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The jug felt cool in her hands, though she are that her fingers left rasped it She wiped her hand on her skirt, hue that hardly helped On the outside of the jug, where the handle was attached, a single strand of hair was held captive by the dampness

Nola collected hairs She couldn't help herself, couldn't let theesture too sht up the hair - short and black, it belonged to the ertip

With a glance at her , satisfying gulp of the cool water She handed the jug to her

"Thank you," Nola repeated,back to the man after her mother had had her fill She assumed he would make his way down the path to where his brother's wife and children also picked berries

But, "Finish it," the hter eet another jug-ful for his brother's faht tickled at her mind that he had come to her and her mother first, rather than to his kinfolk

"Cool yourself down," he suggested "Pour it over your shoulders" But though he said shoulders, it wasn't her shoulders he was staring at

At which point Nola decided that regardless of who had originally said it - her mother or her father - she also did not like the way thisat her

"Not necessary," she told hi back

"It's so I've seen the women in the fields do," he told her "They pour water on their hands chen run their hands" He indicated an area of bare skin definitely below shoulder level

"Ah!" Nola said "No doubt a trick you learned from your wife" She had seen the wife, who had been the one to answer the door when Nola and herwork: a coed from their few moments' acquaintance, who put on airs

Now the woed "And froh obviously he wasn't interested in whether his sister-in-law stayed cool or overheated today "And others Why don't you come over to the shade of the peach tree? Lie down Rest" His voice was calm and rational, and there was no reason to suspect he meant more than he said, exceptExcept that Nola did

The man continued, "The tree can't be seen from the house My wife is a hard woman ould work you to death She never needs to know" He ran his tongue over the lip of the jug at the spot from where Nola had drunk

"Please," Nola said If she left now, all the work that she and her

The h to say he had no idea what she was asking

"I don't want any trouble," Nola said She could try istrate, but how likely was he to believe her? She i, Nobody here knowsfor this man, and then we had to leave without payment because he wouldn't let me be Maybe the sister-in-law - if he had paid unwanted attention to her - would back her story with experience of her own But maybe the attention wasn't unwanted in the sister-in-law's case, or ainst her kinsht of the state of her hair and clothes She could i, This man is a respected member of our coistrate would say? She and her mother would never seek him out They couldn't afford the attention

The hly, sure she wouldn't resist "Coive her h her htly, huave ood advice"

She kicked the , which shattered when it hit the ground She could hear hi behind her, but louder, closer, she could hear herup as Nola ran out from between the bushes, cut across the corner of a fallow field, and leaped over a short stone fence onto the road

"Your father says to tell you, 'Well done!'" her mother said Then she turned back and shouted co theFenuku says to tell you" She hoisted up her skirt and pointed her rear end in his direction

"You crazy old witch!" the h he showed no inclination to follow "You're both crazy witches!" He must have realized then that he would have to find an excuse to give his wife "And you oweyou broke!"

"Turn him into a toad, Nola!" her mother crowed "Turn hi they were too far away for the ot her disappointed, sulky expression "He'd only look like a toad," she h that wouldn't count "And it would only last a day"

"Enough," Nola warned A five-foot-tall toad How likely was that to go unnoticed?

The day couldn't get any worse, Nola thought as she started walking

But of course it could

Chapter Two

WALKING FROM NOON till evening, Nola and her mother ended up in a town called Haymarket It seemed a prosperous place, but apparently every hos running san to think they ht end the day with no supper No shelter, either

"We'll ask as far as the end of this street," Nola told her mother, whichhere" She was too weary to finish and just waved vaguely toward the setting sun They'd seen a barn earlier The fact that the barn looked ready to fell down didn'tto let thehtfall and not bother to ask per her left ar tired"

"Just" Nola didn't kno to finish the thought Don't let the baby cry? Don't say anything about the baby where people can hear? Don't do anything co ruin whatever small chance we have?

She knocked on the door Probably not loud enough, she realized Most likely she'd need to su woht have been the sae as Nola - but she had the look of sos like that she would most probably eat that day, and the next, and that she would sleep with a roof overhead, and that her et the two of the witches

"I," Nola started But she'd lost track of what it was she had been going to say

The young wo for work?"

Or a meal Or a corner co sleep in - warmth and dryness welcome, but not expected

Nola nodded her head But then - since she knehat the ansould be - she turned to leave