Toto barks at me from the foot of the bed. He’s staring out the window, his back legs on the footboard, his front legs braced on the windowsill. His tail is wagging. He yips, then yips again.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “I’m getting up.” I toss the quilt back and set my bare feet to the hardwood floor.
Knowing it’ll be cold in the cellar, I yank on socks and then my worn leather boots.
“How’s it looking, Toto?” I ask, still a little groggy as I join him at the window. “Is it worth climbing in a hole?”
He glances at me over his shoulder, tail still wagging as the glass rattles in the pane. Outside, the weather vane at the peak of the barn spins round and round. The big oak to the side of the driveway is shifting back and forth with the churning wind.
Rain beads on the window as thick clouds roll in, promising a downpour.
The air is charged and violent.
Across the cornfield, I spot a flash of light.
“Edward.”
The flashes are a pattern that repeats over and over.
B. Safe.
“Dorothy!” Aunt Em calls as I hurry to my bedside table and yank open the drawer.
“Just a minute,” I tell her.
I grab my flashlight and return to the window, clicking the light on. Then off. Then on again.
You 2,I respond.
Edward’s light makes anXmotion, then goes out.
Love you,he means.
I clutch the light to my chest, finger hovering over the switch.
Outside, the barn door slams open. The weather vane shifts directions.
The sky is turning bruised.
In the morning, when the storm is clear, I’m going to tell Edward yes.
I will be safe with him. I will be loved. I will be cared for.
How can I want for anything different?
My stomach knots.
Toto races to my open bedroom door and barks at me.
“I’m coming,” I tell him and toss the flashlight onto the bed. I slip into a sweater as I chase after him. But when I meet him in the living room, he darts away, barges through the screen door, and disappears into the storm.
“Toto! Get back here!”
“Dorothy, wait!” Aunt Em sticks her head out the open trapdoor. She’s in her robe, her hair tucked away in a silk scarf. “It’s not safe!”
I can’t leave Toto. I don’t care how dangerous it is.
I push through the door and immediately I’m pelted with dust and debris. I lift my arm, using it like a shield, and step out into the night.
