A/N: Well, I guess the rusty gears are loosening up a little. Took 3 drafts to get this chapter the way I wanted it. I apologize that there is no barrier between the author's notes and the chapters themselves. Ffnet is being a ick about not showing them even when I make them. Grins Well ... I'm making this up as I go so ... enjoy!!
Chapter Four: Home No More
Dorothy had never seen, or felt, such devastation on the Kansas farm before. When she had first run outside to help the others, struggling into an old ratty bathrobe to keep of the night chill, Hick, Hank, and Zach were trying to free as many animals as possible from their stalls, while the fire consumed that back tack room, and all the hay feed for the animals food. The fire was already shooting up the walls inside, and licking at the straw overhead in the lofts. There was little time to think, let alone do the work needed.
Dorothy immediately called for Zach to help her get the old buggy out of the barn so that they would at least still have a way to get into town. Yet in their struggle to do that, the fire continued to rage and devour the straw overhead, some of which was falling down from above, threatening their hair and clothes. By the time they had the buggy clear of any danger, Hick and Hunk came charging out of the barn with a panicked stallion in front of them. Within seconds, they heard the loud crack of support beams, and the entire frame fell in on itself.
Two cows, a young foal, and the breeding mare who had borne it were killed in that fire, because the fire had already blocked them off from help before anyone knew what was happening. There had been no time to even think about trying to stop the fire. There had only been a frantic effort to save as much from it as possible before the barn fell to the earth.
By dawn ... there was nothing left of it but smoldering remain, and the foursome worked to make sure all of the animals were secure in the pastures. It was mid-spring, so they were all grateful the animals had plenty of grass to graze on, considering that their actual food had all been destroyed in the flames. All they had to really worry about was food for the chickens and hogs. The chickens would be easy enough to deal with, although it would mean feeding them fresh bread crumbs, as well as stale crumbs from the day before. The hogs, however, would be costly to feed considering their number and voracious appetites. Dorothy would have to cook an entire breakfast of porridge just to make sure they were taken care of. She couldn't think of anything else to do for them. First, though, she needed to make sure the cows were milked so that their udders would not suffer.
She sat quietly on a stool taken from the kitchen, with a pale that had often times been used to clean the floors inside the house, in order to milk the cows out in the glaring morning sunlight. She had a long way to walk to bring the milk up to the house, but she was grateful for that. It meant she didn't have to see the devastation the fire had left in its wake.
There was no reason that the fire should have started in the first place. Two of the farm hands smoked their own rolled cigarettes when they could afford it, but it had always been a strict rule that they stay away from the barn, or any other area where they might accidentally spark off a flame. The kerosene lamps that were lit in the barn anytime someone was working in it were meticulously taken care of before the barn was left even for a few minutes. She thought that perhaps someone might have deliberately set the fire to her barn, but who could she suspect? The people in town who shunned and avoided her unless absolutely necessary because they thought she was crazy? The bank to whom she was deeply in debt and who would take back the farm any day now.
Well, let them take the farm! She had not forgotten the dream from the night before, and it had seemed far too real for her to ignore. Why would she have a dream of her dearest friend in Oz inviting her back to his home unless it was real? Especially after all of these long years that had gone by? It was time to finally get away from all of the painful memories this poor ramshackle place held for her.
There was only one thing to take care of ... and that was the discharging of her loyal, stubborn farm hands who had stood by her these few years since her guardians had died. She already knew they would not want to leave her alone, but she would ensure that once she'd packed her things she already had plans of where she would go, and what she would do. Yet those plans would remain her business, lest they think she had gone mad again. She would give them each a valuable animal to sell so that they would have plenty of money to move on until they found new positions elsewhere. There was the stallion they used for breeding, the bull for the same reason. There was the great hog that could be sold for it's more than 90 pounds of meat. Two fat cows could be used for the same purpose, and most of the others were still young and rich for milk production.
She would even give them a buggy to ride in and take their belongings along. She smiled a little at that. They really would think she had lost her mind! Yet it didn't matter. She had made up her mind. It was time to return to a place that was more like home now in her dreams than the place she had lived her entire life.
Oz was waiting for her. And it was time to dream again about that place, no matter what the consequences here.