Read the excerpt from “Demon's Run.”For all their married life, Joshua and Lily Wellcomb lived in a small town in Kansas, where they just managed to feed themselves and their three children. In 1888, Joshua died from influenza, leaving Lily with three children to look after. The family was left with very little money, so when the Oklahoma Land Run was announced in March, Lily had a difficult decision to make. She thought about it for a long time, then she sat her children down at the kitchen table in their tiny house.
Read the excerpt from "Demon's Run."“Here is the truth,” she said. “Your father’s work making household repairs for the townspeople has fed us ’til now, but he’s gone. Laundering clothes brings in a bit, but not enough. We’re all strong and hard workers with a lot of stamina, so I think we could farm if we had some land. And there’s land in Oklahoma.”“We have nothing to lose,” said Margaret, who was sixteen, and like her mother, she was both practical and brave. Her brother, Benjamin, fourteen, and her sister, Lizzie, eleven, agreed.So the family began preparing for the journey. Lily worked day and night doing laundry and was able to make a bit more than the family needed to buy food.
Read the excerpt from "The Sky Will Not Fall."Caroline almost smiled, but it was not a smile of amusement or happiness. It was a smile that comes from bottled up emotions of fear and frustration. Her chin dropped to her chest, and she let out a sigh. Then, softly and steadily, she said. “I know you’re hurting and you’re frustrated and you want to do more, but you can’t. Not yet. ” She was understanding and gentle, but also firm and strong.
Read the excerpt from “The Sky Will Not Fall.”Without thinking, he twisted his torso to roll out of bed, expecting his legs to follow. In an extremely painful instant, he was reminded of the shattered bones in his right leg. His cry brought his wife, Caroline, running in from the yard to check on him. She went immediately to his side and pulled the quilt back to uncover the injured leg.
Read the excerpt from "The Sky Will Not Fall."It was midday before William Sparks woke up. After worrying and fidgeting through most of the night, he had finally drifted off into a hard and heavy sleep just before dawn. As he woke, he could tell from the light streaming through the bedroom window that he had slept through more than half the day, and that fact only added to his frustration and worry.
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