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"Are the geese for our supper tonight, then?" he asked, squatting to poke through the discarded pile of ht have a clean shirt somewhere, but with the Chisholed here in the Wes were No sense to put on soo and e before supper

"Uh-huh Mrs Bug has half a hog barbecuing in a pit outside for toh, and she wanted to use theuys would be ho up the saoose?" he asked She looked down at him, with an odd expression

"I’ve never eaten one," she answered "Roger?"

"Aye?"

"I was just wondering I wanted to ask if you knew"

"If I knohat?"

He wasof exhaustion and loveown on, brushed her hair, and put it up neatly in a thick coil on her neck, all in the tis and breeches He shook the breeks absent over the floor

"Don’t do that! What’s the matter with you?" Flushed with sudden annoyance, she snatched the breeks away fro the garment violently over the sill She jerked the shaken breeks back in and threw theeneral direction; he dived to catch them

"Hey What’s the matter with you?"

"Matter? You shower dirt all over the floor and you think there’s so with me?"

"Sorry I didn’t think--"

She made a noise deep in her throat It wasn’t very loud, but it was threatening Obeying a deep-seatedinto his breeches Whatever , he’d ratherfast

"Look, I’ Christs to deal with; I lost track I’ll o to Cross Creek for your aunt’s wedding I could--"

"The hell with Christmas!"

"What?" He stopped, breeks half-buttoned It inter dusk, and dark in the roo in her face

"The hell with Christ hell with you, too!" She punctuated this last with a wooden soap dish from the washstand, which whizzed past his left ear and s e like that to s’!" Her hand tightened on the big china ewer and he tensed, ready to duck, but she thought better of it and her hand relaxed

"I’ve spent the last month here, up towo ‘i in here covered inthey were clean in the first place! Do you have any idea what a pain it is to scrub pine floors on your hands and knees? With lye soap!" She waved her hands at him in accusation, but too quickly for hi sores, rotted off at the wrist, or merely reddened

"And you don’t even want to look at your son or hear anything about him--he’s learned to crawl, and I wanted to show you, but all you wanted was to go to bed, and you didn’t even bother to shave first"

Roger felt as though he’d walked into the blades of a large, rapidly whirling fan He scratched at his short beard, feeling guilty

"Iahthought you wanted to--"

"I did!" She starated ht" He bent to get his shirt, keeping one eye warily on her "So--you’re mad because I didn’t notice you’d washed the floor, is that it?"

"No!"

"No," he repeated He took a deep breath and tried again "So, it is that I forgot it’s Christry that I wanted to h you wanted to do it, too?"

"NO! Would you just shut up?"

Roger was strongly teet to the bottos made him push on

"But I don’t understand why--"

"I know you don’t! That’s the problem!"