Chapter One

The Accusation

"You shouldn't say such things about your uncle, Dorothy." Emily told her young niece as they stood at the rusty-looking stove in Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's Kansas home. Their home had four walls, a floor and a roof that made one room. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a bed in one corner of the room and Dorothy had a bed in another. Aunt Em was making a stew for dinner when Dorothy approached her.

"But Auntie Em I was awake. He told me to be very quiet while he sat next to me. I was scared Auntie Em. Uncle Henry was different…" Dorothy tried to make her aunt understand. She was twelve years old and petite with long curly blonde hair and blue eyes like the ocean. Something like her didn't fit in with the gray Kansas surroundings or with the elderly Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. This was because Dorothy Gale was an orphan. Her parents died in an accident involving a cow and train track. "He was lookin' at my face but…but his hands were…" Dorothy broke into tears.

Aunt Em slammed down the spoon she was using to stir the stew with on a burner that was not being used. "You better stop those crocodile tears you foolish little girl! Your Uncle Henry ain't done nothing to ya, hear? I say he ain't done nothing to ya!" she screamed into Dorothy's tear streaked face. This only made Dorothy go on bawling. Aunt Em was very flustered by Dorothy's flow of emotions and found it in herself to resort to physical punishment. She smacked Dorothy across the face one time and that was all that was needed to shut the child up.

"Go outside and play with your dog. I don't want to hear those dirty words out of your mouth anymore. It's a sin to tell lies." Aunt Em went back to her stew. Dorothy sniffed to stop her nose from running. She made her way to the backyard where she found her small black dog Toto resting behind a bunch of haystacks. The haystacks were a good hiding place so she gave the dog company by sitting next to him.

Toto rolled on his back when he felt Dorothy's presence, a sign that he wanted his stomach scratched. Dorothy happily obliged to the silent request. "I just don't understand it Toto. Why won't Aunt Em believe me? I've never lied before. I'm scared." She gathered Toto into her lap and hugged him tightly to which he gave her one of those heavy dog sighs.

Dorothy looked out at her world of Kansas. Nothing was there but dirt. She knew she deserved better. Better than the bleak life she had been forced into. Everything was always gray. There was a permanent gray cloud hanging over the land but it never rained so of course there was a draught. The sky was never blue. Dorothy remembered blue skies from her time in Pennsylvania.

She was born in Pittsburgh in 1888 on December 24th. Her mother and father, Arthur and Margaret Gale, were young and not without problems but were happy people. The birth of their first child in what was to be a set of 4 made them even happier to be alive and together. There was always laughter in their home, especially with little Dorothy getting into the usual child mischief. Dorothy looked like her mother from the very beginning. Her cheeks were full of a gorgeous red color the moment she breathed air from out of the womb. Blonde tufts of curls covered her head and her blue eyes sparkled with innocence, happiness and most of all love.

The Gale home was nothing but love. Arthur Gale was an editor for a local newspaper. He was home every evening at 7 'o clock for his supper with is beloved wife and daughter. Mrs. Gale was the one who prepared the supper. She was a housewife but she was more than a maid and cook. She was a mother, a wife, a friend, and a lover. All of these qualities she hoped to pass on to Dorothy.

After supper the couple would sit by the fireplace, whether it be lit or not, while Dorothy rode from their front porch to the dry Sahara to Florence to the emerald hills of Ireland and back on her rocking horse. "She looks just like you Margaret." Arthur observed one evening when Dorothy was four. "And has your spirit." This was all true. Dorothy was identical to her mother in appearance and personality. She had the same blonde hair with soft curls and their blue eyes of the deep sea matched perfectly. Their cheeks were always decorated with a natural rose blush; this was most likely because both mother and daughter were still gay children.

Margaret and Arthur were sixteen when they were wed. Dorothy was born a year later. For eleven years they lived happily ever after. Then there was the accident that brought Dorothy to Kansas. Dorothy had never met her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry before but she was not shy. Thus, Dorothy was a welcome friend to the old who had become worn from the gray weather of Kansas. Something in Dorothy made them smile and Dorothy herself was determined to laugh and be merry every moment as she possibly could. She knew her parents would want it that way.

Just as she was wishing herself far away from behind the haystack the wind picked up and there was an eerie whistling sound hitting her ears. Then there was someone calling her. "Dor-o-thy!" Dorothy tensed when she heard Uncle Henry's voice. She held onto Toto tighter and this made him give a little yelp as he sprang from her arms. Dogs have the ability to sense fear and Toto wanted to run far from it.

"No Toto! Please don't leave me!" Dorothy broke into a run from her hiding place after Toto. She could barely hear words or footsteps over the wild wind that came from the north. Far off in the distance she saw a funnel touch ground. This worried the small girl a great deal. If she did not find Toto he would be lost and frightened and cold and alone. She also worried that if she did not find shelter she would be injured by the funnel since she felt her legs losing their spring. She fought hard against the wind to keep herself upright. At least if she could find Toto they could be lost and frightened and cold together.

A barn was forming into view and Dorothy saw a little black figure running on four legs going into it. "Oh wait for me, Toto!" The child reached the barn and with her last bit of strength shut the doors. It was freezing inside, especially since Dorothy had just come inside from cold wind and rain. The wood of the barn was moldy; it was an abandoned place. Collapsed on the hay in her wet clothing, Toto nuzzled his face into her hair and there they waited out the storm until what may have been hours later.