Disclaimer, you know.
About a little over a week later dorothy found herself, for the first time in a rather long time, feeling homesick. Sure it was new and exciting at first, but as she lay on the haybale in the hayloft, she began to start thinking about home. She missed the crisp Kansas nights, she missed her own room, she missed the farmhouse, the vast cornfields, but most of all, she was really beginning to miss all her friends. No number she called was getting picked up. She was beginning to get the notion that either something was wrong, or everyone for some strange reason went on a camping trip together or something. She wasn't sure where the latter idea came from but it gave her way more comfort than the former. However what worried her dearly was that alex wasn't picking up calls on the radio. Though in the back of her mind she knew that if there were real trouble, Madeline would have been sent to her, or they would have risked using mirrors.
"dorothy, you alright?" came Zeb's voice snapping her out of thought.
"huh?" Dorothy asked looking down at him.
"you've been crying and sniffling up there for the last 10 minutes." Zeb climbing up the ladder.
Dorothy felt her face, she had indeed been crying and hadn't even noticed.
"y-yea, I'm just beginning to feel a bit homesick, that's all." Dorothy said.
"what's this I hear about being homesick" Uncle Bill asked walking in and leaning against his walking stick.
Dorothy sighed and pushed herself into a sitting position.
"I'm starting to feel homesick, honestly I haven't really felt that in a long time." Dorothy said wiping the tears from her face.
He smiled and walked over, looking up at the two of them.
"Well, Melinda has been trying to contact Emily for the last hour, no luck." Uncle bill said leaning against a post.
"What's my father been up to?" Zeb asked.
"Looking for his pipe and tobacco, did you hide it?" He asked.
"no, he probably put it back in his desk and forgot about it before the accident." Zeb said climbing down the ladder and leaving the barn.
"you know, there was a time when your mother was really homesick, when we were little, well your late grandfather , bless his soul, took us all on a camping trip for a few weeks in the summer." He said.
"my dad's father I assume?" dorothy asked.
"yep, anyways, we managed to make it three days before one day your father found your mother crying under a tree, it was the longest she had ever been away from her parents." He replied.
"and he cheered her up?" Dorothy asked.
"Um, well…no…we all did, your father just kinda got the ball rolling." He replied.
"how?" dorothy asked.
"Well, he stood up to try and think of a way of cheering her up, my sister and I were walking by and saw the whole thing." He said.
"Go on." Dorothy said becoming more interested.
"well, you see we were camping by a lake, and your mother had chosen a tree that was rather close to the edge of one of the banks, when your father stood up he almost immediately lost his foot and fell down the bank into the lake, your mother screamed and we all came to his rescue, though his father pulled him out of the lake, we spend the entire rest of the day trying to cheer her up, which we succeeded in doing, though, your father I don't think ever got over it." he said.
Dorothy couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"I can only imagine." She said with a giggle.
A moment later zeb ran in.
"Dorothy, your aunt is on the phone, she said she's sorry for not answering the phone or calling sooner and she wants to talk to you." Zeb said.
Dorothy smiled and climbed down from the hayloft and ran out of the barn. Storming to the house she found Melinda on the phone.
"Oh, here she is now Emily." She said handing the phone to dorothy.
Dorothy immediately took the phone and brought it to her ear.
"Auntie Em?" dorothy asked.
"oh dorothy, I'm sorry none of us have contacted you, been a bit busy, a rather large freak snowstorm hit us." Em said
"is everyone safe and alright?" dorothy asked
"yes, would you like to talk to alex? He's here now if you want me to put him on the phone?" she offered.
"if its alright." Dorothy said.
A moment later she heard the phone being passed over to him
"Dorothy, I'm so sorry for not contacting you, I spent half the time with the flu and zoned out, and the other part shoveling and helping dad, I should have made time to contact you but it completely slipped my mind." He said.
"alex, it's alright, but it's been over a week since I've heard from anyone, you know how worried I get about you guys." Dorothy said.
"yea, I know, I'm sorry." He said.
"alex, I really miss you, I wish you could be here with me." Dorothy said sighing.
"I wish I could be there with you, but sadly I can't, one of us has to keep things on the ground around here." alex said.
"yep.." Dorothy said trailing off.
"dorothy, I miss you so much, we all do, but I need to hand the phone back over to your aunt." Alex said.
"okay." Dorothy said sighing.
"love you, I'll call you later, on the radio." Alex said.
"I'll be looking forward to it." dorothy said.
A moment later she heard the phone being passed off again.
"you know, I'm beginning to think he's getting separation anxiety, your cousins are doing good enough, they keep asking when you're coming home though." Em said
She heard alex shout 'I do not have separation anxiety!' in the background. This caused her to giggle.
"Tell them I say hi, how's ace?" Dorothy asked.
"She's doing well, just got over the flu, she would have been over it around the same time as everyone else, but she doesn't rest, no matter how much we tell her." Em said.
"Is she there?" dorothy asked.
"I think she's in her room, reading, would you like me to go get her?" Em asked.
"No auntie Em, leave her be, you know how she hates being disturbed when she's reading, just tell her that I say hi." Dorothy said.
"alright, but dorothy, we all miss you here, and we're all feeling your absence." Em said.
"honestly, auntie Em, I'm beginning to get homesick, I miss Kansas, California is nice, don't get me wrong, but I miss being home, being able to see you all every day, honestly I think I'm the one getting the separation anxiety." Dorothy said.
"sweetie, it's just a few more months." Em said.
"I know, and at least I have toto and pockets here to at least make it feel more like home." Dorothy said
"well sweetie, I need to go, it looks and sounds like the truck is having some issues." Em said.
"okay, well, give my love to everyone else." Dorothy said
Suddenly she heard a bang in the background of the call.
"dorothy, I will, alex go see what happened let henry know I'll be out in a moment." Em said.
"Good luck with the truck" dorothy said just as the phone was hung up.
Sighing she placed the phone on the hook and went over to the kitchen table, uncle Ned walked in a few moments later.
"so, how are things at home?" he asked.
"large snowstorm, everyone has been sick on and off, and now my uncle henry is having some catastrophic by the sound of things." Dorothy said looking around for toto and pockets.
"Ah, you know, as much as henry tries, he's never been good with vehicles, last time I saw him, he was having problems with the tractor." He said.
"let me guess, my father was good with vehicles?" Dorothy asked.
"yep, but Emily has always been better at it then any of us." He replied.
Dorothy sighed and drummed her fingers against the table before getting up, excusing herself from room and heading upstairs. She found toto and pockets sitting on the bed. sighing she plopped down on the bed.
"dorothy, how much longer are we staying here? as much as I hate saying it, I miss my siblings" pockets asked.
"just a few more months, I'm missing Kansas as well." Dorothy said closing her eyes and sighing
