Page 12 - HEF Pen & Ink 2020

CAUSEWAY TREES
by Ashley Boyd
A FROSTED HOPE
by Kaelyn Tappe
The call went straight to voicemail. She hung up and tried again. Nothing. She left a message and tried calling her other brother. Reah hadn’t seen her brothers since her parent’s funeral. Will, the oldest at twenty-two, moved out after the fateful flood de- stroyed the bridge and their parents, unable to bear the house’s reminder of their parents’ memory. Tyler, twenty-one, had taken an engineering job across
the state. At nineteen, Reah stayed on the farm. She meant to keep in better touch with her brothers, but working two jobs to keep the farm kept her busy. Her heart pounded as she waited for someone to pick up. Tomorrow would be Thanksgiving. She wanted her brothers to come. “I hope they can make it,” Reah prayed sorrowfully, her voice sounding little in the empty house. “It’s kind of late notice.” The sound of
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the answering machine broke her thoughts. She left a message and hung up.
Reah put on her coat, hat, and mittens, and went out to check on her horse Faith before she left for youth group. As a present for her birthday last January, Reah’s parents let her breed Faith to the stud of her choice. Reah stroked Faith’s now round belly while the pretty appaloosa mare ate her oats. Faith’s coat was blue speckled with white flecks. It reminded Reah of a starry night sky. She hoped the foal would be a roan like its mother.
One more month and the foal will be here, Reah thought excitedly. After patting Faith one more time, Reah left the barn and trotted through the snow to- wards her car. She had no idea if her brothers would make it for Thanksgiving, but at least tonight she