Meadowlarks by Thomas Holladay (chapter books to read to 5 year olds TXT) 📕

meadow slammed into the front of her brain. “But, listen, since you called, I’d like to talk to you about something else.”

“Us, I hope?”

Yuk. What a jerk.

“Tom, please.”

“Okay, okay. What is it?”

“Well, there’s something going on up here. It’s happening on my land and I’m not comfortable with it, especially not with Jason. You remember what happened in L.A?”

“These gangs are springing up everywhere. You can’t escape it.”

“Not up here.”

A heavy thump against the entry door brought Carolyn to her feet and she dropped the phone. Barnabas slammed into the base of the door and raked the stone floor with his front claws, wanting desperately to get outside. Something had come onto the porch, the way Barnabas snarled and barked.

Lord, she’d forgotten the oak bar again, leaning against the corner.

Another heavy thump at the door gripped her with fear, unable to breathe.

Barnabas’s frenzy to get at it increased and his fearless assault on the door started her feet moving, already in the entry, both hands pressed against the door to keep it closed.

Jason slammed into the door, pushing with both hands. He looked up at her, tears flowing, terrified.

Barnabas clawed and snarled, desperate to protect his Jason.

The Baldwin doorknob popped off the door and skittered down the steps into the living room.

Something powerful pressed the door inward, vapors puffing through the crack, puffing like something laughing, something toying with them, something overwhelmingly powerful. It could come in any time it wanted.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, a terrible fear.

“Mommy, it’s too big.” Jason’s face stiffened with determination. Seeing his mother’s tears, he pushed all the harder.

Near the base of the door, a large, furry paw braced its long claws against the stone jamb and slowly leveraged the door inward.

Barnabas snarled, pounced, grabbed the foreleg with his powerful jaws and yanked.

The beast outside the door howled in pain and lifted Barnabas off the floor, slamming and bumping him, trying to pull free.

The dog braced his feet against jamb and door, suspended horizontally above the floor, holding tight. His powerful muscles bulged. His massive head jerked and twisted.

A crunch of bone, a twist of Barnabas’s head, and the door slammed shut.

An agonized howl hurt her ears and Carolyn lifted the heavy bar into place, not noticing the weight.

She pulled Jason into herself and both backed away from the door.

That thing outside scratched and clawed, still trying to get inside. It sounded angry, not laughing anymore.

With that heavy bar in place, nothing could get in, like Willis had promised.

Barnabas growled, pawed, and bumped at something furry near the base of the door.

“Barnabas, NO!” Jason grabbed his dog’s collar and pulled him away.

“Lord!” Carolyn froze at the sight of the bloody severed paw. Its long, sharp claws raked at the stone floor, blindly searching for something to grab.

Still alive!

She tossed the entry rug over it, wrapped it, picked it up and looked for a place to put it.

“Dear God.” It moved under the rug with power, trying to get at her. She rushed down the steps into the living room and put it up on the mantle, out of reach. She backed away and raked her hands on her jeans, trying to rub away that feeling of something moving, something powerful.

“God.” Are we safe here? Could they ever be safe here?

She suddenly felt very tired. She couldn't think about it anymore. She needed to sleep.

Jason tugged her elbow. “Mommy, what about the garage? Did you remember to bar the door down there?”

Chapter Thirteen

Early the next morning, after a quick breakfast of juice and cereal, Mom led Jason and Barnabas outside.

Sgt. Snowman had been trampled and peed on, a blend of yellow and red ice all over it from the animal that had tried to break into the house the night before.

What the heck?

Barnabas peed on the frozen blood and pee.

Mom pulled Jason toward the corner of the garage. “Well, let’s go find it.” They followed a trail of blood around the garage where it disappeared into the trees leading toward the upper meadow. "Let's take the horses." She turned back toward the barn.

Jason grabbed her hand. “You sure it’s dead?”

“Dead or alive, I’m sure the horses can outrun it.”

Mom climbed onto the stump John Crow had placed outside the barn, grabbed the key and opened the barn door, nice and warm inside. She said, “Anyway, it’s got to be in a weakened condition.”

Jason helped saddle and bridle the horses then gave the calf some corn feed and fresh water. It liked corn feed.

They climbed into their saddles inside the barn and rode the horses out, leaving the barn door open. Jason said, “Last night was the scariest ever."

"I’m still glad we saved that baby cow."

"Me too."

Mom said, "We should have listened to Willis and barred the door.”

Barnabas lifted his leg near the corner of the garage, peeing on frozen blood.

“Thank God for Barnabas. Your dog saved our lives.”

“Huh.”

“He sure was mad at that thing.”

“Barnabas isn’t afraid of anything.”

The dog sniffed snow and hurried up the trail through the trees.

Jason and Mom followed on horseback.

Barnabas stopped in the upper meadow, sniffing the air, sniffing at frozen blood, not so much of it up here.

The animal had created a new trail, not toward that flat rock. Jason and Mom's trail from last night led to the rock. This trail headed straight toward the waterfall, the path Willis always took. The blood stained trail of the creature ended at a pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

Jason had never come way up here before. He figured Mom hadn’t either.

Freezing mist from the waterfall had created icicles on the surrounding trees and rocks. Many hung over the pond.

Beautiful.

The stream flowed downhill through large boulders at the lower end of the pool, deep and dark. Jason could walk across to the other side but probably not Stoner, not with all this slippery ice.

Dandy and Stoner lowered their muzzles into the pool and drank.

Mom stood tall in her stirrups to look across the pool. “You see any sign