Ice Storm by Penny Draper Page B

meant the cows had to wait, like it or not. That put the cows off schedule too, and they didn’t milk well. Sébastien needed to sleep. They all did.
    Sophie wished Alice was here. It was weird, not being able to phone or email. What was she doing? Uncle Pete wasn’t going to be able to work as many hours if he had to keep going home to check on Alice, make her supper and stuff. And Alice could be another pair of hands. She was actually good at milking cows now, although her first time had been sort of rocky. The memory made Sophie smile.
    She’d wanted to teach Alice how to milk a cow the old-fashioned way. It just seemed like something everybody ought to know how to do. When Alice sat on the little stool, she was terrified that the huge cow would sit on her and crush her. Sophie knew it wouldn’t. But when Alice tried to make the teats squirt out milk, the cow flicked its tail around and caught her right across the face. Not only that, it whipped her pearl earring right out of her ear. Alice was determined to get the earring back. But to do that she had to catch the tail and find the earring clinging to it. That tail – Sophie had to laugh when she thought of it. Cow’s tails don’t get shampooed on a regular basis. They can be kind of mucky. Alice had been horrified. But she got her earring back. Sophie had been proud of her.
    She frowned. Those stupid bridges.
    Sophie decided to lower the barn curtains a little, to balance ventilation with the cold. Good thing they had a hand-winch for that. Just about everything else on the farm needed electricity. Then she left, because her presence was raising the cows’ expectations of being fed and she needed to know about the generator before she could start. She patted the cordless phone in her pocket, in case Maman called to say she was on her way home. Sophie decided to see if Mélisande was awake while she waited.
    Mélisande was sleeping. She looked so peaceful. Sophie curled up on the hay beside her to share her warmth. There was nothing like a cow to keep you warm on a cold night. The sweet smell of hay, the tang of sour milk, the acrid undertone of urine – all were beautiful smells to Sophie. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought how strange it was that darkness had a feeling and warmth had a smell.
    When the phone rang, Sophie jumped. It took her a moment to remember where she was. “Maman?” asked Sophie.
    “Oui, ma petite. You were awake?”
    “Oui, I’m with Mélisande. Are you on the way? The barn is steamy and the cows are restless,” said Sophie urgently.
    “Je sais,” replied Maman in a tired voice. “Je sais. We should be there in forty-five minutes, so you can start the hay. Is Sébastien asleep?”
    “I put him to bed a couple of hours ago,” answered Sophie. “He was upset about the schedule.” Sophie could just imagine Maman shaking her head on the other end of the line.
    “Pauvre petit,” she sighed. “His mind is so busy. He just can’t let things go. Thank you for putting him to bed. As soon as we get home and get the milking started, you can go to bed too.” Then she added, “Merci, Sophie. You are doing a wonderful job.” Then she was gone.
    Sophie smiled. Why wouldn’t she do a good job? The cows were her family too. Grateful to be able to actually do something at long last, Sophie flicked on her flashlight and once again did battle with the storm. As she manoeuvred the tractor towards the feed, she was sure she felt the wind picking up. The howling was more deep-seated and seemed to whip the pellets of ice with greater viciousness into her face. She hoped she was wrong. Wind would tear more wires out of the sky. It was the last thing they needed.
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    Alice sat on the foamie she had been assigned, her knees to her chest, her arms squeezing them as close to her body as they could go. She hated this place. Each foamie was placed just two feet away from some stranger. Her neighbour on one side was a snotty-nosed kid who