The sun hid behind an ominous cloud. It now gathered with more threatening billows.
While Mickie and Sam rode their horses to school, I hid my head under my pillows.
Ma said a cold wind was blowing. The clouds flattened out and were close to the ground.
I crawled out of bed and climbed down the ladder. Calico, my cat, must be found.
The sun never leaves. The world turns away into darkness. It keeps turning until we come back.
I saw Ma in the kitchen by the big cast iron stove adding wood from the dwindling stack.
I knew what she would say,
“On any given day.”
Pa came through the door his face red from the wind. “The cows have water and hay.” He told Ma.
Behind him I saw the snow blowing. The wind made a howling sound. My throat felt swollen and raw.
Ma wiped her brow with her apron. Her face looked pale and grim. I stood there unsteadily..
“I fear for the boys,” she said. “That school house is old and this storm has turned deadly..
I knew what she would say,
“On any given day.”
In the end we were safe, though Mickie and Sam rode their horses through mountains of snow.
Ma brought me warm soup and I told her there was something I needed to know.
I asked, “Why do you say,
On any given day?”
Her smile was angelic as she began to explain. I’ve never forgotten what she said to me.
She felt love, peace and strength, because she believed in Thee who she couldn’t see.
“God never leaves us. Even when we turn away. His son, Jesus, promised to return to us…
“On any given day.”
I
Those 70ish Girls 