Where is God?

When I'm In Need

First thing after dinner, Adam saddled up his single riding horse and rode away from the small house, leaving the wagon and pair of horses for the girls. The girls watched as he slowly disappeared on the horizon. As they stood in the yard watching, Anne spoke her thoughts aloud. "What are we going to do? It will take him a few days to reach Illinois, and then it will take time to find work and get paid. We need to have money soon, or we will be out of food."

"We could go into town and find small jobs. We can earn enough money to keep us on our feet until Adam can send money.", Cindy suggested.

"That's an idea, but I don't know how easy it would be to find work for us.  It's wortha try anyway, we have nothing else to do.", Anne considered.

"Could we go right away? The sooner we find work the better."

"Yes, we may prepare and leave right now.", Anne replied, as she turned to go inside the house.

Cindy rushed after her to gather what she would want. She climbed the attic stairs to her small bedroom, and walked to her chest. She lifted the lid and pulled out the small draw string bag which held the small amount of money she had left from her parents--most of it was spent on their funeral. She took her mothers old basket, and placed her brown crocheted shawl inside--she knew there would be a chill in the air when they returned home. She took her pink bonnet, and carried her things down to the kitchen. She placed them on the table, and set to getting a small snack for their afternoon adventure.

Anne walked into the kitchen a few moments later as Cindy placed the last items in her basket. They tied their bonnets under their chins, and walked out of the house. They made sure the door was securely latched, and set out on their mile and a half walk into the town. When they started the sky was clear and the midday sun was beating down on their backs. However, as they walked, they were not conscience of the huge black cloud creeping up behind them.

They walked away from the house--along a wide, rutted, dirt road--towards town. The countryside was beautiful and full of color. The summer season was in full bloom on the trees.  The lone trees that stood among the waist high flowing grass were a deep  yet bright green. The green grass blew and swirled in the breeze, the golden sunlight making them seemingly shine. The clear blue sky stretching as far as the eye could see before them, but behind them, the black clouds crept--unnoticed--closer and closer.

It took them about half an hour to walk all the way to town. It wasn't until they reached the edges of Salvation--'what kind of town name is that', Cindy thought, 'for that matter, what is salvation?'--that they became conscience of the cloud, now upon them. The ominous cloud blocked out the cheerful sunlight, making the town seem gloomy and hopeless. Suddenly, as Cindy was staring up at the sky, a large lone rain drop fell from the sky and hit the tip of her nose. When it made contact with an object it seemingly exploded in all directions. Now the drops fell many and near together. They knew they must find shelter or get soaked.

They rushed forward on the, now nearly empty street, and took cover under the porch of the Hotel. This was a fairly new and small settlement, it was still growing, but it has been home for a few years.  Now that they are out of the weather, the girls calmed themselves and smoothed their skirts. Anne leading the way, they now entered the hotel.

People looked up as they walked in, but from behind the counter a woman rushed forward and embraced Anne. Anne returned the warm embrace while greeting the lady, "Winni! We haven't seen each other in quite some time! How are you? How is Will?"

"We are very well, Thank You! How are you and Adam? And how is Cindy doing?", she added as she glanced at the girl staring out the blank window.

"That's why we are in town. Adam lost his job, and has gone to Illinois to find work. Cindy and I came into town trying to find odd work to earn a little money. At least enough to keep us on our feet until Adam has time to find a job, and send us some money.", Anne went on, "Cindy, I think is just trying to get her mind off of her parent's deaths."