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When I unbutton the rest ofunderneath No brassiere, no corset, just ed out of my work clothes in such a hurry when Mr Moon cas I’m shocked ather silver armor Hester doesn’t seem surprised by my lack of ain thunder fills the air like boulders colliding across the mountains The vet just continues to hold me, naked, while the holy water washes us clean

River

Morning Blinding sun through a dusty pane in a roo naked in a four-poster bed like the one at the MacIntoshes’ home, but the room is nowhere near as fancy My eyes roah s fra, the bare wood floors There are paintings of horses in gold and black fra horses and workhorses and racehorses and a photo of a young soldier standing with his horses I know this place now This is where, weeks ago, I bandaged the vet’s leg and brought hiht with the Bishop brothers

I run my hand over the twisted sheets and the euess he slept Soh the mud, into the house, and up the stairs; then, before dawn, the telephone rang and he left me I heard his car start up and move away down Salt Lick, but I was too undone to care It was the alcohol, I reer, not exactly a friend

I runKitty’s old blood on my damp dress, which I find laid out neatly over the back of a chair It’s too soon to tell how the events of last night will change my relationship with Hesteror if they will I pull on uilt that unless Bitsy caht

At the crest, I look doard the Hope River and a no different after the storm The dust has been washed off the tired plants, but even hours of hard rain can’t turn the grass green Nothing has been altered, except inside et to the house, I a out of the kitchen chimney; Bitsy is ho to Moonlight while she o down Don’t you want to go down? Oh, sister, let’s go down Down to the river to pray" It’s the first ti," she says as she strides into the house tena pail full of hite liquid I’ve only had time to brush the straw out of my hair She eyes the birth satchel as I replace our supplies

"You were up all night at a birth? I’m sorry, I should have been with you Who delivered? Everything go okay?"

"Nono, it didn’t go well" I sit down at the table "It was Kitty Hart Someone we never met She died Her baby died too"

Shocked at my words, Bitsy drops her bucket into the sink, and the milk splashes over the side She plunks down in the chair next to me, puts her hand on my arm "Oh, Patience, baby I’m so sorry I should have been there I should have been there to help you" She waits for me to explain, but I’e" I indicatein the tub?"

"No, I’ll go to the river I’ll tell you about the birth later"

This surprises o to the river?