Seeds of Time by K. C. Dyer Page B

all we had to pay for the burial of my sister,” she wept. “They would not allow her to be buried on sanctified ground, and my husband had to pay a man to bury her in a field.”
    â€œDo you know how dangerous this disease is to you?” Darrell asked.
    Maggie nodded. “The sickness has taken all,” she said, despairingly. “We are in God’s hands now.”
    Darrell shook her head. “I think I can help you. I have some knowledge that I learned when I was — ah — abroad. This disease is transmitted by fleas on rats and people. When the people get sick, it goes into their lungs. They cough and that can make others ill, too. If you want to keep well,” she continued, “you must stay far away from those who are sick. Do you have somewhere else you can go, to a place in the country, perhaps, where the illness has not made its way, yet?”
    Luke spoke up. “Father’s family is from the north-ernmost part of the Highlands, far from here. It is a journey of many days, perhaps weeks, but we would be welcome there.”

    â€œThen you must go,” said Darrell firmly. “And when you get there, you must keep the house very clean.” She gestured at the floor. “You have to get rid of rushes like these on the floor. When food and crumbs fall in here, it draws rats.” She looked doubtfully at the clothes Maggie and Luke were wearing.
    â€œMaggie, you must try to keep your family’s bodies clean. You must try to bathe in a stream or tub every day, and scrub away the lice and insects that live in your clothes or on your skin.”
    Maggie looked startled. She looked at Luke in some confusion. He turned to Darrell to try to explain.
    â€œYe must understand that clothing is very expensive and that our father is only a poor fisherman. When the weather gets cool, our mother takes our underclothes and sews them in place. We wear them for the whole winter: when we sleep, for warmth, and when we rise, under our outer clothing.”
    Darrell turned to Luke impatiently. “You must listen to me. This is why so many people are dying. This plague has made its way from somewhere in China on ships to devastate all of Europe. The disease is borne in the bloodstream of fleas that live on the bodies of rats. The rats run from ship to shore and spread the illness when the fleas jump onto humans.”
    Luke looked despairing. “This is a port village. The rats run everywhere, here. Ye saw them yerselfthis afternoon.”
    Darrell spoke firmly. “All the more reason to go to the north. It is away from the water, and if the disease has reached the area, you can keep it out of the home of your relatives by keeping rats and fleas to a minimum, and trying to keep your bodies free of dirt and insects.”
    Maggie stood up and placed the sleeping Rose into her small cradle. She turned to look at Darrell and Luke, and her eyes flashed.
    â€œThis angel from Arisaig has been sent to us by my beloved sister. These are strange ideas she brings, but I believe her. We will leave word for yer father to seek us with his family in the north. We will leave tomorrow.” She looked around. “Ye spoke truly, Dara. There is nothing left for us here.”
    She turned to Darrell and hugged her gently, and this time there were no tears in her eyes.
    â€œYe have given me hope,
mo cridhe
,” Maggie whispered, “and that is more than I have had in a very long time.”
    Luke made a bed for Darrell on a bench after the two of them had spent more than an hour first sweeping and then washing the floor clean. Delaney curled up on the floor beside her and dozed by the fire. Darrell slept little that night, her thoughts whirling through her head. The next day, she helped the family pack a small cart with their belongings. As the afternoon woreon, she said goodbye to Maggie with hope that she and her children would survive where others had not.
    As Luke finished