Sarah's Promise Read Online Free PDF Page A

Mom didn’t seem to want us out after dark. We didn’t argue. We just went back inside to our work, and the house seemed even more empty than it had before.
    Once we’d gotten things out of disarray and Mom had settled by the fire in the sitting room with the mending, Katie went back out to check the mail. She always did in the middle of the day when she was home. Her boyfriend wrote a lot of letters, and she was often rewarded for the jaunt down the lane and back.
    I had just finished mopping the kitchen floor and she’d taken the bucket outside with her to dump for me. In a little while, I was measuring flour for muffins, but she still wasn’t back. She wouldn’t have to wait down by the road for the mailman. He’d have gone by a long time ago. So what could be keeping her?
    I looked out the window by the cupboard but didn’t see anything. So I was on my way to check the window closest to the door when I thought I heard her voice.
    “Sarah—”
    I yanked open the door and looked out. She was by the well, but she wasn’t alone. The biggest, blackest dog I’d ever seen stood between her and the house with its head lowered and its neck hairs standing up all scruffy. It looked almost like a black bear, and it wasn’t one mite friendly. I knew without even seeing from the front that he was baring his teeth at her, and that got my blood racing. I stepped out into the frosty air, and Katie saw me.
    “Sarah—”
    “Back up slow to the barn,” I told her. “I’ll run him off.”
    She took a step back, but the dog matched with a step in her direction. I yelled, but it ignored me. I tried throwing a stick at it and yelling some more, but I missed, and it ignored me again. So I ran to get the hunting rifle my brother Robert had left for us. I didn’t know what else to do. Surely one shot into the air would be enough to startle this creature and make it turn tail and run.
    It didn’t take me long to grab and load that rifle. Katie hadn’t made it to the barn yet. She didn’t dare move fast because the dog was keeping pace with her, and a sudden move might’ve set him off to jumping at her. I could hear him growling, low and fearsome. She was pale. Scared. What in the world was the matter with this dog that he’d act like this? He ought to be friendly finding a person outside like this. Or nervous enough to run off if he wasn’t used to people.
    I stepped out to the porch and fired a shot into the air. The big dog turned his head and looked at me with its fierce eyes. It did look like a bear standing there. A big, black, shaggy bear. But even a bear ought to run off. This dog didn’t. It just turned its head back to Katie and growled again.
    I went closer and fired another shot. Something was wrong with this dog. This time when it turned and looked at me, it looked a little longer. Katie took the chance to run for the barn door. It lunged at her, but she got the door shut between them just in time. So the dog turned on me.
    Lord, help. Its shining eyes showed a fury I didn’t think I’d ever seen in anything and I hoped to never see again. That dog was mad. It came running at me, and I fumbled with Robert’s rifle. I’d never been really good with it. I could hear Mom behind me now on the porch, but I knew there was nothing she could do in time. I fired. But the fool beast didn’t fall. Shaking, scared, trying to back up, I fired again, aiming right between those devil eyes, and finally it stopped in its tracks, teetered a little, and fell. I was so shook that I fell too.
    Mom came running up. Kate peeked out of the barn and then came out toward us. That big black furry shape lay in a heap less than two yards from me. I heaved a giant breath, trying to slow my racing heart. Oh, Lord, thank you. I could have been bit. Me or Katie, either one could have been mauled by that mad thing. Thank you, thank you for your help.
    My hands were still shaking. Mom tried to help me up, concern and relief mingled together