Chapter 9: The First Winter

Obi-Wan woke up in the middle of the night. It was freezing (literally-it was 30ºF). Thinking it might be warmer, he walked over to the cabin. It was.

When Cathy woke up and went outside the next morning, she found Obi-Wan sleeping against the house.

"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Cathy.

"Well, I was sleeping, but now, I'm just sitting here," answered Obi-Wan.

"It's cold out. You want to come inside?" asked Cathy.

"Yes. I think I'm already sick, but I don't want to get any sicker. But I don't want to get anyone else sick."

"Come inside." Cathy said. Obi-Wan went inside and sat by the fire. Turtle was still asleep.

Cathy went out to the food storage and brought back hot chocolate mix, water, three biscuits and her four dogs. "I don't know why it's so cold out," she said. "It's usually hot, even at night."

It was now 6:00. "Turtle should be waking up soon," said Cathy.

"Turtle? What kind of a name is Turtle?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Well, what kind of a name is Obi-Wan?"

"Good point."

"Who's calling me?" asked Turtle, waking up groggily.

"No one. He just says your name is funny," explained Cathy.

"Who is he any ways?" asked Turtle.

"I'm Obi-Wan."

"What kind of a name is Obi-Wan?" Turtle started to laugh.

Cathy put the water over the fire and added some hot chocolate mix to it.

Turtle got up and went to the door. "It's cold out there," said Obi-Wan.

Turtle opened the door. "Whoa! It is cold out there!" he said. He came back inside and shut the door. He opened the basket that was his bed and took out his hat. He put it on his head and went outside to Tim's cave.

He knocked on the door of the cave. Sarah opened it and was hit by a gust of very cold air.

"Brrrr. Is it cold out there, Turtle?"

"Take a wild guess," said Turtle. He sat down by the fire and removed his hat.

"Um, yes?"

"Ding, ding, ding!"

Sarah closed the door.

"Do you know why it's so cold?" asked Turtle.

"No. Ask Snowy."

Turtle put his hat back on and went to find the owl. He found her, asleep in the weird tree.

"Uh, good morning, Snowy," said Turtle.

Snowy woke up. "What do you want?

"Why is it so cold?"

"Uh, because it's winter."

"Winter? I thought you said it was always warm here."

"Well then, I lied. We have winter and a storm and flood lasting for a week or two every once and a while. Go ask someone else and stop bothering me."

"Who can I ask?"

"Ask Moonglow. Oh wait. She left. Ask Froggy."

"Can I ask you one more question before I go?"

"You just did. Bye."

"Can I ask another question?"

"Oh, fine. What is it?"

"Why does Moonglow leave?"

"Because she doesn't want to freeze her butt off!"

"Couldn't she just leave once it got out of hand?"

"No! I hate newcomers! They never know anything! You can't leave during a winter. You can sometimes leave in a storm, but rarely."

"Okay. Thanks." Turtle went back to the cabin and reported the news to Cathy and Obi-Wan. Then he went to Sarah's and Lee's to tell them.

Soon after, the winds began to blow, and snow began to fall. Cathy and Turtle were not sure if their house would hold in the wind, or if the roof would hold under the weight of the snow, so they took all their things and moved over to Sarah and Tim's cave. It was a good thing they did, because soon, the roof of the cabin did collapse. They would not know about this until later. Lee came over, too.

At lunch that day, Turtle and Tim went out to the food storage and brought in all the food, so that they would not have to go there every meal. They stored the food in pots, pans, and baskets.

The cave was not crowded, though there was a shortage of beds when it came time for sleeping. Lee had no bed in his lean-to, and Obi-Wan had no bed either.

Obi-Wan was made a bed of four chairs, and Lee was forced to sleep on the floor, because no one was willing to sacrifice a bed for him.

The cave did not have a lot of furniture. Sarah and Ryan had wooden beds and mattresses. Tim had a very thick mattress on the floor, and he liked it. There was a chest that looked more like a bunny hutch than a cupboard. They had a table and three chairs with a lantern hanging over it. The fire and grate were next to the bench. All the furniture was hand-made by them.

At night, everyone was restless. The wind howled outside the door. Blackie and the other dogs took turns taking watch, but there was no point, since no one can enter the forest during winter.

The next morning, Cathy and Sarah woke up at 5:30, as usual. They put some water on the fire and made hot chocolate and oatmeal.

Lee woke up. He was stiff from sleeping on the floor. "Do you have to make so much noise?"

"Fine, we won't give you any breakfast! You can make it yourself!" said Sarah.

Lee grumbled and got up to make his breakfast. "And that dinner last night? That was nasty!"

"Fine then! Today, you make dinner!" said Cathy, who had made the dinner. She and Sarah went as far away from Lee as they could get. Lee left and went to sit in his lean-to, even though it was freezing in there.

When everyone was up, they all sat around and talked. Cathy, Sarah, and Obi-Wan were talking by the fire. Ryan and Tim were "wrestling" (it was more like Ryan jumping on Tim, and Tim throwing him off). Turtle was laughing his head off at them wrestling.

Someone, either Cathy or Sarah, said "Obi-Wan" and Ryan heard, though not too well. He was tired of wrestling now, so he went over to where his sister was sitting.

"Hi, Sawah! Hi, Cathy! Hi…" Ryan paused and concentrated. "Oh! I wemebew! Hi, Ofi-Wan!"

Ben ignored this, but it got worse. Every time Ryan would walk by, he would say, "Hi, Ofi-Wan!" The eagle came over that afternoon, and this was even worse.

"Hey, biwdy!" said Ryan. "Have you met Ofi-Wan?"

"Ofi-Wan? I though it was Robi-Wan," said the eagle.

"It's Ben," said Obi-Wan, uh, Ben. Now he thought Ryan was doing it just because he liked saying it.

Ryan continued to say it, but under his breath. When he said it out loud, it wasn't too often. He knew he would get in trouble if he said it too often.

The day was otherwise boring. Tim went out to Lee's to try to convince him to come back inside. He wouldn't come back until dinner, when Cathy and Sarah reminded him that he was making it.

"What's easy to make?" asked Lee.

"Parrot," said Sarah. She felt like being mean to him after all he had done to her this morning.

So Lee went to cook the parrot. First, he had to pluck it and put spices on it. He stuck it in the fire and let it cook. He was hungry, so he only let it cook for fifteen minutes. It was still almost raw when he took it out. He cut it up and put it in the mugs with some milk and handed it out.

Everyone began eating except Lee and Ben. Lee took one bite of his parrot and gagged. It tasted disgusting! He spat it out onto the floor. He couldn't complain though, because he'd made it.

Ben didn't eat his parrot either. First of all, it tasted like Bantha meat (which if you've ever had, know how bad it tastes). Second, he was sick and didn't have much of an appetite. Lastly, he "sensed" something wrong with it. So, he politely refused.

By the time everyone went to bed, they were all sick to their stomachs. Lee wasn't sick, but you could hardly rely on Lee to help when you are sick.

So winter passed by. No one was really up to doing anything (not that there was anything to do), so basically, everyone sat around or slept. No one had much of an appetite, except Lee, who ate a ton of biscuits because that was the only thing he could make. He was bored, too.

Soon, winter was over. It was a short winter, only three days. "We'll have a very bad storm," said Snowy, but after a few days, there was still not a cloud in sight.

Three days after the end of winter, Qui-Gon came back. Ben, who was perfectly healthy now, was outside.

"Oh, Obi-Wan! I've been looking for you!" said Qui-Gon.

"Uh, it's Ben here. What do you need me for?"

"I need you to help me destroy the Trade Federation."

"I thought you wanted me to stay here."

"I did, and still do. You will come back when we are finished."

So Ben, not really having any other choice, went with Qui-Gon.