George nodded. “Up in the loft. Why?”
“We may need it.”
Elizabeth shouted from the porch, stopping their conversation as she called them back into the house. George almost didn’t recognize Anna at first. She was dressed in a modest blue dress that he had seen Melody wear to church a few times, and her hair had been brushed out and tied up in a simple ponytail. Little Jim, Bill and Alex immediately went silent, but their wide eyes said volumes. Volumes that their mother and grandmother could read immediately.
“Boys, go set the table,” Elizabeth ordered, and they reluctantly obeyed, looking back at the pretty girl until the kitchen wall got in the way.
George really couldn’t blame the boys. She was a beautiful girl, a stranger, and fit right in between them in age. As the old saying went, “I saw her first.” He felt a chuckle building and finally let it loose.
Jimmy looked at him and grinned. “Yeah.”
Elizabeth almost snarled at them both. “That’s enough. Anna, come here,” she commanded, waving to her side, and Anna obeyed. “After we eat, we have to go to the high school and see how her parents are doing. Marge says that her father is in bad shape.”
Jimmy looked around. “It’s going to be a tight fit in the car.”
“I can take the boys with me in the truck, Jim.”
“That’ll be fine,” Elizabeth agreed, and the boys immediately got excited.
“I call shotgun,” Bill immediately shouted, and there ensued a fast and furious argument which George ended with a shouted, “Shaddup!”
Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. “Little Jim has shotgun. Literally. Jim, grab the Ithica 12-gauge out of the cabinet. I’ve got the M-14. Jimmy, you and Marge grab a gun too. If we’re driving around these parts, we’re going armed.”
Jimmy looked at him and nodded. “We’ve got two 12-gauges in the car.”
George looked at him and nodded, not needing to say anything else. Melody came out of the kitchen just then and announced that breakfast was ready. Soon everyone was eating, sitting at the little table or standing in the kitchen, and Anna was timidly trying the strange food but apparently liking what she tried.
The boys did the dishes automatically, just like at home, and soon they were sorting themselves out in the vehicles. Bill and Alex were wedged tightly between George and Little Jim in the truck seat, but it wasn’t too crowded. The two younger boys together weren’t as wide as George, and Little Jim wasn’t much bigger than his little brothers. Anna was wedged into the back seat of the Reardon’s car between Elizabeth and Melody, with Jimmy and Marge bracketing Lizzy in the front.
Jimmy led off, with George close behind them. It was a fair drive to the school, and George was watching everything as they passed. Everything seemed to be normal, except there were hills missing from the distance.
Mike Stearns and a beautiful woman with dark hair met them at the school. Elizabeth had explained where they were going to Anna, and she immediately looked around. “Wo ist Mutti? Wo ist mein Vater?”
The woman with Mike smiled and said, “Komm’ mit,” then took Anna by the hand and led her into the school, talking every step of the way. George and the Reardons followed along in their wake, with Mike bringing up the rear.
In the makeshift hospital, Anna was led to her father first. The dark-haired woman explained what the doctor said, and comforted her as the seriousness of his situation became clear. Then they led her to her mother.
Anna spoke, but the woman on the cot hardly noticed. Then Anna cried, and collapsed, begging her mother to look at her, to speak to her. Finally, the woman on the cot seemed to realize who was there and burst into tears. She grabbed Anna in a fierce hug, crying and talking all the while.
George and the others stayed back, giving them as much time and privacy as they could. Finally Anna’s mother pushed her away as she drifted off to sleep. Anna sat on the floor, staring at her mother, until Elizabeth went and collected her and led her from the room.