eyeballs that they’d cut out of their sockets. Nasty, brutish people. Avoid them if you can. Anyway, they had the girl but they were getting tired of her. They cut her tongue out to keep her quiet. They were more than happy to get rid of her. They had their fun, you know. She was damaged goods now. I was coming back from selling the horses I had because, you see, I was planning to never leave my bunker and to live straight off the land till I died. So, anyway, I saw this girl and saw an opportunity, a cheap one, mind you, to have a companion. I showed them a little money and they fairly threw the girl at me. But I should have known better after what they did to her. Let my desires get the best of me. She came up pregnant. A baby from one of those damn brutes. What can you do? They’re mine now. Got to work twice as hard to feed everybody.”
Nahum shook his head.
Joe felt sorry for the mute girl, but her story also made him think of Mary. After all, it involved an orphaned girl who was pregnant. He wondered again where Mary had come from and what happened to her. Was it possible that something similar happened to her? Had her family been killed? Had she been abused by some tribesmen? Was that how she got the baby?
“Eat!” Nahum shouted.
After replacing the lantern on the rafter, Nahum ladled out chunks of breadroot and strips of fish onto the tin plates spread on the table. The girls didn’t seem interested in eating. Mary sat down beside the mute girl, who had unbuttoned the top of her dress so it fell open. She held the bundled baby up at an angle with one arm, propping its head against her chest, while Mary leaned over to get a closer look at the suckling baby.
“Who knows what kind of savage that thing is going to grow up to be? I should’ve dashed its head on a rock and tossed it in the river like I first thought I was going to do. But the girl seemed so attached to it. I couldn’t bring myself to kill it. I got a soft heart, I guess. Who knows what kind of hell that’s going to get me into? Dig in.”
Nahum plunked himself down at the table and shoveled spoonfuls of food into his chomping mouth.
“How’s it taste?”
“Good,” Joe said. That was the truth.
“It’s cactasil. I grow it in my garden near the well. It makes everything taste good.”
When Joe finished his food, he brought a plateful over to Mary.
“You got to eat,” he said.
She took the plate and scooped some up in the spoon and slipped it beneath the brim of her hat.
After supper, the burrow filled with a smoky haze that became so suffocating Joe had to open the hatch to let some air in and some smoke out. But it didn’t seem to bother Nahum, who breathed smoke like others breathed air. At the mouth of the burrow, Joe sucked in the fresh night air and looked into the sky. It was teeming with glittering stars that appeared like falling snow caught in the glow of lantern light.
They had to get back to the wagon soon, he thought. He was worried about somebody finding it and stealing the diesel. Their bellies were stuffed , and they had two jugs of water and another empty bucket that Nahum gave them.
So when Nahum finally went to sleep, Joe and Mary snuck away.
Chapter 13
Through the night they traveled northward along the contours of the river. The banks glowed from the bright moonlight and the dark water shimmered. An edge of Mary’s floppy hat glimmered from a bit of moonlight that shone into the cab. All was quiet except the creak of the wagon and the cl ip-clop of Lester and Sam’s hooves.
Joe didn’t want to spend the whole night in silence. He tried once again to get Mary to talk to him.
“How about that old man?” he said. “Kind of crazy, huh?”
What he really wanted to ask her was about Nahum’s story. Was it anything like her story? Mary wouldn’t answer, though, so there was no point in that.
“And how about that baby?”
Mary turned her head.
Nahum shook his head.
Joe felt sorry for the mute girl, but her story also made him think of Mary. After all, it involved an orphaned girl who was pregnant. He wondered again where Mary had come from and what happened to her. Was it possible that something similar happened to her? Had her family been killed? Had she been abused by some tribesmen? Was that how she got the baby?
“Eat!” Nahum shouted.
After replacing the lantern on the rafter, Nahum ladled out chunks of breadroot and strips of fish onto the tin plates spread on the table. The girls didn’t seem interested in eating. Mary sat down beside the mute girl, who had unbuttoned the top of her dress so it fell open. She held the bundled baby up at an angle with one arm, propping its head against her chest, while Mary leaned over to get a closer look at the suckling baby.
“Who knows what kind of savage that thing is going to grow up to be? I should’ve dashed its head on a rock and tossed it in the river like I first thought I was going to do. But the girl seemed so attached to it. I couldn’t bring myself to kill it. I got a soft heart, I guess. Who knows what kind of hell that’s going to get me into? Dig in.”
Nahum plunked himself down at the table and shoveled spoonfuls of food into his chomping mouth.
“How’s it taste?”
“Good,” Joe said. That was the truth.
“It’s cactasil. I grow it in my garden near the well. It makes everything taste good.”
When Joe finished his food, he brought a plateful over to Mary.
“You got to eat,” he said.
She took the plate and scooped some up in the spoon and slipped it beneath the brim of her hat.
After supper, the burrow filled with a smoky haze that became so suffocating Joe had to open the hatch to let some air in and some smoke out. But it didn’t seem to bother Nahum, who breathed smoke like others breathed air. At the mouth of the burrow, Joe sucked in the fresh night air and looked into the sky. It was teeming with glittering stars that appeared like falling snow caught in the glow of lantern light.
They had to get back to the wagon soon, he thought. He was worried about somebody finding it and stealing the diesel. Their bellies were stuffed , and they had two jugs of water and another empty bucket that Nahum gave them.
So when Nahum finally went to sleep, Joe and Mary snuck away.
Chapter 13
Through the night they traveled northward along the contours of the river. The banks glowed from the bright moonlight and the dark water shimmered. An edge of Mary’s floppy hat glimmered from a bit of moonlight that shone into the cab. All was quiet except the creak of the wagon and the cl ip-clop of Lester and Sam’s hooves.
Joe didn’t want to spend the whole night in silence. He tried once again to get Mary to talk to him.
“How about that old man?” he said. “Kind of crazy, huh?”
What he really wanted to ask her was about Nahum’s story. Was it anything like her story? Mary wouldn’t answer, though, so there was no point in that.
“And how about that baby?”
Mary turned her head.
Similar Books
