As Snowball grew, she won all of our hearts. She stayed close to me as if she knew that I was the one who had saved her life. She went with me to do my chores, carrying water, gathering wood or whatever I was doing. I remember the winter that Snowball had her puppies. She had six beautiful ones, and they were all healthy. She was a wonderful little mama, always taking good care of her puppies.

This winter would be one that I would never forget. As Lou and I were walking home from school one winter afternoon, the sky became dark and threatening. The cold winter wind sent a chill through our bodies as it whipped our long coats around our legs. Lou looked up at the sky and said, "Like Daddy always says, a northerner is blowing up over that mountain for sure." We pulled our coats closer around us and began to walk faster because we knew Mama would be worried about us. I was anxious to get home and check on Snowball and her puppies. I would have to bring them inside tonight because it would be too cold or them to stay in the barn.

Mama met us at the door and she said "I'm so glad that you girls are home.From the sound of that wind it's going to be a blizzard." Snowball

and her babies are fine, I had Ben bring them in from the barn. They are in a box over by the fireplace." Thank you Mama", I said. I was relieved that they were inside where they would be safe and warm.

The old house creaked and moaned as the fierce winter wind swirled around it..Old man winter designed the window panes, with patterns of ice and snow. Mama, Ben Russell, Lou and I hovered around the fireplace trying to keep warm. Mama said, your Daddy will have a hard time getting home from work in this storm. Ben said, "If he doesn't come home pretty soon I'll go look for him. But about that time we heard Daddy step upon the porch, kicking the snow off of his boots as came to the door. Ben opened the door and said "Hurry and get in here before you freeze to death.!" Daddy's overalls were frozen stiff and there were icicles on his cap and sleeves. Daddy said, "That's a northerner for sure." I looked at Lou and grinned, because we knew that's what he would say. Daddy said, "Glad you "younguns" have already carried in plenty of wood

and coal and wash water for your Mother." We had all worked like beavers getting ready for the storm. There was plenty of fuel for the fireplaces and several tubs of water in the kitchen.

After supper when all of our chores were done we settled in for the night. Snowball and her puppies were settled down in their box by the fireplace. I hung the new coat that Phyllis gave me over a nail on the wall above Snowball's box. Lou and I slept in the same room that Snowball and her puppies were in. Sometime around midnight, I was awakened by Snowball's barking and whining. She had jumped into my bed and was licking my face. When I looked up, to my horror the whole side of the wall was on fire! For a moment I felt that I was being smothered. I raised up and started screaming "Daddy, Daddy the house is on fire!" Lou and I jumped out of bed and Daddy took us out the back door, yelling at Mama and the boys,"Get out, the house is on fire.! Daddy and the boys put the fire out using the tubs of wash water that we had carried in that day.

It was a horrible night for all of us and Snowball too. Daddy couldn't save her puppies from burning up and she lost all six of them in the fire. She is my heroine, because if she had not awakened me that night we might all have burned in that house. When the fire had been extinguished we all went back into the house. Daddy paused inside the doorway, and with tear dimmed eyes, glanced across the room where Snowball's puppies had been sleeping. Mama sat down in a chair, twisting her long lean hands in her lap. Silence fell upon the big room broken ony by Snowball's mournful sounds. She mourned for her puppies several days, and there are still times when I grieve for her and her puppies. When the fire got low in the fireplace that night, she pulled the coat down in her box. I guess she was trying to keep her puppies warm. Daddy said the fire started with the coat. Some hot coals had rolled down on the hearth and when Snowball pulled the coat down the sleeve caught fire from the live coals. I've always regretted hanging that coat there. Phyllis gave me the coat so I would take Snowball home with me. Little did I know that my coat would bring about the death of her puppies and almost ours too.

We can never go back in time and take things out that we wished had never happened. Those things never leave you and forgetting is not a cure.

This story has been really hard for me to write. There are still times when I think about how brave she was and the price that she paid to save our lives. The End

I regret that this will be my last story due to illness in my family.

Detta