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Dellarobia was startled to see a wo armloads of sticks "Hallo!" they called

She kneho they were, or what, though she had notone had onout the bottom and two layers of sweaters at least The elder wore ain thite braids, not a style you saw every day in the senior set Both sported stiff woolen hats that stood gnomishly on their heads Dellarobia stepped forward to shake hands, but instead clapped both in a friendly way on their coat sleeves, since their hands were full "I’m Dellarobia Turnbow," she said "This is Hester Turnbow, er one, shuffling her bundle of sticks into one ar Dellarobia’s hand and Hester’s "This is my mum too! Myrtle, and I’m Nelda We came over here for firewood, hope that’s okay Our little valley has got picked over"

Both wo, but what hooked Dellarobia was the accent "Li-ul valley, picked o-vah" She could listen to this girl all day, like a radio station "You all hed in a burst "Drenched!" she cried "We’re drowned rats! And now it’s gone a bit parky, hasn’t it?"

Dellarobia didn’t know the answer to that She wondered what Hester ether, one unraveled sweater at a tiland any up here She’d discussed the basics of their arrangement with Hester when they’d asked for permission to cae sweaters, which were co in now by the bushel There were cash donations, too The women paid for their PO box and a

"Hester knits," Dellarobia offered "You should see some of the sweaters she’s s"

"What do you think of our little fellows, then?" Myrtle set down her firewood and dug in her colorful shoulder bag that was knitted in concentric diath she extracted a coe and black yarn on wooden needles like oversize toothpicks "Well, here," she added, pulling out a whole knitted butterfly, actual size "Here’s the final product He’s a bit better looking"

Hester turned over the work in her hands Dellarobia noticed that both Nelda and Myrtle wore old leather shoes, not the high-tech boots that outdoorsy folks see secondhand Thatslow on the uptake: their fashion stateht new They were second-time-arounders Not unlike her family, only prouder of it

"You use double points and carry the second color across," Hester observed

"Yes!" both women answered, with identical enthusiasm Dellarobia had seen these knitted butterflies by the hundreds hung up in the trees, but hadn’t taken note of the effort involved It was s and body, the black veins knitted right in She thought of Mako’s story of folding all those paper birds in grade school for world peace The i tiny answers to vast dery for decades It wasn’t wrong

"You use black yarn too," she said "I never saw ot loads," Nelda said

"Too reed Dellarobia noted they were not a perfect physical match: Nelda plump and rosy-cheeked, her mother fine-boned The resemblance blazed in their wide brown eyes and the way they nodded, the gno of longing, as she often did in church Everybody had a mother and a God; those were standard-issue

Hester handed the object back "I don’t see hoorks," she said

"People are chuffed to bits on it!" Nelda said "You should see the et Look at this" She pulled a phone froloved hand, reading aloud, " ‘Go knitters, stop global madness, we love you’ That’s fro Here’s another, ‘Go ladies, green and clean, from Betty in Staten Island’ There’s loads You want to see?" She scrolled down and showed the with some of the same pictures Dovey had found, of thein trees The forest-dwelling women appeared in the photos too, arns, citizens of their own cheerful universe despite their full awareness of its unraveling The fact of the phone itself struck Dellarobia, though There had to be someone at home to pay that bill Fathers or husbands

Hester still seeet the Billies," Hester said

In the small hush, Dellarobia felt a wave of protectiveness Fierce, sturdy Hester should not be mocked She could have made the saently "Like little stuffed animals They’re not to keep the butterflies warm"

Hester’s eyes found Dellarobia’s and lit briefly there

"Icons," Nelda chimed in "Or symbols, yeah? So people all over the world will know about the etting as drowned out as the butterflies I ought to knit soht"

"You should!" sang Nelda, and she and Myrtle laughed the sah, another likeness No one was offended It broadened Dellarobia’s unspecified hopes, like a hole in the clouds "Cheers, then," Nelda said after aup her bundle of sticks, and the two sets of women walked their separate ways

Dellarobia carried a canvas bag containing e in there wasa hollow little rattle with every step If she found flowers, she was to dig so them to the lab to test their potential as butterfly resources She re this place "poor in winter flowers," one long-ago day She’d taken offense, at the ti What a mindset