New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan (fun books to read for adults .TXT) 📕

“Maybe the roads are plowed,” I said.

“Hmph. They won’t have got out this far so early in the morning.”

As usual, Lucille was right. Snow lay thick on the road and the brightly coloured houses were muted under a heavy white trim. Plumes of smoke rose straight in the air from many of them. Abandoned cars lay buried under a thick white duvet.

The cold seeped through my boots, and it wasn’t long before I turned back towards Lucille’s. Nearing the path that led to the wharf, I heard shouting. Someone in a light blue coat ran towards me, hands waving in the air. It was Belinda.

“Miss,” she cried. “It’s Ruthie, Calvin’s dog. She’s trapped.”

I hurried down the path and we ran towards the wharf together. Twice I had to grab Belinda’s sleeve to catch my balance. As we reached the wharf, I saw the dog paddling frantically out in the bay between two large slabs of ice. Calvin was at the end of the wharf calling to her. When we arrived at his side, he latched on to me.

“Miss, can you save her?” His voice caught. “I tried twice to get out there, but the ice is breaking and I don’t know how to swim.”

Instinct kicked in and I ran to the steps that led from the side of the wharf to the frozen sea. Thankfully, someone had shovelled them.

“No, miss,” Belinda yelled. “It’s not safe.”

“We can’t just leave her,” I shouted back.

Belinda called out that I should wait and she’d go get help, but I was already at the bottom of the steps. The ice was windswept, and as I shuffled along, I could hear a crackling beneath me. I edged towards the dog, holding my breath, as if that would somehow make a difference.

“Rachel!” The cry cut through the cold air. “Get the hell back here!”

Doug was standing beside Calvin on the wharf.

“I’ll be right back,” I called.

Then Calvin shouted, “Good girl, Ruthie. Miss is coming to save you.”

I slid carefully over to where the ice ended and the open water began. I squatted down, making a clicking noise to try and coax Ruthie towards me. She paddled over, whining frantically. I grabbed her collar and tried to pull her out, but she was too heavy. She began thrashing about, her paws making the water churn.

I called her over again and tried to grab her around her torso, but my mittens slid right off her icy coat. She thrashed away from me, bleating now like a lamb.

“Come on, girl,” I crooned.

She splashed back again, her movements more frantic, her whining louder. I lay down on the ice and tried to pull her out, but again lost my grip. She drifted away, paddling more slowly now and quietly whimpering.

“Don’t give up, girl,” I pleaded, standing back up and looking around desperately.

“Miss, do something!” yelled Calvin.

I jumped in.

Doug screamed my name as the cold water hit me like a fist. Ruthie splashed over, paws scratching my face until I pushed her away. My hands were numb already, but I managed to grab her collar. She licked my face repeatedly.

I dragged her towards the hard ice, then treaded water, pushing up on her bottom. Her front paws clawed at the ice, bits of it rasping off. I was starting to lose the feeling in my legs. The only way I knew they were still moving was that I wasn’t going under.

Finally, with a sudden heave, Ruthie got purchase and scrambled jerkily out of the water. Then she shook herself violently, the freezing water hitting my face like bullets. Not that it mattered; I was up to my neck in it. Without a backwards glance, Ruthie charged across the ice in the direction of the wharf and Calvin.

I didn’t watch the reunion; instead, I concentrated on my own exit. I was used to hoisting myself out of swimming pools—it was a point of pride for me to never use the ladder. So when I pressed my sodden mittens into the ice, I expected to push myself out right away. But my arms wobbled, then gave way. I tried again, but it was no use.

My eyes darted to the wharf, where a crowd had gathered. A man in a red coat was gesturing wildly. Beside him was a bald man I knew to be a parent, though I couldn’t remember whose. I didn’t see Doug.

My breathing quickened as my predicament became clear. My coat was soaking wet and heavy; like Ruthie with her fur, it was dragging me down.

I shucked my mittens off, then clawed uselessly at my coat buttons. My fingers refused to work. I stretched my arms up onto the ice and flutter-kicked to try to get out. I was too bulky, too wet.

Back at the wharf, Doug was pushing through the crowd with a coil of rope slung over one shoulder. He clambered down the steps, followed by several men. Doug lay on his stomach and began elbowing his way across the ice, the others following. Eddie Churchill and Phonse were behind him. When Doug was about fifteen feet away, he stopped, as did the others. Then each of them grabbed the ankles of the man in front of them; all the way back to the wharf they formed a human chain.

Doug raised himself to a squatting position and threw the rope at me. It landed about a foot away.

“I can’t reach it,” I called, trying to keep calm.

He pulled it back towards him. The second time he threw it, the rope landed inches from me. I clawed at the ice but my fingers would not close around it. When I shook my head, there was shouting from the crowd on the wharf. Doug pulled the rope back and cinched the end of it around his waist. Eddie Churchill held the other end.

“Rachel!” Doug sounded hoarse. “I’m going to crawl over and pull you out, okay?”

I nodded, my teeth chattering. Doug inched over to me. His face was