The nights had been endless. I kept waking and raising on one elbow to listen, but there was not even the sound of the wind. I think the stillness itself woke me. I slept best after it was light and I didn’t get up until ten on Sunday, to cheat the day. That was the longest day I had ever known. Sunday afternoon, I set out from the teacherage and walked about three miles until I saw a ranch house, but I didn’t go up to it. I saw two boys running across to the barn and I knew they must go to my school, but the sight of them made me shy away. I wanted to meet them at school first. There would be seven children in the Prairie Butte teacherage, Mr. Henderson said. They came from four families. I had only taught a week in the practice school. I hadn’t come to know the children at all. When I got back to the schoolhouse, I took out my notebook from the class in teaching methods and reread the notes, but I remembered how often I had thought of Gil in that class.
