No light and no cry could reach through a storm that had

wild voices and an unnatural light of its own.

No one knew of the fluttering in her chest and the gone

feeling in her stomach when she had to meet them.

She would always be scared and she must never show it.

And for a minute or two, no one saw anything clear.

Then

The window was a white blur of madly swirling snow.

It went out as if someone had blown out a lamp.

Laura began to know how cold she was.

It changed everything.

The sky was so bright blue and the whole world was sparkling

white.

It was like the sun coming up at dawn.

From Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter