Chapter 19
By the time Ms. Blevins thought to distribute boxes of maple candy to keep the children quiet and distracted, they were as ready as they could get.
The tree maintenance wall was nearly empty, with even the palm-sized spiles that normally drained sap out of the maple trees rounded up and shared around. Not nearly as sharp as the cutting tools, but Iris had nicked her winter-chilled fingers on the spouts and hooks more than enough to know they’d do some kind of damage.
Someone, Iris wasn’t sure who, had taken the time to find an old gray tarp and used it to keep the kids from seeing what had really happened in the warehouse earlier. Someone else had jammed a long screwdriver through the chains that raised the warehouse door, keeping it from moving more than a few inches no matt
