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two lives in their party. That was why she'd read in the future of casualties among those who stayed with Arlen in the desert. |
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She also heard of the unexpected storm that had save the travelers' lives. It had blown up about the time of Abby's disappearance, making their intense search for her all the more difficult, for the wash flooded. |
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They'd collected all the water they needed in barrels and canteens. After waiting till the temporary river receded, they saw no sign that the storm had struck anywhere but in the vicinity of the wagon train. Again they'd searched for Abby but finally had to go on. |
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When all had finished eating, Abby helped the other women clean up in cold stream water and without a dishwasher. Finally she felt free to escape for a while. She told her sister the direction in which she would walk, then grabbed her shawl from the wagon and threw it about her shoulders. Carrying a flickering candle in one hand and holding her skirt with the other, she picked her way along a path in the cool, crisp mountain air. She found a rock-filled clearing, a former stream bed, where she could look up and see the myriad stars. |
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"Oh, Mike," she whispered brokenly to the heavens. "I miss you already." |
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She waited for the stars to shift, for her mind to be transported to that time yet to come, to feelings that were not her own. |
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Shivering more from emotion than from cold, |
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