A Dream for Hannah by Jerry S. Eicher Page A

come. She chanted the thought to herself but couldn’t move herself away from the window. If Peter was out there, she wanted to see him. Surely he would be smart enough to avoid the dog. He was Peter, after all.
    Hannah listened while the bark moved from the back of the barn to the front and then stopped. The silence was followed by a few short yaps. Nothing more happened. On the horizon the moon had slipped upward until it cleared the tree line. The warm glow of the moonlight revealed no signs of movement. She listened for long moments and then knew it was time to get to bed. Peter or no Peter, the morning would come quickly enough. Slowly she closed the window.
    But the thoughts wouldn’t stop. Even in bed with the covers tight under her chin, they toyed with her mind. What had the noise been? Would Shep bark over nothing? What if it was Peter, and he got chased away? Now he’d never come back. But what if he did actually come to the window? Would she let him in? Hannah shivered again. I can’t think like this! Stop it. Stop it. It’s so wrong, and I have to be a good girl.
    With her eyes on the window and the moon’s glow soon bright in the sky, Hannah drifted off to sleep.
    At breakfast the next morning, her mom brought up the subject. “I wonder what Shep was barking about last night.”
    “I heard it too,” her dad said. “It was probably one of the cows running around. The barking came from the barn.”
    “Was one out?” Kathy asked.
    “I saw nothing while doing the chores,” Roy said. “They are all accounted for. Did you see anything missing, Isaac?”
    Isaac shook his head sleepily, apparently unwilling to make words this early in the morning.
    “That’s strange.” Kathy glanced at Hannah. “Did you see anything? You’re often up later than the others.”
    “I heard Shep barking,” Hannah said and kept any emotion out of her voice. She had seen nothing, but they would not take it lightly if they knew who she thought it might have been.
    Kathy glanced at her again. “Did you hear anything else?”
    “Some noises on the side of the house,” she said in the same tone of voice. “Then a bong and a ping.”
    “Well, that could be anything,” Kathy said.
    “That was probably a limb of that old tree brushing against the side of the house,” Roy added. “I need to cut that limb off before it falls onto the house.”
    Hannah almost said, “No, don’t cut it down,” but caught herself in time.
    “You had better not cut it yet, at least not right away,” Kathy said. “The children like to climb around on the thing.”
    Hannah took a deep breath of relief and then said quickly, “Yes, it’s real good to climb up on the roof with. Isaac still likes to use it.”
    Isaac didn’t say anything.
    “I don’t know,” Roy said. “You shouldn’t be climbing around on the roof anyway. The limb could be a danger to the house during one of those wind storms. I think it needs to go.”
    “Whatever you think,” Kathy acquiesced quickly.
    Hannah said nothing. She figured there was no use, and besides her dad wouldn’t get to the project right away. Perhaps Peter would come before that. Then she remembered and reversed her thinking. I don’t want him to come. I don’t want him to come. Those two trains of thought could sure confuse a person.

     
    The next night the moon rose a little sooner and lit up the yard with its glow. Hannah stood by the window, unable to leave her post. The two thoughts in her mind chased each other around. He’s not coming, she told herself. It’s much too light. If he does come and Shep chases him, Dad might catch him. I wonder if he likes me enough to come anyway. The thought caught her fancy. What if he wants to see me so much that he comes charging across the yard even if the moon is shining? What if he chases Shep away? Does he like me that much? Wouldn’t that be something?
    Finally she knew that if he did come, she would climb out the window with him. There