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"I’m Pete Dyer, andHe sent ht there"

Bitsy is already clo down the stairs as I hurry upstairs to dress "I’ll leave food for the cow, the chickens, and the dogs," she tells me

In ten minutes we’re settled in the front seat of the Model T Ford truck, a battered affair that sits far off the ground, perfect for the rough dirt back roads that, with the depression, are now full of potholes The county has no money to fix them

At the Dyer home, a two-story stone farmhouse on a rise above the Hope River, we are surprised to find Hannah and her husband, John, both in their early twenties, dancing in the living roonize the tune, "The Blue Danube"

Bitsy and I look at each other, drop the birth satchel near the door, and plunk down on the high-backed leather sofa to watch This doesn’t seeht! Either the woman isn’t in labor, or ere called way too early

Hannah wears a white nightdress that rises around her ankles when the two of theht black hair is loose, and her feet are bare and so are her husband’s It’s clear that the two have taken ballrooton State, he for agriculture, she for literature John and his younger brother inherited their grandparents’ expansive bottoo

The couple have eyes only for each other, so, though I’ called so early when I could be home asleep on the sofa I keep my peace and wait for thekeeps playing, but Hannah stops in midtwirl and says tords: "My back"

The husband sits down in an easy chair, nods toward us as if he’s just noticed our presence, and begins to e his wife’s sacrum He kneads and caresses, not just her lower back but also her buttocks and thighs Bitsy looks away, but I’s in the bedroooes on, and when the pain is over the couple eain

"There’s cider on the table and fresh-bakedover her shoulder as she twirls across the room Bitsy and I wander into the kitchen

"What do you think? Is she in labor?"

Bitsy shrugs philosophically, biting into a uess Want to take a spin?"

"I don’t think so!"

"I’sroom This is the first tiiven away that I’ve heard her laugh "One, two, three One, two, three" She puts her arm around my waist and leads me across the rooes us Her face is pink andrather fine myself "One, two, three One, two, three"