It had rained hard, really hard all night long and most of the day before, the huge piles of snow that some kind person had shoveled off Ivy's sidewalks, had almost vanished. Someone had even cleaned off her car after each of the storms. Storms came one after the other this year. making it very hard for her to get out and run errands or shop. Spring was beginning to win out over winter at last.
The old cottage had been built over a spring, there was a large cement trough in the basement which was once used to keep the milk from Grandpa Dawson's small heard of cows cold. You could now hear the sound of running water in almost every room in the house. Ivy was in the kitchen scrubbing the saucepan she had used to make some pudding from scratch. She stood at the sink looking down the hill to the stream where she could also see that the water was rising. Most of the the year it was scarcely more that a thin rill. There was a bridge across the little creek, it had been there for as long as she could remember, some years it would be washed away, Gus Nelson who had bought most of the old farm, would rebuild it each time. Gus was probably 80 or more years old now, so his daughter ran the farm, but he still drove the tractor and did what he could.
The sun was sinking low and Ivy was thinking about the daffodils that would bloom along the stream very soon, wondering about who had planted them, or if indeed anyone had. The very hardy bulbs could have been washed downstream and planted themselves there during an long ago Spring flood. Spring was indeed coming,but not soon enough to suit Ivy. She put on her thick socks and slippers and headed up the stairs to her chair near the attic window. Drawing the blanket around her, she turned on her lantern.
Snow was beginning to fall, just a few large flakes at first, as people began to appear at their windows and wave at one another. Ivy sat curled in her chair enjoying the falling snow. thinking to herself, how much she would like to find out who it was that cleaned the walks and swept off her car
