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Sassy’s hands were so cold she just couldn’t hold on to the rope any longer. Her fingers were numb and she had to think about each one as she pried it from the line. She was wet, too, and the cold from the river water that splashed over the raft as it dipped and tumbled its way down the river froze her to her marrow. One leg, in fact, was so cold, the muscles were slow to respond as she tried to shift her weight a little to a more comfortable position.
When the raft hit the rock she skidded in a wild arc across the wet slippery surface toward the eastern part of the channel. Her little body slammed hard against the root tangle of some old willow that had crept down the bank to dip into the river’s edge. For a long moment her breath was knocked out of her; then, the slapping of the water against the roots where she lay brought her back to her senses enough so that she wrapped her little arms around a root and clung on for dear life as the water flowing down the river pushed at her.
She gathered her wits and pushed herself up the slick bark on the root to where it met the trunk. Easing herself around the base of the tree she found her way to the upper part of the river bank. Her teeth were chattering, and her right cheek stung from where it had careened against the tree root and gotten scraped. It felt raw and achy and when she put her fingers up to it, they came away wet and sticky.
It was dark, the moon and stars obscured by the storm clouds. Sassy tripped and fell several times as she put distance between herself and the river. Her ears were ringing still from the blow to her head, and she couldn’t make out the voice of anyone shouting or calling. Tears of frustration and of fear welled up in the little girl’s eyes and spilled down her scratched and bloodied cheeks. She blundered finally into a low thicket of elderberry bushes mixed in with ferns. Sassy knelt down and burrowed her way beneath the loose thick covering of leaves and fronds. She was just too tired to go on. And far too cold. Her little pack was still strapped to her back, all soggy from the rain and the dip in the river. She took it off and laid her head on it as she scooped the layers of leaves over her trying to give herself some warmth. Only her little nose poked out from her leafy blanket.
Sassy had no idea where she was. She curled up in a little ball, her teeth chattering as she lay there. ‘Please let it be morning soon,’ she mumbled to herself as she shivered. ‘And please don’t let any critters sneak up on me either.’ A fitful sleep came finally to her as she huddled there, a stout little piece of wood she’d found buried beneath the leaves clenched in one hand . . . ‘just in case,’ she had told herself before she drifted off . . .
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