Excerpt:

Kathleen shielded her eyes from the hot sun as she stepped down from the wagon she’d been traveling for the past three hours. She shook the dust from her dress and sighed. Now she would truly be alone. The next house had to be miles away. How could these people live like this, in such an unsociable world? I’ll know soon enough, she realized, her heart sinking at the thought.
“Here, Miss Summers.” The old driver said, handing her the bag with the few belongings she had brought with her. They were the only things she had succeeded in persuading her mother not to sell. Everything else she had was now gone. She sighed again as a man and a woman came out of the cabin in front of her. It was a small thing, really. I hope I won’t have to share a room with one of these people, she thought as four children ran out from the door behind their parents.
Like it or not, I’m going to have to do this. Kathleen told herself. She lifted her chin high and walked with all the elegance she could muster. Yes, she was now as poor as the rest of the people in these accursed prairies. But she didn’t have to act it.
“How do you do, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson?” she greeted them, curtsying slightly. Mr. Thompson gave her a big toothy grin. He looked to be in his late thirties, hair beginning to gray and body strong from working on a farm all his life. Mrs. Thompson looked almost as strong as her husband, but she didn’t seem half as friendly.
“We’re just fine, Miss Kathleen.” Mr. Thompson answered. “Why don’t you come in, get out of that hot sun? You must be tired after your trip.” She nodded and smiled politely as she followed him into the house.
“Why is she so pale?” she heard the smallest of the three girls standing there ask her mother. Mrs. Thompson slapped her on the head.
“Don’t be rude.” She snapped.
The house had a small dining area with a big wooden table and eight chairs around it. There was a stove (not as nice as the one back home) and a water pump. At least we won’t have to get water from a well. Mr. Thompson showed her the three sparsely furnished bedrooms in the house; one for the parents, one for the three girls, and one for the two boys. Kathleen looked at the children jumping and running around her because she was sure she had seen only one boy. Mrs. Thompson noticed and said,
“Kale, our oldest, is out working in the fields. You’ll see him later.”
Kathleen would be staying with, of course, the three little girls.
“I’m Lily and I’m five!” the youngest said excitedly. She had brown hair done in two braids that she constantly pulled at. Kathleen managed a small smile in her direction as she began to unpack her bags. The girls began to bicker amongst themselves, much to Kathleen’s chagrin. She was never going to get any sleep in here, she knew it.
The girls gasped as Kathleen pulled out one of her dresses. It was her favorite, a rose colored dressed she used only on special occasions. She remembered when she had begged her mother to buy it for her. That was before her mother had gotten remarried to Joseph Stiles. Her face darkened at the thought of her stepfather. It was his fault she had to start working as a teacher. It was his fault she had live with these farmers, although they didn’t seem that bad. But she deserved better than this! They had had it all, and then he had to go and…
She shook her head. No use thinking about it now.
“Can I touch it can I touch it!” piped up the girl who looked to be about seven years old.
“No, Wilma.” Her older sister said sternly. But the little girl looked so amazed Kathleen just had to let her touch it.
“Here.” She said, holding it out to Wilma. She reached out tentatively and stroked the velvet cloth. Squealing in delight she shrieked, “It’s so soft!” Kathleen laughed. Little children could be such delightful beings. It was the main reason she had decided, when she had been forced to find work, to become a teacher. It was worth all those teacher’s examinations to see their joyful faces light up whenever the learned something. This will work out, you’ll see. She thought to herself.
“So, you are…Lily, you are Wilma and you…”she pointed to the oldest girl.
“Christina.” She answered. She was a pretty child, just beginning to enter into womanhood. It wasn’t that long ago that Kathleen had been in the same stage of life. Of course, she wasn’t a woman just yet. She was sixteen years old, a few months from being seventeen. Although some girls her age were already married, Kathleen didn’t foresee herself married anytime in the near future. Who needs men anyways? She muttered to herself. They are more trouble than they are worth. Her mother had never liked that attitude.
“You have to get married, Katty!” she had exclaimed that time only a few weeks ago. “You want to be an old spinster like your aunt Trudy?”
“I don’t know what’s so great about being married.” She replied. “Look how much good your loving husband has done for you.”
“Don’t talk about your father that way.” Mother said in that quiet way. She was only quiet like that when she was very, very upset and about to blow. Kathleen knew she shouldn’t continue. But it hurt Kathleen, because she knew her mother loved her husband very much. But she also knew that the man was only after her mother’s money.
“He isn’t my father!” she yelled.
“I said, don’t-”
“How can you be so blind?” she pleaded, her heart breaking at the certainty that her mother would indeed soon experience a heartbreak much worse. “He doesn’t care about you, he just wants your money.”
“Don’t say that!” her mother screamed, having reached her breaking point. She struck her daughter in the face. Kathleen stumbled back, her cheek burning as tears streamed down her face.
“Just you wait.” She said quietly, backing out of the room slowly. “Just you wait.”
And Kathleen had been right. Just one month later, her stepfather had used up all of Mother’s money and had landed them deep in debt. Then he had left the two to fend for themselves.
“Kathleen?” a child’s voice broke her away from her thoughts.
“Oh! Uh, yes Wilma?”
“Its Lily!” she laughed.
“Yes, of course. Lily. What is it you want to tell me?”
“Momma told me to tell you foods gonna be ready in a little. So you can wash up when you finish unpacking.”
“Thank you for telling me.” She paused. “Lily.” She added.
“Your welcome!” she burst out before running out of the room.
“I hope your dresses don’t get really messed up here.” Christina said somberly. She looked like such a serious girl. Quite unlike Kathleen, for sure. “It’s so dusty in these parts. I know it must have been really different where you came from.”
Kathleen nodded, thinking of home, or at least her hometown. The house she had grown up in was now a home for another family. How she wished things were the way they were! Yes, she had loved her life before he came and ruined it.
“I’ll tell you about it sometime, if you want.” Christina nodded, and finally gave Kathleen a small smile.