"Get the towels," Eli ordered, his voice tight. "Wet them! Put them under the door and on the window sills. "Hurry," Maggie scrambled to obey. She pumped water into a basin, soaked the rags she used for cleaning, and ran to the cracks where the dust was already spurting in like dark smoke.
The air in the room was instantly thick, tasting of copper and old earth. She coughed, holding her apron over her nose. Eli was pushing a heavy chest of drawers against the north door. He looked at her, his face streaked with a fine powder that seemed to materialize out of thin air. "Are you all right? " he asked.
I think so," she coughed. "How long will it last? Hours? Maybe a day? We just have to wait. " They sat on the floor in the center of the room, away from the windows.
The lamp Eli lit cast a dim, hazy halo in the dust choked air. It was hot. The house, sealed up tight, began to bake. They sat in silence for a long time. The roar outside made talking difficult, but the silence between them was louder.
Maggie was acutely aware of him. He was sitting with his back against the table leg, one knee drawn up. He looked powerful and trapped like a wolf in a cage. "Thank you," she said, her voice muffled by the cloth she held to her face. "For coming to get me. " Eli looked at her.
His eyes were the only clear thing in the room. You would have been lost in 10 ft. A man can drown in dust just as easy as water. They sat like that as the afternoon wore on into evening. The light failed completely, leaving them in the absolute dark of the storm, save for the flickering lamp.
The wind howled, a demonic sound that seemed to have a voice. As night fell, the temperature plummeted. It was a peculiarity of the high plains. The heat vanished with the sun, and the wind driving down from the peaks turned bitter. The house, usually drafty, was now a tomb of cold air that seeped through the floorboards despite their efforts.
Eli stood up and fed the last of the wood into the stove, but the wind was sucking the heat right out of the chimney. He shivered. "I will sleep here," he said, gesturing to the braided rug near the stove. "It is the warmest spot. " Maggie looked at the rug. It was thin.
The floorboards were freezing. You cannot sleep on the floor, Eli. It is freezing. I have slept in snowbanks. Maggie, I will be fine.
He lay down, pulling his coat over him. He turned his back to her. Maggie went into the bedroom. It was like an ice box. She could see her breath in the lamplight.
She crawled under the heavy quilt, shivering violently. She lay there for 10 minutes, her teeth chattering, thinking of the man in the other room. He was stubborn. He was a fool. and he was her husband. She threw back the covers and walked to the door.