A Squall!

　　"Caleb! Anna!"

　　We ran outside and saw a huge cloud, horribly black, moving toward us pver the north fields. Papa slid down the roof, helping Sarh after him.

　　"A squall!" he yelled to us. He help up his arms and Sarah jumped off the porch roof.

　　"Get the horses inside," he ordered Caleb. "Get the sheep, Anna. And the cows. The barn is safest."

　　The grasses flattened. There was a hiss of wind, a sudden pungent smell. Our faces looked yellow in the strange light. Caleb and I jumped over the fence and found the animals huddled by the barn. I counted the sheep to make sure they were all there, and herded them into a large stall. A few raindrops came, gentle at first, then stronger and louder, so that Caleb and I covered our ears and stared at each other without speaking. Caleb looked frightened and I tried to smile at him. Sarah carried a sack into the barn, her hair wet and streaming down her neck, Papa came behind, Lottie and Nick with him, their ears flat against their heads.

　　"Wait!" cried Sarah. "My chickens!"

　　"No, Sarah!" Papa called after her. But Sarah had already run from the barn into a sheet of rain. My father followed her. The sheep nosed open their stall door and milled around the barn, bleating. Nick crept under my arm, and a lamb, Mattie with the black face, stood close to me, trembling. There was a soft paw on my lap, then a gray body. Seal. And then, as the thunder pounded and the wind rose and there was the terrible crackling of lightning close by, Sarah and Papa stood in the barn doorway, wet to the skin. Papa carried Sarah's chickens. Sarah came with an armful of summer roses.

　　Sarah's chickens were not afraid, and they settled like small red bundles in the hay. Papa closed the door at last, shutting some of the sounds of the storm. The barn was eerie and half lighted, like dusk without a lantern. Papa spread blankets around our shoulders and Sarah unpacked a bag of cheese and bread and jam. At the very bottom of the bag were Sarah's shells.

Sarah, Plain and Tall, P53-55
Patricia MacLachlan
ISBN 978-0-06-440205-7