Sarah's Choice Read Free Page B

big help if Maria didn’t have to be responsible for the kids today.”
    “Let’s go inside and get them now,” Kelly said. “Then the five of us will be on our way.”
    When Sarah, Kelly, and Kelly’s children entered the house, Sarah was surprised to see her six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor with a bag of flour between them. They’d scooped some of it onto the floor, some into a baking pan, and a good deal of it was in Helen’s dark hair.
    “What in the world are you two doing?” Sarah asked, squatting down beside them.
    “We’re makin’ bread.” Helen smiled up at Sarah, and swiped a floury hand across her turned-up nose. “It was Willis’s idea.”
    “Where’s your grandma?” Sarah asked. Surely Maria wouldn’t have let the kids make a mess like this if she’d known what they were doing.
    “Grandma’s in there.” Willis pointed to the door leading to their small, but cozy, parlor. Sarah noticed then that he had some flour in his light brown hair as well. So much for Willis keeping Helen entertained.
    “I’ll clean up this mess while you talk to Maria,” Kelly offered.
    “Thanks, I appreciate that.” Sarah rose to her feet and hurried from the room.
    When she entered the parlor she gasped. There lay Maria, facedown on the floor!

Chapter 4

    W
ell, wouldn’t ya just know it?” Ned shouted from where he’d been stirring a pot of bean soup sitting on the small, coal-burning cookstove in the middle of the boat. For some reason, Ned preferred cooking on it rather than the slightly larger stove that was below in the galley.
    Elias, not wanting to take his eyes off the waterway ahead, glanced quickly over his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Ned?”
    “We’re outa bread. Shouldn’t have ate any at breakfast, I guess.”
    “That’s okay. We can do without bread for lunch.”
    “Maybe so, but we’ll need it tomorrow, and the next day, too.”
    “We can stop at one of the stores between here and Easton and pick up a loaf of bread.”
    “Stoppin’ at a store would take too long. We’d end up lookin’ at other things we don’t really need, and there’s no time for lollygaggin’ today.” Ned pulled a hunk of chewing tobacco from his shirt pocket and popped into his mouth. “Already spent too much time up in Mauch Chunk, waitin’ on the other boats that was ahead of us. When that noisy, sooty train showed up, it took a load of coal before we even got up to the loadin’ chute.”
    “You’re right, it did take a long time to get our coal.” Elias hoped it wouldn’t be that way every time they went to Mauch Chunk, but if it was, they’d just have to deal with it.
    “Guess we could always see if that lady lock tender in Walnutport has any bread we could buy,” Ned suggested. “She often sells bread to the boatmen who come through her lock.”
    “Sure, we can do that.”
    They traveled in silence for a while, interrupted only by the sound of the water lapping against the boat and an occasional undignified grunt from Ned as he stirred the soup on the stove.
    “Here’s a cup of soup for ya, boss,” Ned said, stepping up to Elias a short time later.
    Elias took the warm cup in his hands. “Thanks.”
    “Got any idea what you’ll do once the railroad takes over haulin’ all the coal in these here parts?” Ned asked, leaning against the side of the boat.
    “I’m not sure. To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it that much.”
    “Well you’d better think about it, ‘cause it’s bound to happen sooner or later.”
    “I guess I’ll deal with that when it comes. I’m just taking one day at a time right now.”
    “If the time comes that you can’t boat any longer, will ya go back to work at your daddy’s newspaper office?”
    Elias shook his head. “That will never happen. My father’s not even speaking to me right now.”
    “How come?”
    “He thinks I was foolish for leaving the newspaper and taking over