Hope is easy enough to find on a sunny day, when a person’s clothing is dry and her belly is full and the prospect of a good night’s rest lies ahead. It is much harder to keep that flame alight when autumn closes in and the rain falls in sheets, drenching every tree and bush and turning the ground to a treacherous quagmire. It is still more difficult when the wind gets up, chilling the air and sending every creature scurrying for what meager shelter it can find.
