Snowbound

at her right side.

“Everyone, our host is John Fallon.” She reeled off

their names, most of which he’d likely need to hear

again.

The tall, skinny boy who’d stayed here before was

Dieter Schoenecker, the stocky one had the unlikely

name of Hopper Daniels, and the third boy was Troy

Thorsen. Nordic last name, which didn’t explain his

racial heritage.

The girls were a blur. Kelli—with an i, she made sure

to tell him, last name he didn’t catch, Amy Brooks,

who seemed given to posing and flipping her hair,

Tabitha, Erin and…that left someone out, but he

couldn’t remember who. Probably the plain, quiet one.

Watching the speed with which the food disappeared, John took mental stock of his larder. They’d be okay for a week, he figured; he kept an emergency

supply of canned goods he could dip into if need be.

Fiona took half a sandwich and ate it slowly, as if she

had to remind herself to take a bite and swallow. Clearly

they’d driven across the mountains that morning, and

had probably made an early start to have had time for

any kind of competition during the day. Driving for

hours through the blizzard had to have wrung her out.

“Why don’t you hit the sack?” he said quietly.

“They’re still wound up. I can sort them out later.”

“I’m responsible…”

“You look ready to collapse.”

Dieter Schoenecker, who sat on her other side, heard.

“Ms. Mac was Superwoman today.”

She managed a grin and pretended to flex a bicep.

“That’s me. Speaking of which—” she pitched her voice

a little louder “—have I mentioned that I have X-ray

vision? I see through walls.”

“Ahh! Ms. Mac doesn’t trust us.” The Hopper kid

clasped his hand to his chest and fell back in his chair.

She just smiled. “Bathroom on the right side upstairs

is for girls, left side for boys.”

“Toothbrushes.” John pushed back his chair and stood.

His bad leg chose to cave, and he had to brace his hand

on the back of the chair until the spasm let up. Without

looking to see if anyone had noticed, he left the kitchen.

He grabbed a basket and piled it with toothbrushes,

toothpaste in sample tubes, dental floss, the small

bottles of shampoo and hand lotion he put out when

readying a bathroom for guests, and a couple of

packages of feminine products. It might embarrass the

girls, but if they were here for very many days, odds

were a couple of them would need something.

Fiona stood when he came back. “I’ll take that up.”

She looked into the basket. “Oh, thank goodness. I

didn’t even think of that as a problem. I’ll distribute all

this.” She raised her voice. “I’m going to bed, kids.

Help Mr. Fallon clean up, then I expect you to get ready

for bed, too. It’s been a long day.”

“Do we have to turn the lights out?” Amy looked

genuinely horrified.

“No. You can read, talk, listen to music, whatever.

Just keep it down, and be considerate of each other.”

“If you need anything during the night—” John pointed

to a door at the back of the kitchen “—that’s where I’ll be.”

Nods all around.

He walked the teacher to the foot of the stairs.

Standing one step up, she was at eye level with him.

“Did I tell you when I called that our principal said they

had four inches and snow still piling up even in Portland? It’s amazing that you have electricity.”

“We operate on a generator. There aren’t any power

lines out here.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” She gave a small shiver. “I

can’t believe how lucky we were. I didn’t want the kids

to know, but…I was so scared.”

Feeling cruel, he said, “You should have been.

Without winter gear…”

Her chin came up. “This blizzard wasn’t predicted

so soon. And none of the meteorologists expected it to

be so major. It’s only November!”

“You ever noticed how ski areas open Thanksgiving

weekend? Means they’ve been getting snow for weeks.”

“That’s true, but we’re not at that kind of elevation