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Elsa cli hi prayers

He lay frighteningly still

She took some Vaseline out of a tin and sed nostrils, then refit the gas ; mud formed in the corners of his red eyes

“Don’t cry, baby This storm will stop soon and we’ll take you to the doctor He’ll make you all better”

He wheezed through the gas mask “O … kay,” he said

Elsa held hi he didn’t see her tears

NINE DAYS, AND STILL no respite from the storm Wind rattled the walls and scratched at the door

When Elsa woke to yet another day of wind, she checked on Ant, who slept beside her He hadn’t been strong enough to get out of bed in the last four days He didn’t even play with his soldiers any his gas

That terrible, drawn-out breathing was the first thing she listened for each ht when she drew him close

She heard his breathing and said a quick prayer to the Virgin Mary and got out of bed Pulling the crusty bandanna down to her throat, she stepped down on the fine layer of silt that had collected on the floorboards overnight Leaving footprints across the roohtstand to wash her face

The mirror stopped her, as it so often did these days

“Lord,” she croaked Her face looked like a mile of desert in the summer—brown, cracked, furrowed Her lips and teeth were broith grit Dust had gathered in the corners of her eyes and on her lashes She washed and dried her face and brushed her teeth

In the sitting roo down at the rattling knob The walls shook at the force of the wind She slipped her bandanna back up over her nose and th to open the door

Wind pushed her back She leaned into it and squinted into the driving dust

Finding the rope they’d strung between the house and the barn, she pulled herself across the yard, hand over hand,her way slowly At last she came to the barn Once inside, she snapped a lead rope onto Bella’s halter and led the poor, stu cow out of her stall and into the barn’s wide center aisle The walls clattered and shook; dust rained down from overhead