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Now I see what she means This is not really my affair, I just came by to visit, but I knohat to do "Give me the baby"

"What?"

"I’ll take him home Bury hihbors on either side Out in the country, no one will know" There’s a long silence, and Becky wipes her tears again

"You’d do that?"

"Come on It will be simple Just wrap him up in the blanket and put him back in his box I have a basket on my bike"

Becky offers to drive ht have been smarter I had to carry the baby in the carton past the sheriff as he strolled down the courthouse steps I also passed Mrs Stenger coe Hudson’s and had to stop on et around Bitsy

"I ondering when you’d get back," Bitsy calls froate "What’s in the package?"

I consider telling her outright, "a dead premature baby," but I don’t kno she’d take it, so I lie

"Produce scraps fro them out and sent them home for the chickens I’ll take them out to the barn"

"Supper in fifteen," she responds, turning back inside "I caught a , but it has to be deep so that foxes and raccoons won’t s it up It takes rave site, ainst my chest Just a moment of silence for the mama who has lost this too-early-baby, a wo up and a heart so heavy she would sink to the bottorave site for my premature son I don’t even know if he was buried properly or just throay I pull a flat rock over the exposed earth, taently with my foot, and wipe ravestone, for both tiny babies

True Knot

With the draal burial of the unidentified pre Bitsy about Twyla until thisto beat the dust out of the front roo beaters that we found in the bases over the clothesline, and the sun coray clouds

"Hoyla?" Bitsy asksa swat Whack! Whack! Dust rises all around us, and I can see this cleaning is long overdue

"She’s fine Looks like she was meant to be a s are sticky with the judge"