Amy shiver as she trudges through the snow and fights against the biting cold wind. She manages to make it to the barn to check on the horses and other animals. She walks over to her horse and rubs his nose. She feeds him pieces of sliced apples he likes so much.

“It’s cold out there, today Swift Wind.” Amy was bundled up in her fleece-lined jacket, work gloves, and the wool scarf covering her neck.

The new boots she got about a month ago and the wool soaks were keeping her feet warm. She and Dan had gone out yesterday to do some hunting and came back with several rabbits. She managed to kill them with her bow. She sent the arrow right through their necks.

Rebecca taught her how to skin them. She already knew how to from Dan, but Rebecca wanted her to relearn from her. She also taught her how to prepare them and cook them up. Rebecca made sure she knew how to cook and preserve all the foods she found.

After she spends some time with Swift Wind and the other animals. She heads back into the house, after taking her boots off and leaving them in the mud room. She liked the idea of having a mudroom to take her boots off in. That way you weren’t tracking mud or dirt throughout the house.

She walks into the den and sits down at the quilt she has been working on. Rebecca taught her how to make it and helped her come up with a design for it.

She was making it for Awe Goseyun. She didn’t have much after the fire that burned down her home. A stray ember had floated down on top of her trailer and caught the petroleum-rich tar covering the roof. As soon as the embers caught the roof on fire, it spread like wildfire. She and her children barely made it out in time. However, they lost everything in the fire. So, the residents on the reservation were helping her and her
children out. Several men had gotten together and cleared the burned trailer away and cleared the place where the trailer stood.

She had helped them and afterward, she donated several of the coins she had found to buy the new lumber and supplies it would take to build a new home for Awe’s family. She worked along with the men to get the building itself up before the snow fell. They managed to find an old fashion cast iron stove that Awe could heat the place and cook on.

They built a box to catch the snow to melt to provide water until they could install the pump. They managed to mount and secure the solar panels on the roof. So, Awe had power for lights, television, and refrigerator.

For food and clothes, the whole reservation chipped in to buy food and give clothes and some furniture to the family. Amy was making quilts for the family, to help them keep warm during the winter months. So, far she had two done but needed to make three more.

“How’s it coming, Amy?” Rebecca looks over towards Amy as she worked.

“I should be done with this one, by tonight. I’ll start on the other one in the morning.” Amy liked the fact she had quilts to make.

Dan warned her that winter on the reservation could be boring. The only way you could get around on the reservation was with four-wheelers, horses, or snowmobiles. He could ski, so he had no problems. He taught her how to ski and walk in snowshoes.

Today, it was too cold outside to do anything, so they were going to stay inside and work on whatever projects they had going on. People were making use of the cold air and snow. She would have never thought about filling a barrel full of water with an empty space in the middle of it and turning it into a deep freezer. That amazed her when she saw Charlie doing it.

He told her that he has been doing it for years. It was the best way to save what power he could generate for his home. He had taken an old engine out of a car and used it to generate power for his place.

Since gasoline and kerosene were expensive, he used natural gas to power his place. He had two huge propane tanks painted up to look like watermelons.

Some people on the reservation were heating their homes the old fashion way. They used dried-out dung to burn in their stoves or outside cover pits. Some used prairie grass they managed to grow.

Amy had learned a lot from several people on the reservation. Skills that were going to come in handy when she starts surviving on her own.
Dan taught her how to make a tepee and set it up. He told her that sometimes there wouldn’t be any caves or outcroppings that she could use for shelter. So, she might want to learn how to make a tepee to live, in a safe area.

By the time she finishes one quilt, she was yawning. She wanted to make some headway on the other quilt. She already did the basics on it. Now, she was going to fancy it up some for the person. She found out what the person liked and made a patchwork design of it.

Amy works for a few more hours before she stabs her fingertips too many times. She folds the quilt up and put everything away.

“Night, everyone.” Amy waves goodnight to some of the guys that were engross in a novel.

“Night, Amy.” Cameron watches as she leaves the den and heads toward her bedroom.

He looks towards Dan since he was staying up late. He wonders what Dan was going to train her to do next.

“So, what is next on your agenda for her?”

Dan looks up from the newspaper he was reading. He knew Cameron was just concerned for Amy “nothing until after the holidays. She could survive on her own right now in this mess without any help from me. She’s a better tracker than most seasoned hunters we know are.” Dan had been impressed by how well Amy tracked things.

“Don’t you it’s too much for a girl her age?” Cameron was concerned about Amy.

Dan had to think about that question. On one hand, he feels Amy should enjoy being a child, but on the other hand. The people who did this to her, need to pay with their lives.

“I think, Amy needs to find closure for everything done to her.” Dan felt that was the best way to explain it.

“If you say so.”