Previously…
Tina quickly looked down and made another quick curtsy, her
cheeks read and she quickly moved behind her and rushed back to the kitchen.
She swung open the half gate to the kitchen and leaned against it, staring at
the roast in the fire and the wooden bowls on the table. ‘Oh, Goddess, that’s
the most beautiful woman, I’ve ever seen.’ Thought Tina as she clutched her
towel to her chest and pulled slightly on the strings of her shirt. She tugged
on a piece of hair and curled it around her fingers unsure of what to do. She
didn’t think she could return to the cabin and face her again. She thought
she’d melt away. She couldn’t breathe.
Continuing…

Tina relaxed when she saw her little brothers and sisters
come tromping in from the snow. They had just cut down an evergreen tree for
the winter solstice and were excited about putting it in the window in the
front of the house. They stomped, laughed and trooped around the room whooping
and hollering. Tina’s older sisters came in and took off their wraps, and they
all put out the bread and roast from the fire for supper. Tina smiled at the brood;
she loved all her siblings so much. They were all grabbing, yelling, whooping
and pushing and shoving each other around the table.

“I got the
biggest rabit!”

“No, I did”

“NO! ME!”

“You have
the brains of a rabbit.”

“Well,
you’reaa.rabbit !”

“I’d rather
be a rabbit then the brains of a rabbit.”

“You all
better stop arguing otherwise the Shaduk will get you!” said Tina’s eldest
sister as she leaned over tickled her younger brother. “Now, tell me more about
your adventures today in Mr. Clay’s fieldshuhdid you steal his prize squash
again,” she laughed as they looked at her with read guilty faces.

“I saw a
cold fog in the mountains,” said one brother quietly. That sobered them up quickly
and a silence settled on all of them. They were remembering that the last fog
had brought the terrible snowstorm which had killed three people. But they
couldn’t be solemn for long, soon one brother had teased his younger sister so
much he found himself spluttering under a mug full of milk that had been
upended all over his head when he wasn’t looking. This, of course, excited
peals of laughter from his brothers when they saw his indignant face.