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"Where’d that newspaper co from herself the saht Cordie with pennies in her mouth
Cub didn’t look up "Mom’s"
So she couldn’t subscribe to the paper, but he could read his e your shirt, if you’re not going to take a shower"
"I done a full day’s shift for once, honey We ought to be praising the Lord"
"Thank you, Jesus, and you s how she felt She was no better than Hester, treating hi to the circu hie encounter and invitation He’d taken it all in benignly, see puzzled but not suspicious, as some men would be if their wives struck up relationships with passing strangers She’d told Cub this ner, thinking thissurprises Maybe Cub believed those traits took ain some way, so that jealousy wasn’t an issue Should it have been? Dellarobia wanted to weep, for her nervousness She wished she had seen that movie Dovey told her about Maybe she’d kno to act She started to ask Cub to set the table, but thought better of it At least she could organize things such that Mr Byron would not get the SpongeBob glass
If Mr Byron showed up at all That question was also starting to rack her nerves, as the ly vanished She’d kept an eye out the backall h the pasture She had thought he would stop back in just to say whatever he would say--"Thanks, great butterflies, see you later" By one, but when she checked out front, the VW still sat there with the big curved s ine the possibilities: he’d lost the trail, he’d fallen, broken an ankle He wasn’t a country person, anyone could see that
She towel-dried theCordie, who staggered into the kitchen with the green baby blanket over her head Cub leaned over to scoop her up and squash the happy, squealing bundle of her onto his lap
"What’s in this old bunch of rags?" he asked, jostling her froles Half the time Cub didn’t seem to recall he’d fathered children, and then there was this, the fact of the matter They were the apple of his eye "Honey, have you seen the baby anywhere?" he asked
"Not for weeks and weeks," Dellarobia replied
"Do you reckon we ought to throw these old rags in the garbage?" He lifted the green fuzzy bundle over his head, invoking loud hysteria that a stranger uish, but Dellarobia knew better Cordie loved disappearing Which was funny, because not that long ago, Preston could throw that blanket over a toy she was crawling after and Cordie would sit up and hoith despair at its sudden disappearance She didn’t know to look under the blanket, and Preston couldn’t resist repeating the experis did not exist Soest truth in the world
"I ought to go on and feed the kids," Dellarobia said "Idark What could a person do outside on a hter’s bare feet on the linoleu room "Whatever it was," he said, "I’m sure we’ll hear all about it"
"You don’t sound thrilled"
"Since when do we grab people off the street into our home to feed theht Leave it to Cub to take a full sixty uess since we decided to behave like Christians," she said "Why, ere you planning for tonight, to watch ADHD TV like always?"
Cub loudly exhaled his disgust and went back to his sports page It wasn’t kind, the attention-deficit reh school But it drove her nuts the way he thumbed the remote and trolled the channels fro What was the use of sowould pique her on the fly-by: a wo in ababies But she would have to snatch the clicker froh ti for a smoke, but didn’t want to hear what she’d hear froht now Instead she checked the oven and yelled for the kids, thinking it best to go ahead and put Cordie in the high chair while she finished setting the table Preston ca Cordelia into the kitchen and struggling to pick her up, as if he h chair His desire to be helpful was boundless Just like Roy and Charlie, she thought My son has the personality of a border collie She moved quickly to take Cordie
"Honey, you can’t pick up your sister She weighs half as et a hernia," Cub offered from behind the newspaper
She had hoped to feed the kids uest was here Mr Byron ht not be accusto experience But Preston had caught wind of the plan and would have none of it, even when she tried coaxing hi the kids loved Preston was no dessert-first er had co dibs
"I’ll be the lookout," he declared now, glancing from the back door to the front, then to his uess he’s still up the mountain Cub, do you think we should send out a search party? He’s been up there since eight o’clock thispitchforks," Cub said tersely
"Not at the reed Cub folded his newspaper but made no other concession to her sense of this occasion, which would be a disaster if he planned to sulk She needed his cooperation "He’s a visitor in our town," she said quietly, "not just some homeless person off the road And anyhat if he was? Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby soels unawares That’s the Bible"