Mrs. Hansen's Arc

Chapter 1 of 14

Mrs. Hansen stood at the kitchen window and watched the frost creep across the back pasture three weeks before it should. The animals would need more feed than they had stored. The barn needed repairs she'd been putting off. Her husband and the kids were still inside, unaware that winter had arrived early. She pulled on her coat and walked out to the dormant apple trees at the edge of the property. Ice already coated the branches. The buds that should have had another month to prepare were caught vulnerable and exposed. She touched a frozen branch and felt the brittle snap waiting to happen. By the greenhouse, she stopped and looked at what she'd managed to drag out there herself yesterday. The glass panels gleamed in the weak morning light. She'd worked until dark getting it set up, knowing they'd need it. But the water lines to the barn still weren't insulated. The feed bins were half empty. A snowbank had formed overnight against the north wall where the roof leaked. She turned back toward the house and saw Mr. Hansen in the doorway, coffee cup in hand. He waved at her, smiling like it was any other morning. She didn't wave back. Instead, she walked straight to the barn and started pulling tarps over the broken sections of roof herself.