Saturday's Storyteller: "The crackling of the wood..."
by Belinda Roddie The crackling of the wood in the stove calmed me somewhat, as I settled into a chair and sipped hot chocolate from a chipped, yellowed mug. It had been two hours since Maria had told she'd be heading to the general store in the rain, and I was starting to worry. On a typically calm and sunny day, it only took fifteen minutes each way to get to the small town south of our cabin. I would imagine that, even in the rain, she could have been back in an hour. Then again, there could have been a number of reasons she hadn't returned yet. For one thing, during windy storms, trees were notorious for falling in a dramatic, martyr-like fashion across the narrow roads. For all I knew, Maria had gotten to the general store and now couldn't maneuver her way back. Her cellphone also didn't have good reception this deep into the woods. She may not have had a chance to get to a landline, either, and truth be told, the power could have even gone out in the town. I