up by the fire while I get you some peppermint." Mira stepped back to let her in.

Ada June didn't move as she pointed at the dog beside her. She didn't say anything, but Mira had no problem knowing her question.

"Your dog can come in too."

A smile slipped across the girl's face as she and the dog moved past Mira into the house. Mira looked at Joseph. "Aren't you coming, Joseph?"

"I ain't going in there with her and that dog."

"Her dog seems to be behaving nicely," Mira said. "Come on in and you can have another peppermint too."

"I ain't no donkey to be led by no carrot." Joseph glared at her.

"All right. You can get more peppermint another time, but I wish you would come in now."

Joseph shook his head. "I ain't a-gonna do it. Things you don't know being a brought-in person."

Brought-in. She supposed that was more than true. "That's why I need your help."

"I reckon I can tell you one thing afore you take up with that Ada June. My big sister says her ma was a witch and that could be Ada June will grow up to be one too. That maybe even now she might render spells or something."

"I'm not listening to talk like that, Joseph. So you'd best head on home until you can stop carrying tales."

He suddenly looked worried. "You won't tell Preacher what I said about her, will you?"

"Not if you promise never to say that kind of thing again."

"I reckon I kin promise that." He turned to start away and then looked back at her. "But you best be careful in there with that dog." He hesitated and then muttered, "And her."

"I like dogs." Mira chose to ignore his muttered words as she kept her voice cheerful. "I'll tell Preacher Gordon how helpful you were building the fire. I hope you'll come back soon."

"I'll come when Preacher's here." He went a few steps before he called back to her. "Best put some more wood on the fire afore it burns down so's he won't get cold."

She watched him trot off. So much for making her first friend here in the hills. She hoped to do better with Ada June.

When she turned to go inside, Ada June was in the doorway. Her face was stiff, not smiling and not frowning. Instead, she had the kind of look a child learned to wear when she put up barriers to any kind of feeling. Her brown eyes narrowed as she peered past Mira at the trees.

The girl seemed poised on the doorstep like a bird unsure of whether to stay perched or fly away. When Mira stepped toward her, she moved to let Mira go in, but she stayed at the door. The dog watched her, as ready to run as she was.

Mira kept her voice cheerful. "Shut the door please, Ada June. We need to keep the cold air out and the warm air in."

The girl whipped her head around to stare at Mira, her eyes wide. She was a pretty girl, but Joseph was right about her not being clean. She had smudges of dirt on her cheeks, and the clumps of nearly black hair poking out below her knit cap needed a shampoo. Her coat had a long rip on one side and had lost all but one button. Her stockings puddled around her ankles, and her knees peeked out below her faded blue skirt. She wore what looked like men's socks on her hands.

"Joseph told me your name." Mira stepped around the girl and closed the door. "Come over to the fire and warm while I find that peppermint."

She wanted to put her hand on Ada June's arm to encourage her to move toward the fire, but she didn't. She feared if she touched her, the girl would be up on her toes and gone. Instead, Mira went toward the cupboard. She had to show some trust, but she held her breath, listening.

The girl must have moved as silently as a cat. When Mira turned back with the peppermint, Ada June and the dog were by the fire.

"Joseph said I should put more wood on the fire," Mira said. "Do you think I should do that now?"

The girl pulled the socks off her hands, picked up the iron poker propped by the fireplace, and poked the logs. The fire crackled and flared up. Then she picked up the chunk of wood Joseph had left on the hearth and laid it on the fire. Sparks flew up the chimney.

"Be careful." Mira didn't like how close the girl's skirt swung toward the flames.

Ada June brushed her hands together and then rubbed them off on her skirt before she held her hand out for the candy. A smile slipped across her face when Mira gave it to her. The dog's ears perked up as he sat down by the girl.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything for your dog. I just got here and don't know what Preacher Gordon might have for a dog to eat." Or them either, but that was a problem for later. Right now, she wanted to see the girl smile again.

The girl shrugged and broke off a piece of the candy stick. When she held it out to the dog, he sat up on his haunches and pulled his lips back to show his teeth.

"Is he grinning?" Mira asked.

Ada June nodded and did better than smile. She giggled as she let the dog have the candy piece. He sat down and wallowed it around in his mouth.

That made Mira laugh. "What's your dog's name?"

The girl's smile vanished as her body stiffened.

"Never mind," Mira said. "Maybe Preacher Gordon can tell me. Does he know?"

With another nod, the girl's shoulders relaxed. She licked the peppermint stick and stared at the fire.

Mira tried to think of something that could be answered with a nod or shake of the head. "Would your dog let me pet him?"

After Ada June studied her a moment, she touched the dog's head and then pointed at Mira. The dog stood up and trotted to Mira. His tail swept back and forth once, then stopped as he seemed to study her as intently as the girl had.

Not sure if she was risking her hand or not, Mira squatted down in front of the dog and stroked him from head to tail. When she scratched him behind the ears, the dog's tail gave a couple more wags before he went back to sit by Ada June.

"Thank you," Mira said. "I've always wanted a dog or a cat, but never had a place for them." She looked out the window. "Until now, I suppose."

The wood popped in the fireplace as Mira let the silence fall between them. The girl seemed content with no talk as she licked the peppermint. The dog lay flat on the floor and huffed out a breath.

Mira tried to be as comfortable with no words in the air as she fought the need to say something. Anything. It wasn't that she didn't know about silence. Other than when she was teaching, her life had mostly been silence. But now everything would be changed. Had already changed.

She needed to find an outhouse and more wood for the fire and to see if they might have something to eat besides peppermint. Joseph's peppermint. She hoped the boy would come back and let them try again to be friends. But she wasn't sorry she had invited Ada June inside.

She looked around for a clock. One sat on a bookcase, but the pendulum wasn't swaying. Run down. She'd have to ask Gordon to wind it.

Where was Gordon? He had carried her over the threshold, hauled in the trunks, and disappeared. At the school, Joseph had said.

School. She could talk about that. "Are you excited about having a school?"

The girl's eyes lit up as she nodded. She seemed ready to smile but then pointed at the dog.

Again, Mira knew what she wanted to know. "I don't think a dog can come to school."

The girl frowned.

"I can tell he's a very nice dog, but if you brought your dog, all the other children would want to bring their dogs, and that might make teaching or learning difficult."

Her face tightened even more, but not from anger. Instead she looked almost sad.

"He can wait for you outside." She wanted to say he could come in the school just as she'd told Joseph the dog could come in the cabin. Paw prints across the floor didn't matter, but the school was different. She couldn't do that. Could she? Maybe Gordon would have an answer.

Ada June put the last of the peppermint in her mouth and pulled the socks back on her hands. The dog was up at once to follow her to the door.

"I hope you'll come back to see me," Mira said as the girl opened the door, stepped out on the porch, and slid her feet into the boots that were much too big. "You and your dog."

She looked around and said, "Bo."

Mira felt she'd been given a gift. "Yes. You and Bo."

Something close to a smile touched the girl's lips before she went off the porch and walked away without looking back. Gordon was headed toward the cabin from the other direction. He called to Ada June. The dog looked back at him, but the girl kept walking without giving the first sign she heard him.