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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28650-h.zip b/28650-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1df2395 --- /dev/null +++ b/28650-h.zip diff --git a/28650-h/28650-h.htm b/28650-h/28650-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ababfb --- /dev/null +++ b/28650-h/28650-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1014 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Year of the Big Thaw, by Marion Zimmer Bradley + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: right; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2em;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .bk1 {margin: 1em auto 3em; border-top: solid 2px; border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bk2 {float: left; width: 15em; margin: 1em 2em 1em 0;} + .pr1 {line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 4em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Year of the Big Thaw, by Marion Zimmer Bradley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Year of the Big Thaw + +Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley + +Release Date: May 1, 2009 [EBook #28650] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YEAR OF THE BIG THAW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="bk1"><p><i><small>In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer +Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man's love for man—no +matter who he is nor whence he's from. By heck, you'll like little Matt.</small></i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><h1><b>year<br /> +of<br /> +the<br /> +big<br /> +thaw</b></h1> + +<h2><small><i>by ... Marion Zimmer Bradley</i></small></h2> + +<p class="pr1"><big><b>Mr. Emmett did his duty by the visitor from +another world—never doubting the right of it.</b></big></p></div> + +<p><i><span class="dcap">You say</span> that Matthew is +your own son, Mr. Emmett?</i></p> + +<p>Yes, Rev'rend Doane, and a +better boy never stepped, if I do +say it as shouldn't. I've trusted +him to drive team for me since he +was eleven, and you can't say +more than that for a farm boy. +Way back when he was a little +shaver so high, when the war +came on, he was bounden he was +going to sail with this Admiral +Farragut. You know boys that +age—like runaway colts. I +couldn't see no good in his being +cabin boy on some tarnation Navy +ship and I told him so. If he'd +wanted to sail out on a whaling +ship, I 'low I'd have let him go. +But Marthy—that's the boy's Ma—took +on so that Matt stayed +home. Yes, he's a good boy and +a good son.</p> + +<p>We'll miss him a powerful lot +if he gets this scholarship thing. +But I 'low it'll be good for the +boy to get some learnin' besides +what he gets in the school here. +It's right kind of you, Rev'rend, +to look over this application thing +for me.</p> + +<p><i>Well, if he is your own son, Mr. +Emmett, why did you write 'birthplace +unknown' on the line here?</i></p> + +<p>Rev'rend Doane, I'm glad you +asked me that question. I've been +turnin' it over in my mind and +I've jest about come to the conclusion +it wouldn't be nohow fair +to hold it back. I didn't lie when +I said Matt was my son, because +he's been a good son to me and +Marthy. But I'm not his Pa and +Marthy ain't his Ma, so could be I +stretched the truth jest a mite. +Rev'rend Doane, it's a tarnal +funny yarn but I'll walk into the +meetin' house and swear to it on +a stack o'Bibles as thick as a cord +of wood.</p> + +<p>You know I've been farming +the old Corning place these past +seven year? It's good flat Connecticut +bottom-land, but it isn't +like our land up in Hampshire +where I was born and raised. My +Pa called it the Hampshire Grants +and all that was King's land when +<i>his</i> Pa came in there and started +farming at the foot of Scuttock +Mountain. That's Injun for fires, +folks say, because the Injuns used +to build fires up there in the +spring for some of their heathen +doodads. Anyhow, up there in the +mountains we see a tarnal power +of quare things.</p> + +<p>You call to mind the year we +had the big thaw, about twelve +years before the war? You mind +the blizzard that year? I heard tell +it spread down most to York. And +at Fort Orange, the place they call +Albany now, the Hudson froze +right over, so they say. But those +York folks do a sight of exaggerating, +I'm told.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, when the ice went out +there was an almighty good thaw +all over, and when the snow run +off Scuttock mountain there was +a good-sized hunk of farmland in +our valley went under water. The +crick on my farm flowed over the +bank and there was a foot of water +in the cowshed, and down in the +swimmin' hole in the back pasture +wasn't nothing but a big gully +fifty foot and more across, rushing +through the pasture, deep as a +lake and brown as the old cow. +You know freshet-floods? Full up +with sticks and stones and old +dead trees and somebody's old +shed floatin' down the middle. +And I swear to goodness, Parson, +that stream was running along so +fast I saw four-inch cobblestones +floating and bumping along.</p> + +<p>I tied the cow and the calf and +Kate—she was our white mare; +you mind she went lame last year +and I had to shoot her, but she +was just a young mare then and +skittish as all get-out—but she +was a good little mare.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, I tied the whole kit +and caboodle of them in the woodshed +up behind the house, where +they'd be dry, then I started to +get the milkpail. Right then I +heard the gosh-awfullest screech +I ever heard in my life. Sounded +like thunder and a freshet and a +forest-fire all at once. I dropped +the milkpail as I heard Marthy +scream inside the house, and I +run outside. Marthy was already +there in the yard and she points +up in the sky and yelled, "Look +up yander!"</p> + +<p>We stood looking up at the +sky over Shattuck mountain where +there was a great big—shoot now, +I d'no as I can call its name but +it was like a trail of fire in the +sky, and it was makin' the dangdest +racket you ever heard, Rev'rend. +Looked kind of like one of +them Fourth-of-July skyrockets, +but it was big as a house. Marthy +was screaming and she grabbed +me and hollered, "Hez! Hez, +what in tunket is it?" And when +Marthy cusses like that, Rev'rend, +she don't know what she's saying, +she's so scared.</p> + +<p>I was plumb scared myself. I +heard Liza—that's our young-un, +Liza Grace, that got married to +the Taylor boy. I heard her crying +on the stoop, and she came flying +out with her pinny all black and +hollered to Marthy that the pea +soup was burning. Marthy let out +another screech and ran for the +house. That's a woman for you. +So I quietened Liza down some +and I went in and told Marthy it +weren't no more than one of them +shooting stars. Then I went and +did the milking.</p> + +<p>But you know, while we were +sitting down to supper there came +the most awful grinding, screeching, +pounding crash I ever heard. +Sounded if it were in the back +pasture but the house shook as if +somethin' had hit it.</p> + +<p>Marthy jumped a mile and I +never saw such a look on her face.</p> + +<p>"Hez, what was that?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"Shoot, now, nothing but the +freshet," I told her.</p> + +<p>But she kept on about it. "You +reckon that shooting star fell in +our back pasture, Hez?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I don't 'low it did +nothing like that," I told her. +But she was jittery as an old hen +and it weren't like her nohow. +She said it sounded like trouble +and I finally quietened her down +by saying I'd saddle Kate up and +go have a look. I kind of thought, +though I didn't tell Marthy, that +somebody's house had floated +away in the freshet and run +aground in our back pasture.</p> + +<p>So I saddled up Kate and told +Marthy to get some hot rum ready +in case there was some poor soul +run aground back there. And I +rode Kate back to the back +pasture.</p> + +<p>It was mostly uphill because +the top of the pasture is on high +ground, and it sloped down to the +crick on the other side of the rise.</p> + +<p>Well, I reached the top of the +hill and looked down. The crick +were a regular river now, rushing +along like Niagary. On the other +side of it was a stand of timber, +then the slope of Shattuck mountain. +And I saw right away the +long streak where all the timber +had been cut out in a big scoop +with roots standing up in the air +and a big slide of rocks down to +the water.</p> + +<p>It was still raining a mite and +the ground was sloshy and +squanchy under foot. Kate +scrunched her hooves and got real +balky, not likin' it a bit. When +we got to the top of the pasture +she started to whine and whicker +and stamp, and no matter how +loud I whoa-ed she kept on a-stamping +and I was plumb scared +she'd pitch me off in the mud. +Then I started to smell a funny +smell, like somethin' burning. +Now, don't ask me how anything +could burn in all that water, because +I don't know.</p> + +<p>When we came up on the rise +I saw the contraption.</p> + +<p>Rev'rend, it was the most tarnal +crazy contraption I ever saw in +my life. It was bigger nor my +cowshed and it was long and thin +and as shiny as Marthy's old +pewter pitcher her Ma brought +from England. It had a pair of +red rods sticking out behind and +a crazy globe fitted up where the +top ought to be. It was stuck in +the mud, turned halfway over on +the little slide of roots and rocks, +and I could see what had happened, +all right.</p> + +<p>The thing must have been—now, +Rev'rend, you can say what +you like but that thing must have +<i>flew</i> across Shattuck and landed +on the slope in the trees, then +turned over and slid down the hill. +That must have been the crash +we heard. The rods weren't just +red, they were <i>red-hot</i>. I could +hear them sizzle as the rain hit +'em.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the infernal +contraption there was a door, and +it hung all to-other as if every +hinge on it had been wrenched +halfway off. As I pushed old +Kate alongside it I heared somebody +hollering alongside the contraption. +I didn't nohow get the +words but it must have been for +help, because I looked down and +there was a man a-flopping along +in the water.</p> + +<p>He was a big fellow and he +wasn't swimming, just thrashin' +and hollering. So I pulled off my +coat and boots and hove in after +him. The stream was running fast +but he was near the edge and I +managed to catch on to an old +tree-root and hang on, keeping his +head out of the water till I got my +feet aground. Then I hauled him +onto the bank. Up above me +Kate was still whinnying and raising +Ned and I shouted at her as I +bent over the man.</p> + +<p>Wal, Rev'rend, he sure did give +me a surprise—weren't no proper +man I'd ever seed before. He was +wearing some kind of red clothes, +real shiny and sort of stretchy and +not wet from the water, like you'd +expect, but dry and it felt like +that silk and India-rubber stuff +mixed together. And it was such +a bright red that at first I didn't +see the blood on it. When I did I +knew he were a goner. His chest +were all stove in, smashed to +pieces. One of the old tree-roots +must have jabbed him as the current +flung him down. I thought +he were dead already, but then +he opened up his eyes.</p> + +<p>A funny color they were, greeny +yellow. And I swear, Rev'rend, +when he opened them eyes I <i>felt</i> +he was readin' my mind. I thought +maybe he might be one of them +circus fellers in their flying contraptions +that hang at the bottom +of a balloon.</p> + +<p>He spoke to me in English, +kind of choky and stiff, not like +Joe the Portygee sailor or like +those tarnal dumb Frenchies up +Canady way, but—well, funny. +He said, "My baby—in ship. Get—baby ..." +He tried to say +more but his eyes went shut and +he moaned hard.</p> + +<p>I yelped, "Godamighty!" 'Scuse +me, Rev'rend, but I was so blame +upset that's just what I did say, +"Godamighty, man, you mean +there's a baby in that there dingfol +contraption?" He just moaned +so after spreadin' my coat around +the man a little bit I just plunged +in that there river again.</p> + +<p>Rev'rend, I heard tell once +about some tomfool idiot going +over Niagary in a barrel, and I +tell you it was like that when I +tried crossin' that freshet to reach +the contraption.</p> + +<p>I went under and down, and +was whacked by floating sticks +and whirled around in the freshet. +But somehow, I d'no how except +by the pure grace of God, I got +across that raging torrent and +clumb up to where the crazy dingfol +machine was sitting.</p> + +<p>Ship, he'd called it. But that +were no ship, Rev'rend, it was +some flying dragon kind of thing. +It was a real scarey lookin' thing +but I clumb up to the little door +and hauled myself inside it. And, +sure enough, there was other +people in the cabin, only they +was all dead.</p> + +<p>There was a lady and a man +and some kind of an animal +looked like a bobcat only smaller, +with a funny-shaped rooster-comb +thing on its head. They all—even +the cat-thing—was wearing those +shiny, stretchy clo'es. And they +all was so battered and smashed +I didn't even bother to hunt for +their heartbeats. I could see by +a look they was dead as a doornail.</p> + +<p>Then I heard a funny little +whimper, like a kitten, and in a +funny, rubber-cushioned thing +there's a little boy baby, looked +about six months old. He was +howling lusty enough, and when +I lifted him out of the cradle kind +of thing, I saw why. That boy +baby, he was wet, and his little +arm was twisted under him. That +there flying contraption must have +smashed down awful hard, but +that rubber hammock was so soft +and cushiony all it did to him was +jolt him good.</p> + +<p>I looked around but I couldn't +find anything to wrap him in. +And the baby didn't have a stitch +on him except a sort of spongy +paper diaper, wet as sin. So I +finally lifted up the lady, who had +a long cape thing around her, and +I took the cape off her real gentle. +I knew she was dead and she +wouldn't be needin' it, and that +boy baby would catch his death +if I took him out bare-naked like +that. She was probably the baby's +Ma; a right pretty woman she was +but smashed up something shameful.</p> + +<p>So anyhow, to make a long +story short, I got that baby boy +back across that Niagary falls +somehow, and laid him down by +his Pa. The man opened his eyes +kind, and said in a choky voice, +"Take care—baby."</p> + +<p>I told him I would, and said +I'd try to get him up to the house +where Marthy could doctor him. +The man told me not to bother. +"I dying," he says. "We come +from planet—star up there—crash +here—" His voice trailed off into +a language I couldn't understand, +and he looked like he was praying.</p> + +<p>I bent over him and held his +head on my knees real easy, and +I said, "Don't worry, mister, I'll +take care of your little fellow until +your folks come after him. Before +God I will."</p> + +<p>So the man closed his eyes and +I said, <i>Our Father which art in +Heaven</i>, and when I got through +he was dead.</p> + +<p>I got him up on Kate, but he +was cruel heavy for all he was +such a tall skinny fellow. Then +I wrapped that there baby up in +the cape thing and took him +home and give him to Marthy. +And the next day I buried the +fellow in the south medder and +next meetin' day we had the baby +baptized Matthew Daniel Emmett, +and brung him up just like our +own kids. That's all.</p> + +<p><i>All? Mr. Emmett, didn't you +ever find out where that ship +really came from?</i></p> + +<p>Why, Rev'rend, he said it come +from a star. Dying men don't lie, +you know that. I asked the +Teacher about them planets he +mentioned and she says that on +one of the planets—can't rightly +remember the name, March or +Mark or something like that—she +says some big scientist feller with +a telescope saw canals on that +planet, and they'd hev to be pretty +near as big as this-here Erie canal +to see them so far off. And if they +could build canals on that planet +I d'no why they couldn't build a +flying machine.</p> + +<p>I went back the next day when +the water was down a little, to +see if I couldn't get the rest of +them folks and bury them, but the +flying machine had broke up and +washed down the crick.</p> + +<p>Marthy's still got the cape +thing. She's a powerful saving +woman. We never did tell Matt, +though. Might make him feel +funny to think he didn't really +b'long to us.</p> + +<p><i>But—but—Mr. Emmett, didn't +anybody ask questions about the +baby—where you got it?</i></p> + +<p>Well, now, I'll 'low they was +curious, because Marthy hadn't +been in the family way and they +knew it. But up here folks minds +their own business pretty well, +and I jest let them wonder. I told +Liza Grace I'd found her new +little brother in the back pasture, +and o'course it was the truth. +When Liza Grace growed up she +thought it was jest one of those +yarns old folks tell the little +shavers.</p> + +<p><i>And has Matthew ever shown +any differences from the other +children that you could see?</i></p> + +<p>Well, Rev'rend, not so's you +could notice it. He's powerful +smart, but his real Pa and Ma +must have been right smart too to +build a flying contraption that +could come so far.</p> + +<p>O'course, when he were about +twelve years old he started reading +folks' minds, which didn't +seem exactly right. He'd tell +Marthy what I was thinkin' and +things like that. He was just at +the pesky age. Liza Grace and +Minnie were both a-courtin' then, +and he'd drive their boy friends +crazy telling them what Liza +Grace and Minnie were a-thinking +and tease the gals by telling them +what the boys were thinking +about.</p> + +<p>There weren't no harm in the +boy, though, it was all teasing. +But it just weren't decent, somehow. +So I tuk him out behind +the woodshed and give his +britches a good dusting just to +remind him that that kind of thing +weren't polite nohow. And Rev'rend +Doane, he ain't never done +it sence.</p> + +<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +This etext was produced from <i>Fantastic Universe</i> May 1954. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Year of the Big Thaw, by Marion Zimmer Bradley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YEAR OF THE BIG THAW *** + +***** This file should be named 28650-h.htm or 28650-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/5/28650/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Year of the Big Thaw + +Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley + +Release Date: May 1, 2009 [EBook #28650] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YEAR OF THE BIG THAW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion + Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man's love for + man--no matter who he is nor whence he's from. By heck, you'll like + little Matt._ + + + year + of + the + big + thaw + + _by ... Marion Zimmer Bradley_ + + + Mr. Emmett did his duty by the visitor from + another world--never doubting the right of it. + + +_You say that Matthew is your own son, Mr. Emmett?_ + +Yes, Rev'rend Doane, and a better boy never stepped, if I do say it as +shouldn't. I've trusted him to drive team for me since he was eleven, +and you can't say more than that for a farm boy. Way back when he was a +little shaver so high, when the war came on, he was bounden he was going +to sail with this Admiral Farragut. You know boys that age--like runaway +colts. I couldn't see no good in his being cabin boy on some tarnation +Navy ship and I told him so. If he'd wanted to sail out on a whaling +ship, I 'low I'd have let him go. But Marthy--that's the boy's Ma--took +on so that Matt stayed home. Yes, he's a good boy and a good son. + +We'll miss him a powerful lot if he gets this scholarship thing. But I +'low it'll be good for the boy to get some learnin' besides what he gets +in the school here. It's right kind of you, Rev'rend, to look over this +application thing for me. + +_Well, if he is your own son, Mr. Emmett, why did you write 'birthplace +unknown' on the line here?_ + +Rev'rend Doane, I'm glad you asked me that question. I've been turnin' +it over in my mind and I've jest about come to the conclusion it +wouldn't be nohow fair to hold it back. I didn't lie when I said Matt +was my son, because he's been a good son to me and Marthy. But I'm not +his Pa and Marthy ain't his Ma, so could be I stretched the truth jest a +mite. Rev'rend Doane, it's a tarnal funny yarn but I'll walk into the +meetin' house and swear to it on a stack o'Bibles as thick as a cord of +wood. + +You know I've been farming the old Corning place these past seven year? +It's good flat Connecticut bottom-land, but it isn't like our land up in +Hampshire where I was born and raised. My Pa called it the Hampshire +Grants and all that was King's land when _his_ Pa came in there and +started farming at the foot of Scuttock Mountain. That's Injun for +fires, folks say, because the Injuns used to build fires up there in the +spring for some of their heathen doodads. Anyhow, up there in the +mountains we see a tarnal power of quare things. + +You call to mind the year we had the big thaw, about twelve years before +the war? You mind the blizzard that year? I heard tell it spread down +most to York. And at Fort Orange, the place they call Albany now, the +Hudson froze right over, so they say. But those York folks do a sight of +exaggerating, I'm told. + +Anyhow, when the ice went out there was an almighty good thaw all over, +and when the snow run off Scuttock mountain there was a good-sized hunk +of farmland in our valley went under water. The crick on my farm flowed +over the bank and there was a foot of water in the cowshed, and down in +the swimmin' hole in the back pasture wasn't nothing but a big gully +fifty foot and more across, rushing through the pasture, deep as a lake +and brown as the old cow. You know freshet-floods? Full up with sticks +and stones and old dead trees and somebody's old shed floatin' down the +middle. And I swear to goodness, Parson, that stream was running along +so fast I saw four-inch cobblestones floating and bumping along. + +I tied the cow and the calf and Kate--she was our white mare; you mind +she went lame last year and I had to shoot her, but she was just a young +mare then and skittish as all get-out--but she was a good little mare. + +Anyhow, I tied the whole kit and caboodle of them in the woodshed up +behind the house, where they'd be dry, then I started to get the +milkpail. Right then I heard the gosh-awfullest screech I ever heard in +my life. Sounded like thunder and a freshet and a forest-fire all at +once. I dropped the milkpail as I heard Marthy scream inside the house, +and I run outside. Marthy was already there in the yard and she points +up in the sky and yelled, "Look up yander!" + +We stood looking up at the sky over Shattuck mountain where there was a +great big--shoot now, I d'no as I can call its name but it was like a +trail of fire in the sky, and it was makin' the dangdest racket you ever +heard, Rev'rend. Looked kind of like one of them Fourth-of-July +skyrockets, but it was big as a house. Marthy was screaming and she +grabbed me and hollered, "Hez! Hez, what in tunket is it?" And when +Marthy cusses like that, Rev'rend, she don't know what she's saying, +she's so scared. + +I was plumb scared myself. I heard Liza--that's our young-un, Liza +Grace, that got married to the Taylor boy. I heard her crying on the +stoop, and she came flying out with her pinny all black and hollered to +Marthy that the pea soup was burning. Marthy let out another screech and +ran for the house. That's a woman for you. So I quietened Liza down some +and I went in and told Marthy it weren't no more than one of them +shooting stars. Then I went and did the milking. + +But you know, while we were sitting down to supper there came the most +awful grinding, screeching, pounding crash I ever heard. Sounded if it +were in the back pasture but the house shook as if somethin' had hit it. + +Marthy jumped a mile and I never saw such a look on her face. + +"Hez, what was that?" she asked. + +"Shoot, now, nothing but the freshet," I told her. + +But she kept on about it. "You reckon that shooting star fell in our +back pasture, Hez?" + +"Well, now, I don't 'low it did nothing like that," I told her. But she +was jittery as an old hen and it weren't like her nohow. She said it +sounded like trouble and I finally quietened her down by saying I'd +saddle Kate up and go have a look. I kind of thought, though I didn't +tell Marthy, that somebody's house had floated away in the freshet and +run aground in our back pasture. + +So I saddled up Kate and told Marthy to get some hot rum ready in case +there was some poor soul run aground back there. And I rode Kate back to +the back pasture. + +It was mostly uphill because the top of the pasture is on high ground, +and it sloped down to the crick on the other side of the rise. + +Well, I reached the top of the hill and looked down. The crick were a +regular river now, rushing along like Niagary. On the other side of it +was a stand of timber, then the slope of Shattuck mountain. And I saw +right away the long streak where all the timber had been cut out in a +big scoop with roots standing up in the air and a big slide of rocks +down to the water. + +It was still raining a mite and the ground was sloshy and squanchy +under foot. Kate scrunched her hooves and got real balky, not likin' it +a bit. When we got to the top of the pasture she started to whine and +whicker and stamp, and no matter how loud I whoa-ed she kept on +a-stamping and I was plumb scared she'd pitch me off in the mud. Then I +started to smell a funny smell, like somethin' burning. Now, don't ask +me how anything could burn in all that water, because I don't know. + +When we came up on the rise I saw the contraption. + +Rev'rend, it was the most tarnal crazy contraption I ever saw in my +life. It was bigger nor my cowshed and it was long and thin and as shiny +as Marthy's old pewter pitcher her Ma brought from England. It had a +pair of red rods sticking out behind and a crazy globe fitted up where +the top ought to be. It was stuck in the mud, turned halfway over on the +little slide of roots and rocks, and I could see what had happened, all +right. + +The thing must have been--now, Rev'rend, you can say what you like but +that thing must have _flew_ across Shattuck and landed on the slope in +the trees, then turned over and slid down the hill. That must have been +the crash we heard. The rods weren't just red, they were _red-hot_. I +could hear them sizzle as the rain hit 'em. + +In the middle of the infernal contraption there was a door, and it hung +all to-other as if every hinge on it had been wrenched halfway off. As I +pushed old Kate alongside it I heared somebody hollering alongside the +contraption. I didn't nohow get the words but it must have been for +help, because I looked down and there was a man a-flopping along in the +water. + +He was a big fellow and he wasn't swimming, just thrashin' and +hollering. So I pulled off my coat and boots and hove in after him. The +stream was running fast but he was near the edge and I managed to catch +on to an old tree-root and hang on, keeping his head out of the water +till I got my feet aground. Then I hauled him onto the bank. Up above me +Kate was still whinnying and raising Ned and I shouted at her as I bent +over the man. + +Wal, Rev'rend, he sure did give me a surprise--weren't no proper man I'd +ever seed before. He was wearing some kind of red clothes, real shiny +and sort of stretchy and not wet from the water, like you'd expect, but +dry and it felt like that silk and India-rubber stuff mixed together. +And it was such a bright red that at first I didn't see the blood on it. +When I did I knew he were a goner. His chest were all stove in, smashed +to pieces. One of the old tree-roots must have jabbed him as the current +flung him down. I thought he were dead already, but then he opened up +his eyes. + +A funny color they were, greeny yellow. And I swear, Rev'rend, when he +opened them eyes I _felt_ he was readin' my mind. I thought maybe he +might be one of them circus fellers in their flying contraptions that +hang at the bottom of a balloon. + +He spoke to me in English, kind of choky and stiff, not like Joe the +Portygee sailor or like those tarnal dumb Frenchies up Canady way, +but--well, funny. He said, "My baby--in ship. Get--baby ..." He tried to +say more but his eyes went shut and he moaned hard. + +I yelped, "Godamighty!" 'Scuse me, Rev'rend, but I was so blame upset +that's just what I did say, "Godamighty, man, you mean there's a baby in +that there dingfol contraption?" He just moaned so after spreadin' my +coat around the man a little bit I just plunged in that there river +again. + +Rev'rend, I heard tell once about some tomfool idiot going over Niagary +in a barrel, and I tell you it was like that when I tried crossin' that +freshet to reach the contraption. + +I went under and down, and was whacked by floating sticks and whirled +around in the freshet. But somehow, I d'no how except by the pure grace +of God, I got across that raging torrent and clumb up to where the crazy +dingfol machine was sitting. + +Ship, he'd called it. But that were no ship, Rev'rend, it was some +flying dragon kind of thing. It was a real scarey lookin' thing but I +clumb up to the little door and hauled myself inside it. And, sure +enough, there was other people in the cabin, only they was all dead. + +There was a lady and a man and some kind of an animal looked like a +bobcat only smaller, with a funny-shaped rooster-comb thing on its head. +They all--even the cat-thing--was wearing those shiny, stretchy clo'es. +And they all was so battered and smashed I didn't even bother to hunt +for their heartbeats. I could see by a look they was dead as a doornail. + +Then I heard a funny little whimper, like a kitten, and in a funny, +rubber-cushioned thing there's a little boy baby, looked about six +months old. He was howling lusty enough, and when I lifted him out of +the cradle kind of thing, I saw why. That boy baby, he was wet, and his +little arm was twisted under him. That there flying contraption must +have smashed down awful hard, but that rubber hammock was so soft and +cushiony all it did to him was jolt him good. + +I looked around but I couldn't find anything to wrap him in. And the +baby didn't have a stitch on him except a sort of spongy paper diaper, +wet as sin. So I finally lifted up the lady, who had a long cape thing +around her, and I took the cape off her real gentle. I knew she was dead +and she wouldn't be needin' it, and that boy baby would catch his death +if I took him out bare-naked like that. She was probably the baby's Ma; +a right pretty woman she was but smashed up something shameful. + +So anyhow, to make a long story short, I got that baby boy back across +that Niagary falls somehow, and laid him down by his Pa. The man opened +his eyes kind, and said in a choky voice, "Take care--baby." + +I told him I would, and said I'd try to get him up to the house where +Marthy could doctor him. The man told me not to bother. "I dying," he +says. "We come from planet--star up there--crash here--" His voice +trailed off into a language I couldn't understand, and he looked like he +was praying. + +I bent over him and held his head on my knees real easy, and I said, +"Don't worry, mister, I'll take care of your little fellow until your +folks come after him. Before God I will." + +So the man closed his eyes and I said, _Our Father which art in Heaven_, +and when I got through he was dead. + +I got him up on Kate, but he was cruel heavy for all he was such a tall +skinny fellow. Then I wrapped that there baby up in the cape thing and +took him home and give him to Marthy. And the next day I buried the +fellow in the south medder and next meetin' day we had the baby baptized +Matthew Daniel Emmett, and brung him up just like our own kids. That's +all. + +_All? Mr. Emmett, didn't you ever find out where that ship really came +from?_ + +Why, Rev'rend, he said it come from a star. Dying men don't lie, you +know that. I asked the Teacher about them planets he mentioned and she +says that on one of the planets--can't rightly remember the name, March +or Mark or something like that--she says some big scientist feller with +a telescope saw canals on that planet, and they'd hev to be pretty near +as big as this-here Erie canal to see them so far off. And if they could +build canals on that planet I d'no why they couldn't build a flying +machine. + +I went back the next day when the water was down a little, to see if I +couldn't get the rest of them folks and bury them, but the flying +machine had broke up and washed down the crick. + +Marthy's still got the cape thing. She's a powerful saving woman. We +never did tell Matt, though. Might make him feel funny to think he +didn't really b'long to us. + +_But--but--Mr. Emmett, didn't anybody ask questions about the +baby--where you got it?_ + +Well, now, I'll 'low they was curious, because Marthy hadn't been in +the family way and they knew it. But up here folks minds their own +business pretty well, and I jest let them wonder. I told Liza Grace I'd +found her new little brother in the back pasture, and o'course it was +the truth. When Liza Grace growed up she thought it was jest one of +those yarns old folks tell the little shavers. + +_And has Matthew ever shown any differences from the other children that +you could see?_ + +Well, Rev'rend, not so's you could notice it. He's powerful smart, but +his real Pa and Ma must have been right smart too to build a flying +contraption that could come so far. + +O'course, when he were about twelve years old he started reading folks' +minds, which didn't seem exactly right. He'd tell Marthy what I was +thinkin' and things like that. He was just at the pesky age. Liza Grace +and Minnie were both a-courtin' then, and he'd drive their boy friends +crazy telling them what Liza Grace and Minnie were a-thinking and tease +the gals by telling them what the boys were thinking about. + +There weren't no harm in the boy, though, it was all teasing. But it +just weren't decent, somehow. So I tuk him out behind the woodshed and +give his britches a good dusting just to remind him that that kind of +thing weren't polite nohow. And Rev'rend Doane, he ain't never done it +sence. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ May 1954. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Year of the Big Thaw, by Marion Zimmer Bradley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YEAR OF THE BIG THAW *** + +***** This file should be named 28650.txt or 28650.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/5/28650/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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