The Devil's Work
233 Words
Three little girls sat in a circle playing with their corn husk dolls near the Raft River in Idaho. They had bravely passed American Falls, Register Rock, and Coldwater Hill. After leaving the Snake River they would follow the Raft River for over 60 miles to the southwest.
All sisters, the girls had long dark hair and freckles under golden brown eyes. They were all very close in age.
The short wagon train trudged through the City of Rocks with its huge Granite boulders, north of The Great Salt Lake Desert, to Granite Pass on the California Trail. The trail turned SW to find Goos Creek, Little Goose Creek, and Rock Spring Creek. Over 90 miles the group migrated through the Thousand Springs Valley, West Brush Creek, and Willow Creek, before finding the Humboldt River.
On the banks of the Humboldt, one of the little girls was fading from fever and one had died as they arrived. The third little girl hugged her doll and watched her father dig graves for her sisters. Her four brothers wouldn't be as fun to play with.
She was only four and didn't understand much about death, except it meant they weren't coming back.
Her mother, in a black bonnet that seemed new, came and gave her the task of finding flowers for their graves. It was best to keep busy. Idle hands were the Devil's work.
- Writer
