Bright Star stood out in the fields, and, through an unheard signal, Yucca’s Shadow came bounding towards her.

“Hey, Yucca’s Shadow,” Bright Star fondled the old dog’s ears, “you know you shouldn’t go off like that!

“Yucca’s Shadow’s time is limited, John,” she said to her adopted brother, “and I think the time is within the year.”

“Bright Star! John!” Reverend Paulson called from the house.

Bright Star and John stood and raced each other to the house although Bright Star beat him and both knew that she would before the race started.

“I need to go on a trip to Ohio. Either of you wanna come?” Reverend Paulson asked.

“I’ll miss school and I wanna go to the university,” John shook his head.

“Bright Star?”

“I’ll do it,” Bright Star nodded.

“Alright. I’m just subbing there for one Sabbath and then we’ll be back,” Reverend Paulson smiled.

He had been fired a year ago and now pastored the church a few miles south. But he sometimes went on trips all over the place.

“May Yucca’s Shadow come?” Bright Star asked.

“I suppose she could,” Reverend Paulson laughed. “You are determined to spend as much time as possible with that dog before she dies!”

Bright Star just smiled and ran in to pack. She traveled light, calling it a “habit.”

She proceeded to pack some changes of clothes and, without Bright Sun seeing it, her newly made quiver. She had a foreboding about this trip, one of the reasons she had decided to come along.

Morning came but Bright Star hadn’t gotten much sleep. They said their good-byes and left, just like she’d done countless times before.

Nothing’s gonna happen, she told herself. We’ve made trips like this before. It is N-O-T-H-I-N-G, nothing.

And yet she couldn’t shake the feeling.

Reverend Paulson and she chatted on the way. Soon, they reached the town.

“We’ll check out the church first,” Reverend Paulson said, “then we’ll find somewhere to stay.”

“Sounds good,” she nodded.

Reverend Paulson went in, and ten minutes later he came back out.

“We’re in luck,” he said. “There’s a small house just outside town for us.”

Bright Star nodded, feeling antsy.

The mares trotted out of town back the way they’d come and they were soon into the quiet countryside that Bright Star knew and loved.

“Pa, look!” she shouted, spotting a small, clean house beside the river. “That must be it!”

“It’s in the right place,” Reverend Paulson shrugged.

They went in and started unpacking. As soon as they were finished, they went to bed, Yucca’s Shadow outside the door. But, in the middle of the night, Bright Star awoke to the sound of growls, barks, and whining. She quickly bolted for her pack and found her quiver.

“Pa!” she hissed. “Pa! Something is going on.”

She strung an arrow in the bow and kicked the door open, hitting a stray dog in the jaw. It ran away. Reverend Paulson was at her side now. Yucca’s Shadow was facing a pack of strays. There were trails of blood where injured ones had run off. Finally, after defeating all the others, Yucca’s Shadow was locked in combat with the leader.

“Shoot him, Bright Star, shoot him!” Reverend Paulson urged.

But they were rolling back and forth on the ground and Bright Star couldn’t bare to accidentally hit Yucca’s Shadow!

“Shoot!”

Bright Star aimed carefully and shot, then closed her eyes and ran back in, not wanting to see which her arrow had picked out. If she had shot Yucca’s Shadow…

She went to bed, exhausted. In the morning, Reverend Paulson informed her that she had saved Yucca’s Shadow’s life.

Yucca’s Shadow did die a few months later and Bright Star swore she’d never get another dog again like she had gotten Yucca and Yucca’s Shadow, by stealing them.

Bright Star hadn’t considered a career yet. Bright Sun thought she might like to be a midwife; John wanted to teach French. Bright Star didn’t want to marry but wanted to do something exciting. But she’d worry about that later. As she got older, she wondered what her family was like. Did she have any siblings? If so, how old were they? Were her parents still alive? Did she have just a father, just a mother, or both? Or neither? Did she have any family left?

Annie and Reverend Paulson finally told the 3 that they were considering going on the Oregon Trail. Miss Wilson gave Bright Star a flyer for a horse race coming up in a month! John and Bright Sun dived head-first into their careers (or to-be careers), and Bright Star got busy training Black Night.

Life was happening fast. The horse race was in just a month, but, in Bright Star’s life, she had learned that a lot could happen in a month.