Hattie Big Sky

Hattie reaches Perilee’s house and sees that the barn is on fire. The Muellers are outside, trying to douse the fire with buckets of water, and Hattie joins them. After a while, Karl stops them, saying it is too late. Chase falls to his knees, crying because they did not get Fawn out. Hattie asks how it started, and Perilee says that it was smoking when they got home. Karl spits, and Perilee explains that he thinks that the Council started the fire. Later, Hattie goes to her barn to milk Violet. She finds a smoldering bundle of hay in the barn and douses it with water. She realizes that Traft must have set the Mueller’s barn on fire and left the burnt hay as a warning to her.

The next morning, Hattie takes Violet to Perilee’s house and gives them the cow, telling them that they need milk for the children. Hattie suggests that they start making a quilt for the new baby. As they stitch together, Perilee tells Hattie about how she met Karl. She says that her previous husband drank heavily and abused her. Eventually, he left after giving her the limp that she now walks with. Karl started coming over to help her with the barn, and they fell in love. Perilee tells Hattie that it may be dangerous for her to be friends with them, but Hattie says that she will be over again to help Perilee with the quilt for the baby.

Hattie starts plowing the field with Plug. When Karl comes by, he offers to plow for her if he can harvest 20 acres for himself. Hattie visits Perilee to work on their quilt. Afterward, Perilee naps, and Hattie goes down to the river with the children while they skip rocks. She shows them how to toss a wishing stone over their shoulder like she used to do with Charlie. As they walk back, Hattie thinks about how she finally feels like she belongs somewhere. Suddenly, a herd of wild horses runs toward them. She tells the children to run while she stands her ground, ripping off her skirt and petticoats. Hattie waves her petticoats in the air and the stallion leading the herd gets spooked and guides the herd in a different direction. On Sunday, Perilee comes to church with Hattie. After the service, Reverend Tweed compliments Perilee’s singing voice and tells her to join the choir. However, Mrs. Martin overhears this and tells the pastor that they have enough members.

A few weeks later, Hattie walks to Vida with Leafie. Leafie explains that the Council broke up the German church the week before and fined the pastor for speaking German to the congregation. Leafie says that the worst thing that people can do when injustice happens is to stand by and watch. In Vida, Hattie goes to Mr. Nefzger’s store to pick up her mail. He tells her that Chester left a bill behind. He hands the IOU to Hattie, and she sees that it is for $220. As Hattie leaves the store, she runs into Traft. Traft asks her why she has been avoiding him, and she tells him that she knows that he set the fire at her house. Traft says that he was at her house to stop the fire, not start it. Later, Hattie walks home with Leafie, wondering how she will pay off her bills.

A week later, Hattie finishes her fence. Hattie visits Rooster Jim to tell him her news. He gives her a few of his hens and a rooster so that she will have eggs to eat. Hattie takes them home and secures her yard for the chickens. Later, Hattie reads a letter from Charlie, which states that their friend Harvey died in battle.

As Hattie and Leafie go to visit Perilee, Leafie suggests that they stop along the way to visit Mabel Ren, who has six children. As they walk, Hattie talks about how Chase stopped going to school after the incident with his book. At the Ren’s house, Mabel serves Leafie and Hattie coffee when they hear something outside. They see Elmer senior, Mabel’s husband, and their oldest child, Elmer junior, in the yard with Deputy Patton and another man. Deputy Patton tells Elmer senior that he must register for the draft, but Elmer refuses because he has a family and a farm to care for. The deputy and the other man grab Elmer senior and tie him to the back of their horses. As the men leave, Elmer junior runs after the horses. Elmer junior trips, and Leafie sees that he broke his arm. Later, Mabel informs everyone that Reverend Schatz will ask the community to donate toward Elmer senior’s bail so that he will be out of jail by the next day. As Leafie and Hattie leave for Perilee’s house, Hattie thinks about how easy it is to tell people to enlist for battle without understanding how it affects their families.

A few days later, Hattie plays chess with Rooster Jim. She thinks about how Elmer junior’s arm is healing and how they released Elmer senior from jail. She remembers how several members of the community have been arrested for making fun of the Liberty Bond poster and how Karl hardly ever leaves his farm because of the suspicion around anyone with German heritage. Hattie tells Jim that she worries about the crops because there has not been enough rain. One day, Hattie passes out in the fields from the heat. Traft sees Hattie faint and brings her water. After Hattie recovers, Traft offers to buy Hattie’s land, leaving her with $400 in profit because he wants to use the land to connect with his property so that he can run more cattle. He tells her that she can use the money to buy a house in town. Hattie considers this, but she turns down his offer. Traft gets angry and tells her that she might change her mind after harvest.