Alce clasped her shoulders and looked into her face. "Bont!" she cried, releasing herself from his encircling arm and retreating from the window, the house'll go next! If I only knew w'ere Bibi was!" She would not compose herself she would not be seated. Alce's arm encircled her, and for an instant he drew her close and spasmodically to him. It filled all visible space with a blinding glare and the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon.Ĭalixta put her hands to her eyes, and with a cry, staggered backward. A bolt struck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field. The playing of the lightning was incessant. The rain was coming down in sheets obscuring the view of far-off cabins and enveloping the distant wood in a gray mist. Alce got up and joined her at the window, looking over her shoulder. She wiped the frame that was clouded with moisture. She went and stood at the window with a greatly disturbed look on her face. "Let us hope, Calixta, that Bobint's got sense enough to come in out of a cyclone." "I got enough to do! An' there's Bobint with Bibi out in that storm if he only didn' left Friedheimer's!" "What have you got to do with the levees?" Lf this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin' to stan it!" she exclaimed. The door stood open, and the room with its white, monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious.Īlce flung himself into a rocker and Calixta nervously began to gather up from the floor the lengths of a cotton sheet which she had been sewing. Adjoining was her bed room, with Bibi's couch along side her own. They were in the dining room the sitting room the general utility room. The rain beat upon the low, shingled roof with a force and clatter that threatened to break an entrance and deluge them there. Her blue eyes still retained their melting quality and her yellow hair, dishevelled by the wind and rain, kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples. She was a little fuller of figure than five years before when she married but she had lost nothing of her vivacity. "My! what a rain! It's good two years sence it rain' like that," exclaimed Calixta as she rolled up a piece of bagging and Alce helped her to thrust it beneath the crack. It was even necessary to put something beneath the door to keep the water out. He expressed an intention to remain outside, but it was soon apparent that he might as well have been out in the open: the water beat in upon the boards in driving sheets, and he went inside, closing the door after him. Alce, mounting to the porch, grabbed the trousers and snatched Bibi's braided jacket that was about to be carried away by a sudden gust of wind. His voice and her own startled her as if from a trance, and she seized Bobint's vest. "May I come and wait on your gallery till the storm is over, Calixta?" he asked. Alce rode his horse under the shelter of a side projection where the chickens had huddled and there were plows and a harrow piled up in the corner. She stood there with Bobint's coat in her hands, and the big rain drops began to fall. She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone. As she stepped outside, Alce Laballire rode in at the gate. Out on the small front gallery she had hung Bobint's Sunday clothes to dry and she hastened out to gather them before the rain fell. It began to grow dark, and suddenly realizing the situation she got up hurriedly and went about closing windows and doors. She unfastened her white sacque at the throat. But she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face on which the perspiration gathered in beads. She was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm. She sat at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. Bibi laid his little hand on his father's knee and was not afraid.Ĭalixta, at home, felt no uneasiness for their safety. It shook the wooden store and seemed to be ripping great furrows in the distant field. Then he retumed to his perch on the keg and sat stolidly holding the can of shrimps while the storm burst. Sylvie was helpin' her yistiday,' piped Bibi.īobint arose and going across to the counter purchased a can of shrimps, of which Calixta was very fond. Maybe she got Sylvie helpin' her this evenin'," Bobint responded reassuringly. "Mama'll be 'fraid, yes, he suggested with blinking eyes. Bibi was four years old and looked very wise. They sat within the door on two empty kegs. They were at Friedheimer's store and decided to remain there till the storm had passed. Bobint, who was accustomed to converse on terms of perfect equality with his little son, called the child's attention to certain sombre clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar. The leaves were so still that even Bibi thought it was going to rain.
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