Pa Had To Make A Decision To Leave His Children Or Stay

 The food had nearly run out in the wagons. The men had sent two men off to get much needed provisions and food, but they had not returned. The people could no longer live in their wagons, so several folks including Nell had moved into the Cherokee House. One day during a particularly cold and snowy day one of the men went out and had found an ox that had been killed by Indians, presumably for food. That left only one ox to do a very difficult job. He was hooked up to a bobsled without sides to go to the field and gather the potatoes and corn. The vegetables had frozen and seemed beyond hope to be eaten.

 I have many times said that these pioneers were determined to survive and make happy homes there. So they took tools like picks and sharp pitch forks out to the field and dug up the frozen vegetables. When they returned the women and men took turns grinding the corn into a meal with a surviving coffee grinder. They made a kind of pancake and a bitter  brew made out of melted snow and ground corn. It tasted really bad, but they needed something hot to drink. Life in Cherokee House was not easy to say the least.

Grandma Lu looked out at the folks and said, "What happens when you don't have food to eat for a long time?" She received many different answers. Some said, 'you get skinny' some said, 'your tummy makes funny sounds' and one said, 'you get naughty.' 

Grandma Lu said, "You are all right. Most of us say we have been hungry, but we probably don't know what real hunger is. Hunger is when your clothes no longer fit, and your bones show. Hunger makes a person feel kind of mean inside and will even steal and do bad things just so they can get food. This is what was happening inside Cherokee House. That included Nell. She was getting desperate because she was getting dizzy and feeling like she couldn't walk very well.

Marlee Ada and her brothers  and sister were also getting very low on food. Their ma had preserved some vegetables and their pa had put some meat in the small root cellar, but it was almost gone. And the wildlife had hunkered down in the timber so hunting was very poor.

Pa had a difficult decision to make. He either would try to make it into the nearest settlement and leave the boys to take care of the girls, or wait out the weather to see if it would be possible to take his family into town where there was food to be purchased. He had no idea that the Banister Colony was just a mile or so away. They had planned well and continued to enjoy good health because they still had some food to eat. Marlee Ada's pa was unaware that there were people hungry and cold in the Cherokee House, also not far from his farm.

Pa finally called the children together and told the boys that they would have to be in charge while he was gone. With him being gone there would be more food for the four of them. There was little discussion, because they all knew that their pa knew best. They quietly watched as their pa put some bread and some dried venison in his pocket. He quietly said, "Take care of each other and remember how much I love you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Pa had tied a rope to the leather strap that he had fastened to the outside of the cabin and headed towards the small building or shack that sheltered his horse and wagon. In those days a rope tied to the house and the barn was almost a necessity because sometimes in the winter storms called blizzards the the snow blew so hard a person couldn't see. The wind had calmed a bit which he was grateful for. It was still going to be a long cold ride for him. He went to put the bridle and saddle on his horse when he thought he heard a noise from the far side. He thought it was an animal that had come in from the storm. Instead of an animal pa discovered it was a very thin and half frozen woman laying on the ice cold dirt. 

It was in fact Nell. She had lost her way leaving the outdoor bathroom from the Cherokee House.