The next evening found Jeremy down at the waterfront, watching the tide. Some people could tell the weather by watching the waves. Unfortunately, he wasn't one of them. He'd never learned. Hadn't cared much about it, because they didn't have waves or tides on the mountain. But if the weather way out there where the lightning had been could be a portent, then these much closer signs might be a good thing to know.
The wind was blowing more or less steadily now, from the west. Mostly the northwest, still with little bursts from the southwest. If he watched close enough, he thought he could see the wind push the waves a little faster. He thought maybe.
Now that it was getting night-dark, he could see lightning still flickering, higher in the sky now. Or was that because he was down lower? He couldn't tell.
He sighed, and headed for the house. It was too bad the wind was blowing, or he'd climb back up on the roof to see. If he did that and got blown off, his brothers would start thinking he couldn't take care of himself and not let him.
Jason and Joshua were on an outlook, watching the lightning and wind as well. They could see for miles, although the town itself was hidden by the terrain.
"Look how choppy the water is."
"Two, two and a half days out?"
"Looks like."
"Looks like we'll be smack in the middle of it."
"Sometimes that's better than being on the edges."
"Sometimes not. What do you think?"
"We'll have to keep an eye on it. Try to break camp before it hits."
"And get back to town?"
"If possible. If not, there are three shelters between here and there. Once that storm crosses the peninsula, it'll pick up speed."
"And that's impossible to predict. You worried about Jeremy?"
"You aren't?"
The brothers laughed, but worriedly.
Jeremy looked up from his studying. He could see lightning from the windows. Still far off, but still lightning. He didn't like lightning. It made him feel scared. Not of the lightning, but because the lightning was there. It was kind of hard to explain, even to himself.
For tonight, he went outside and closed the shutters. That was all he could do. The air was starting to get colder, too.
He went back inside and watched the fire in the fireplace. Sometimes the wind could blow down the chimney and scatter sparks. Nothing like that was happening, thank goodness. If it had been, he'd have had to light the stove for heat and let the fire in the fireplace go out, and that made it dark in the house.
Except for whatever lightning might leak in around the shutters.
When there was a fire, he could watch the fire reflect off the walls and not see the lightning. He could hear the fire burning, and the logs caving in as they burned through, and not hear the wind.
He could feel safe and pretend there wasn't a storm.
He returned to his studying. Teacher had told them today that the grading tests would be next Friday, and he wanted to pass them all. Josh hadn't had that kind of test. Nobody had. This year was the first time.
This year was the first time, and it was something That Man Aaron Stempel had got done. Something about instead of being just a temporary school, making it part of an official educational structure.
Something that would give the town 'standing.'
Jason had thought it was a good idea when he checked into it. That it would be good for their town to be an 'Outpost for Education.'
The educational structure part was harder to understand. Jeremy thought the schoolhouse was an educational structure. School was education and house was structure, wasn't it?
It was Josh who told him it was the structure of having specific rules, when he couldn't understand Jason's long-winded explanation about committees and councils and boards. Well, you couldn't have much of a structure without boards, at least not a very good one, Jeremy supposed.
He laughed to himself at how frustrated Jason had looked when he said that. That was a good joke on Jason, especially when Josh had explained things before Jason started talking again. Josh looked like he'd thought it was a good joke on Jason, too.
He left his books spread out on the table, turned out the light, and got into bed.
He wished his brothers would come in, but he'd never tell them that.
The wind whistled at the windows, whispered through the chimney, and he went to sleep.