The Teacher's Star

she rushed to grab her coat. The sound of her name froze her where she stood.
“Enid Anderson, what are you planning?” Ma’s eyes narrowed again. Eenie knew ma thought she was out to prank someone.
“Honest, Ma. I’m heading home. No pranks. I promise.” She crossed her heart as she said those words, but Ma’s eyes stayed narrowed with suspicion.
“You’d just better, young lady. I expect to see you when I get home.”
Eenie crossed her fingers behind her back and promised Ma she would. Maybe she could get the treasure fast.
Ben and Annie waited outside the school for her. He spoke in a low voice. “You really gonna do it?”
Eenie stuck out her chin and nodded. “Yep, I know the shack is east of the ranch buildings. There’s a canyon behind it. I’m gonna get my treasure.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “It’s not yours. You stole that map.” Not bothering to answer, Eenie walked away.
At the livery, she asked Paps for a shovel. The old man threw her an odd look. He might think the request was strange, but he gave it to her. “Tomorrow, tell me why you want it. I expect it will be a good prank.”
The girl nodded. She’d brag about her treasure tomorrow and set him straight then.
Securing the shovel behind the saddle, Eenie climbed onto the mare. Leaning forward, she patted the horse’s neck. In a whisper, she told the horse, “I think I’ll name you Treasure.”
Anticipation gave the two of them wings as Treasure raced for the ranch. The horse wanted her warm stall in the shed. As they neared the buildings, Eenie forced her unwilling mount away from the homestead and toward the hills.
Time passed slowly. The line shack was farther away than Eenie remembered. Near dusk, she almost gave up. Then the gray shack appeared in the distance. Veering away from it, she headed for the canyon marked on the map.
The sound of cattle surprised her. Men busily branded fully grown animals. Her pa had told her once that they branded them when they were half-grown. This didn’t make sense.
And they were in her treasure canyon. How would she be able to dig?
A sudden shout frightened her. A man with a hot branding iron threw it down. Pulling a gun from his holster, he ran toward her.
Pulling on Treasure’s reins, she turned the horse to race for safety.

Chapter 9
“Miss Per—Uh, Mrs. Anderson?”
Delia looked up from the papers she graded to smile at Ben. He sounded so unsure that it pained her. She wanted all of her students to be able to speak to her without being afraid.
“It’s okay, Ben. Come here and tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Well,” he scuffed a foot on the wood floor as he stared downward. Suddenly, he straightened his shoulders and met her eyes. “It’s ‘bout Eenie.” Again he fidgeted before saying the rest in a rush. “She stole something.”
Delia rose and moved to stand in front of Ben. Leaning down with a hand on his shoulder, she urged him to continue. “Tell me what she took.”
“Mr. Yarborough had a map. Eenie took it and is gonna get the treasure today.”
None of that made sense to her. Hearing the name of a dangerous man connected with her new daughter sent a chill through her. The driving need to rescue her child filled her.
“Do you know where she went?”
At Ben’s explanation, Delia groaned. She would have to ride a horse!
She scrawled a quick plea for help and handed it to Ben. “Take this to Sheriff Knight, please.” Some sense told her Eenie was in trouble and they’d need the sheriff.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who could speak with the birds. Since they flew around the town, they told her secrets. It was those secrets that got her into trouble.
The story her mother told her time and again flitted into Delia Perkins’s mind. The secrets got the girl into trouble. Or, maybe, the girl found the trouble herself by not minding her own business. She knew that had been the lesson her mother wanted Delia to learn years earlier.
Too bad her new daughter didn’t know the lesson. Perhaps then, Delia wouldn’t be tied to a chair in a supposedly abandoned cabin.
Voices murmured outside the ill-fitting door started her struggling again. She was thin—no slender, she reminded herself. As she’d wriggled, the chair twisted as if it meant to break. With the Lord’s blessing, that might happen. Then she could squirm until the ropes—
Suddenly, the door groaned and Delia heard a thump against it. Like an impatient giant had knocked on it. Oh no! Did she have giants to fight against now as well as rustlers?
Why did she ever take that silver star? She had been thrilled to have her first teaching job. It would have been sufficient excitement, surely.
But no. When the man collapsed, she had to reach out and accept the badge.
Secretly, she’d gladly repeated the oath he led her through. That led her to Rol which led her to rescuing their daughter. Could she really regret her new family?
At least she’d freed Eenie before the men caught her. When the line shack came into sight, she’d hidden her horse in a close stand of trees. Sneaking up to the lone window, she’d peered into the building. Eenie appeared very young as she sat tied up on the chair, crying pitifully.
Pushing up the window slowly, Delia winced at the noise it made. When no one came, she shimmied through it and held a finger to her lips when Eenie saw her. With flying fingers, she untied her daughter and boosted her through the window. “Run for the trees. The horse is there. Don’t wait too long for me. I