The Snow Child

It is May, and Jack knows the time has come to work the farm. The thawed ground needs to be sown. Jack checks Faina’s hut but finds no signs of occupancy. Amid the shack’s scatterings, he finds a black-and-white photo of a couple, most likely Faina’s parents. As he steps into the spring morning, he understands the girl is gone.

The next day when Jack does not return from working the fields, Mabel begins to worry. When yet another day passes, Mabel heads out to search for him. She finds him flat on his back—a bear had spooked his horse and he had been thrown. He can barely move. He fears his back may be broken. Mabel struggles to get Jack back to their cabin. A prolonged recuperation could doom the farm. She rides into Alpine for help. With the nearest doctor 800 miles away in Anchorage, a distraught Mabel is given only homemade whiskey and laudanum to help Jack.

Weeks into spring, Mabel is scared. No crops have been planted. Her husband is bedridden. When George Benson stops by, he surmises the gravity of the situation. That afternoon George, Esther, and Garrett arrive with bedrolls in tow.