Snipet #3

Evelyn was born on a day when the wind howled through the valley and threatened to take more than it's fair share. The sun peeped out briefly that morning and her mother, Sara, was deceived into thinking that that Monday would be like any other. The sun would come out, she would rush to get some laundry hung, she might sit on the porch and relax for a bit, daydreaming about her baby that was due to come soon. She would do what all mothers do during that nesting time. She would prepare and dream of the future. She would scrub and clean and sing songs to her baby. She would have hope for anything was possible. The wind might come, for all the spells and incantations in the world couldn't keep the wind at bay, but they would be safe. She and her baby would thrive in their home, clean and snug and warm.

Sara had lived in her little house on Briar Lane since she was a baby. As a matter of fact, she had been born there, in the sunny bedroom with the yellow walls. The room that was now going to be the nursery for her own child. This house was passed on to Sara by her own mother, Mae. When she would ask how old the house was, Mae would be rather vague. Our house came blowing in one day, hanging on to the tail end of the wind, her mother would tell her. She knew this couldn't be true, could it? Houses are built with nails and wood, by hard working men with callouses on their hands, men who dreamed of building castles but had to content themselves with bungalows and split level ranches. Houses didn't just appear, riding the wind like a bird. Sara gave this some thought over the years, and she decided she didn't have any idea what was true regarding her house. The wind brought the hunger to Willow Falls, why not houses, why not dreams?

The wind came with a fury that day, shortly after Sara had hung out the clothes to dry. She sang as she worked, but from the corner of her eye she could see the storm clouds coming. She ignored them, thinking they might turn and go in the other direction if she behaved as if she hadn't seen them. Sometimes by hiding in plain sight, by going about your business, you could send the wind back to where it came from. There was some logic there, at least that's what the people of Willow Falls believed, and Sara was Willow Falls born and bred, through and through. So, she believed it, too.