Cassie's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Cassie stood in the clearing with a log across her shoulders, counting her breaths. The wood pressed hard into her trapezius muscles — not painful yet, but getting there. She'd been holding it for thirty seconds. That was longer than last week. She lowered the log and walked to the timber stack she'd been building all month. Each piece represented a morning's work — felled, stripped, hauled to this spot. The pile stood taller than her now, maybe eight feet high. She grabbed a log from the middle section and lifted it overhead. Held it there. Counted to forty-five before her arms started shaking. Then she set it down, picked up two smaller pieces, one in each hand, and walked the perimeter of the clearing twice. Her forearms burned. Good. Tomorrow she'd try three laps. Someday she'd carry a whole maple tree, but today she'd carry what she could lift, and next week she'd lift more.