I came over to the wood-burning stove. I didn't have long before there was no light left. I knew I was out of luck if I needed to make fire, but to my good fortune, there was a small stack of matches on top of it. I opened the kiln under the top. There was no wood.

I headed outside and grabbed several logs before bringing them back in. By the time I got them all in, there was no light left. Abby was digging through my pack in the dark, pulling out some papers. We stuck them under the wood and used them as tinder. I struck the match,...