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"Ma!" Cordelia said again, dropping her phone and bouncing up and down on her bent knees, doing a little dance Dellarobia was surprised to see Hester invoke happiness in the child, but then realized the radio was blaring "Jingle Bell Rock" She turned off theCordie to drop to the floor like a s had been cut

"I’m sorry, baby, but Maht i down to business with the dial, dragging it with her finger to create a thrilling racket If any object contained within its depths a horrible noise, this girl would find it

Dellarobia tried to concentrate onthe coffee She was rattled by Hester’s presence here, which could onlyover everything to do with the butterflies: chargingthe professor co Dellarobia’s role in the so-called miracle A second newspaper article had appeared, with Dellarobia once again the headliner If Hester and Bear held someone responsible for all this, it wasn’t Cub Could in-laws seek a divorce on their son’s behalf? Whatever her mission, Hester was somberly dressed for it, by her standards Plaid shirt and jeans, big silver belt buckle, old boots So thoroughly da Did she need a towel?

"I see there’s a tree in your den," Hester said, as though re that an alpaca had been seen in the bathroo like Christmas around here, isn’t it? Preston and his daddy cut that little cedar out of the fencerow yesterday We had to et it set up in there" Dellarobia was layering on the cheer too intensely, thanks to nerves But her kids had never had a Christmas tree in their own house, not once Only the one at Hester’s They did everything over there, including Santa Claus This year Preston had asked why Santa didn’t like their house, and that settled it She’d made an executive decision

"We don’t have any ornaht pick up on the hint Hester had boxes and boxes, so randparents supposed to share such things? Dellarobia had no fauess where she was concerned She wished she still had the hand-turned wooden toys of her childhood, things her father nized as poverty in retrospect, after he died She’d been too young at the time to covet the Christmases other kids had, with batteries She turned on the coffeemaker with an authoritative snap, then realized she’d set the carafe into it full of water, rather than pouring the water into thewater," Hester said

Okay, thought Dellarobia, end of the Christain, correctly this ti ewes down there now," Hester continued, "but I don’t like it It’s no good for the on this way, can it?"

"They say it could," Hester replied "That bottoood But not this year"

Cordie’s ratcheting phone went on and on Whoever designed toys, in Dellarobia’s opinion, at their earliest convenience, should be smacked She counted the seconds until the coffee started to pour through Whatever it was that had brought Hester into this house, it wasn’t sheep "You could put them over here on this field, above us," she offered "If that’s what you want to do I et their CDT shots here soon, and next thing you know they’ll start la I like the ehere I can keep an eye"

"We could keep an eye for you Preston loves the la the laot to knohat you’re doing"

Dellarobiaat the coffee Hester did, she likened to rocket science But as far as Dellarobia had seen, la out to the barn eachHester got up to peer over the half-curtain on the kitchen , presuhty ewes Instead she asked bluntly, "Is he in that thing now?"

"Is who in what? I thought ere discussing sheep"

"You knoho"

"Dr Byron? I don’t know He doesn’t clear his schedule with me"

The camper’s s had pleated curtains that were yellowed like old newspaper, and usually closed on this side Hester wouldn’t be able to see much She returned to the table and Dellarobia sat doith two ar bowl She watched Hester shovel in one heaping spoonful after another Where she deposited those calories was a o?

"He looks foreign," Hester pronounced "Is he even Christian? He could be anything And you in here with the children Bear and I are a hundred percent on the fence about hi here"

Dellarobia put on her poker face If Hester wanted to play a round, she was ready "I doubt theus two hundred dollars a o decided, Hester Didn’t Cubit up Dellarobia took a long, scalding s of her coffee, overn his research, so we get a certain amount froo toward Bear’s loan payuess"

She watched Hester’s frown deepen "He’s working for the governht out It’s a little bit co is part of his job I guess the government pays for people to do research"

Hester snorted "There’s a job Watching butterflies"