Alec sighed.
The lambs were bleating pitifully, yet there was nothing he could do to keep his flock warm.
There was one thing, though, he came up with. "Sara, Felix," he turned to the children, "I want you to fetch the vet, Aurthor Pettibone, he'll probably have something in mind for the sheep."
The children obeyed and sprinted towards the village. Sara knocked on the door, impatiently.
"Please, please, please be home..." she muttered silently to herself. Felix payed no heed to how rude he might seem, their lambs were at stake! so he banged on the door with his two fists. ""Aurthor Pettibone? Are you home?" he asked, loudly, while cracking the door open to yell it out once again.
Sara shrugged. "You can cut it out now, Felix, he's not home." she sighed, "Let's go around town to see if we can find him,"
Felix closed the door.
Then all of a sudden, an upstairs window in the Pettibone house cracked open. Mr Pettibone, their school teacher, popped his head out.
"You children need something?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as the children just awoke him from his nap.
"Yes," Sara replied, sweet relief filling her soul, "we have an emergency at the King barn. Where's Aurthor?"
"He's away in Halifax for the week." Clive Pettibone snapped to attention, a former soldier he was, and a good horse expert he was too. He knew just what to do for farmers, he thought.
"But I think I can help you. Just give me a moment to put on my winter belongings." he said, shutting the window with a loud smack.
Felix turned to his cousin. "Sara, Mr. Pettibone doesn't know a thing about sheep!"
"I know, Felix, but he's the only help we've got. And Pat Frewen isn't any help either because he only raises pigs. I wish Aurthor was home!" She told him.
Felix eyes were large circles, as an idea just came to mind and then sprinted down the road, leaving Sara behind.
"C'mon, Sara!" He hollered over his shoulder. Sara ran to catch up with him, but Mr. Pettibone stopped them dead in their tracks.
"I thought you needed some help at the barn?" he asked them.
"We do." Felix answered, "But Sara and I have some things we need to do. You go on ahead to our barn, Mr. Pettibone, we'll be there later." he finished taking Sara's arm and leading, or rather almost dragging, her down the road.
"See you later, Mr. Pettibone." Sara replied and trudged after Felix.
"Where are we going, Felix?" she wanted to know, after she was out of their school master's hearing.
"I'll show you." was all Felix said as they both made their way to the Dale house and into Jasper's workshop, heading straight towards the bicycle hooked up on light bulbs.
"We need to get this thing to the barn, Sara, and you've got to help me with it."
~*~
On the other side of the small village of Avonlea, Janet King was bellowing over the sound of the sleigh bells."Elizaaaa!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, breathing in heavily the cold, wintery air. How in the world can her old, spinstered aunt have run away into hiding? she thought, panic rising into her usually sedate state of mind. It was getting colder by the minute and a stiff gust of wind blew into her face.
"Eliza if you don't freeze to death out here I will!" she cried out into the wind, hoping that the wind would take her words and hurl them into her aunts' ears. "Oh, Great Aunt Eliza, where are you?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Janet sat back down into the sleigh and urged the noble horse into a steady lope. She kept that pace until she arrived at a frozen pond, with a little ice hut sticking out of the ponds edge. She climbed out of the sleigh, wrapped her thick shawl around her and headed towards the ice hut. If she didn't warm up soon she was sure to swoon from the cold. Just as she was reaching for the door latch she spotted something bulky sticking out of a fishing hole. She darted straight towards it and discovered that it was a suitcase- Eliza's suitcase!!
"Oh, Eliza!" she cried, tears gushing down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!! This is all my fault! If I just would've been patient instead of complaining and being so mean, I..I..I..oh I'm s-s-so sorry, Eliza, I'm so sorry!!" she stroked the suitcase and let her tears fall upon its stiffly frozen leather. She didn't dare look into the black, gaping hole as she was sure to discover the pale, limp body of her dear aunt. She sniffed and cried and apologized until there were no more tears left to be shed.
"Can you ever forgive me?" she said, swallowing hard, her voice tense and throat aching from crying so hard. All of a sudden, the ice hut door flung open, with a dripping wet Great Aunt Eliza straggling towards the grief stricken woman. Of course she forgave her niece!
"Janet!" she cried. "I'm over here!"
Janet didn't notice. Her grief was too overwhelming to hear anything but her own sobbing.
"Janet! I'm here!" Eliza repeated.
Janet flung around to see her petite, white haired aunt with icicles dangling from her loose strands of hair, limping, straggling towards her with arms open wide.
"Eliza!!!" Janet hollered, gathering her old aunt into her arms as Eliza crumpled to the ground.
Together they wept for joy, having found each other, forgiven and in each others embrace. Janet then quickly wrapped her own shawl around Eliza's damp shoulders and helped her into the sleigh.
She whipped the horse into a breakneck gallop, yet keeping an arm around her aunt, and raced home. If she didn't, Eliza might die of shock and cold.
