Summer Sun's Arc

Chapter 9 of 15

The snow did not stop. Summer Sun went back to the barn and warmed her hands at the stove while Angela dried her boots. Granny Weatherby said Matilda would sit on that step until the cold drove her inside, and then the cold would find another way in. Summer Sun thought about the tired face on the step. She thought about the smoke she had not seen rising from the crooked chimney. Matilda had let her fire go out. Angela's sister Tracie came in at dusk, shaking snow from her vest. She had walked past the bramble cottage on her way over. "No smoke," Tracie said. "Chimney's black inside. I could see it from the path." Angela set down the boot she was holding. "She'll freeze," Angela said. "She won't ask." Granny Weatherby stirred the pot on the stove and did not turn around. "She won't," Granny said. "She's stubborn as a nail. She'll light it choked and burn her house down before she knocks on a door." Summer Sun pulled her coat back on. Angela stood up too. "Empty-handed again?" Angela asked. "No," Summer Sun said. "With a brush and a bucket." Tracie fetched both from the corner. Granny Weatherby watched them go and said nothing, which was its own kind of permission. They reached the cottage after dark. Smoke was pouring from the chimney now, thick and wrong, spilling out the seams of the roof. Summer Sun could hear coughing inside. She did not knock. She pushed the door open. Matilda was on her knees in front of the stove, waving a rag at the black smoke, eyes streaming. The stovepipe was packed with three seasons of soot. Matilda saw them and opened her mouth to shout. She coughed instead. Summer Sun set down the bucket. "Move," she said. Matilda did not move. Summer Sun waited. Angela opened a window. Tracie opened the other. The smoke thinned. Matilda sat back on her heels and stared at the floor. "Move," Summer Sun said again, softer. Matilda moved. Summer Sun brushed the pipe clear. Angela hauled the soot out in the bucket. Tracie built a small clean fire in the grate. Nobody spoke. When the flames caught properly, orange and steady, Summer Sun straightened up and wiped her face on her sleeve. Matilda was still sitting on the floor. She looked at the fire, not at Summer Sun. "I didn't ask," Matilda said. Flat. "I know," Summer Sun said. She picked up the bucket. Angela and Tracie followed her out. Halfway down the path, Angela said, "She'll be angry we saw." "She'll be warm," Summer Sun said. The snow was still falling, but slower now, and the light in the cottage window stayed lit behind them.