Peggy P. Freeman - The Coldest Day in Texas (Chaparral Book)

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title	:	The Coldest Day in Texas Chaparral Book for Young Readers
author	:	Freeman, Peggy.
publisher	:	Texas Christian University Press
isbn10 | asin	:	0875651690
print isbn13	:	9780875651699
ebook isbn13	:	9780585224657
language	:	English
subject	Texas--Fiction, Fires--Fiction, Blizzards--Fiction, Death--Fiction, Twins--Fiction, Sisters--Fiction.
publication date	:	1997
lcc	:	PZ7.F876Co 1997eb
ddc	:	813
subject	:	Texas--Fiction, Fires--Fiction, Blizzards--Fiction, Death--Fiction, Twins--Fiction, Sisters--Fiction.

Page i The Coldest Day in Texas Peggy Purser Freeman A Chaparral Book for Young Readers Texas Christian University Press Fort Worth

Page ii Copyright 1996 by Peggy Purser Freeman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Freeman, Peggy (Peggy P.) The coldest day in Texas / by Peggy Freeman p. cm. (A Chaparral book) Summary: In 1899, as prairie fires rage through the Texas Panhandle, twelve year-old Shyanne struggles with her guilt over the death of her twin sister Shenandoah in a blizzard the previous winter and her crush on the most popular boy in class. ISBN 0-87565-169-0 (alk. paper) [1. TexasFiction. 2. FiresFiction. 3. BlizzardsFiction. 4. Death Fiction. 5. TwinsFiction. 6. SistersFiction 7. FiresFiction] I. Title. PZ7.F876Ca 1997 [Fic]dc20 96-26823 CIP AC Design by Margie Adkins Cover painting by Don Punchatz

Page iii Dedication In memory of my sister, Ouida Purser Eiland, who led me to the altar of the First Methodist Church in Tulia, where we found unconditional love; to our mom, Sylvia Elam Purser, who taught us to hope; and to the people of Swisher County, who gave us the courage to follow our dreams.

Page iv Acknowledgements Special thanks to the editors of Windmilling, a history of Swisher County, for their labor in preserving county history. Thanks to all my critique partners, my sister, Ruth Sims, and other friends who have shared their knowledge so willingly. Last and most important, thanks to my husband, Dickey, and my best friendsmy daughters, Stephanie Nance and Cynthia Freeman.

Page 1 Chapter One The coldest day in Texas was also the day I found out I was in love with Josh Paul Younger, just like every other sappy, twelve-year-old girl who lived in Swisher County in the Texas Panhandle. And it was the day I lost my best friend, my twin sister, Shenandoah Jones. The Texas Almanac recorded February 12, 1899, as the coldest day in Texas history. It was Josh Paul's favorite saying, "The coldest day in Texas." He would ride up to the school, slide off Feller's back and say, "That horse is meaner than the coldest day in Texas." Later, you could hear him mumbling as he left school, "This has been the worst day, worse than the coldest day in Texas.'' In the summertime, Josh Paul just changed cold to hot and started all over. A week before Valentine's Day, I felt like I was coming down with the croup. Shenandoah had had it the week before, but she caught everything. Doc Anderson said she suffered with a conditiona weak heart formed when she and I were still in Mama's stomach. I knew I had to be coming down with some kind of sickness. That morning, when I accidentally touched Josh Paul's hand as we watered the teacher's little pine tree planted next to the school, my knees felt all weak and funny. Furthermore, at lunch time, I sat down on the bench by him and Shenandoah, and I couldn't swallow a bite of my bacon-and-biscuit-soaked-in-molasses sandwich. "The croup," I assured myself. Our brothers, Augusta, Jackson, Murfrees, Russell and Shawnee had coughed for a week. Each of us were named after a place Mama and Papa had lived.

Page 2 Like a map, our names stretched from Virginia to Texas. Right after lunch, in the middle of geography, I looked at Josh Paul and he, of course, was staring at my sister. Shenandoah was the most beautiful girl in Swisher County. Her blond hair curled down her back in natural ringlets, while mine could be rolled in rags for a month of Sundays and not have one wave. Even her name sounded as if it came out of a fancy magazine. Mine, Shiloh Anne, was disgusting! Mama said if people talked to me when I was little, I'd hide behind Shenandoah and blush. I got stuck with Shyanne for a nickname. Completely disgusting! Shenandoah looked at Josh Paul and smiled her sweetest smile, as wide and pure as the panhandle's horizon. I leaned my chin on my hands and glanced down at my skinny arms. My hair, not blond and not brown, but a muddy mixture of both, drooped down on my shoulders and fell to the desk before me. My sister was nice. Mama said I could cause the Archangel himself to spout a stream of cuss words, but not even I could pick a fight with Shenandoah. Miss Gibson, standing with her back to the window, was talking about something I probably needed to hear, but I knew Shenandoah would remember and repeat it tonight at supper. "What do you think agriculture is, Shiloh?" Miss Gibson's voice floated by my ears, but her all-knowing look landed right between my hazel eyes. I thought about the spanking I would get if Papa found out I was daydreaming again. One thing I liked about the Panhandle was the lack of trees. It meant fewer switches. Sometimes Papa made me pick up prairie coalcow chips, for the fireinstead of spanking me. Picking up prairie coal was worse than a spanking. I moaned my favorite swear word under my breath. "Oh, cow manure!" "That's right, Shiloh." Miss Gibson smiled at me.

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