The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

me helping Fred. More chores, then dinner. Susan would read out loud while
she massaged my bad foot, and then we went to sleep under the mountain of
blankets Susan had piled on our bed.
Susan looked horrified when the first chilblains appeared on my bad foot. I
shrugged. “I always get them,” I said. She shook her head at me and consulted
Fred. He found a piece of stout leather meant for tack repair, and together he
and Susan designed a sort of boot. I stepped my bad foot into it and buttoned
it up the side. It was loose, so I could wear extra stockings, and Fred oiled it
until it stayed dry even in wet mushy snow. That kept the chilblains from
getting worse. They didn’t heal, however, which distressed Susan.
“I don’t know why,” I said. “They’re not bad.”
“They must hurt,” she said. I shrugged. They did, and the itching
sometimes kept me awake nights, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
“My foot always hurts,” I said. “I always get chilblains in winter.” Usually
I got them on my hands as well.
“Next winter,” Susan said, “we’ll stop them before they get started. There
must be some way.”
I looked at her. “Will I be here next winter?”
She said, “It’s starting to look that way. The war’s not going anywhere.”
She bought goose grease in the village and rubbed it on my sores.
Stephen’s colonel invited me for tea again and this time I went. The winter
was so bleak I was glad to have something different to do, and, anyway, I
wasn’t as afraid of things as I had been.
The colonel wore several cardigans layered over his waistcoat, even
though his parlor was warm. He presided very grandly over a tea table set
with scones and small ham sandwiches. “My dear,” he said happily, “we’ve
saved up our butter ration for you.”
They had. They had a whole little dish of butter along with jam for the
scones. “Thank you,” I said.
“Take plenty,” he urged.
I took a tiny sliver.
“More than that,” he ordered, as though he could see me.
I laughed. Stephen said, “She’s got loads, don’t worry,” and after that it
was easy to relax and eat.