Prairie Danger

It was 1875. Kate lived with her family on the wide, open Kansas prairie.

Their house was made of sod, big blocks of carved earth built one on top of the other. Prairie folks called it a soddy.

Sometimes the soddy leaked rain, or dirt on the roof crumbled and fell inside. But the soddy was warm in winter. And it provided good shelter on the prairie where few trees grew.

Kate’s family worked a small farm. They raised potatoes, squash and wheat. They raised a few chickens and a goat, too. Kate helped Mama bake bread, haul water from the well and make candles from tallow fat.

One morning in early spring Kate was in the soddy churning butter. Her young brother, Theodore, and their mother were out gathering twigs to burn in the stove.

Suddenly Kate heard Theodore shouting.

“Kate, come quick! Mama is hurt.”

Kate dropped her bucket and ran.

There was Mama lying on the grass. Her leg was twisted. Kate saw a trickle of blood.

“What happened, Mama?” Kate cried.

“My leg is broken, and I can’t walk,” Mama said. “I tripped in a rabbit hole.” Her voice was shaky and didn’t sound like Mama at all.

“Does it hurt awful bad?” Kate asked.

“Yes, awful,” Mama moaned.

“We need to fetch the doctor right away,” Kate said.

“But Papa is gone hunting,” Theodore said. “There is no one to ride to town.”

*

Monday: How will Mama get help?

Nancy Smiler Levinson is the author of many books, including “Snowshoe Thompson,” “She’s Been Working on the Railroad” and “Turn of the Century: Our Nation 100 Years Ago.”

This story will be on The Times’ Web site at https://www.latimes.com/kids.