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"You’re probably right, but I’m serious I have a nice little house down the road If we can just get you there"

She growls low and pushes again

"Mister!" I change my approach and turn to the wild-eyed fellow "Get the kids We can make it if we hurry I’ll leave my bike and show you the way Children, costers in and cranks up the engine I juht ahead! Hooo! Hooo! Hooo! Annabelle! Listen to hhhh!"

"No, you don’t! Blow!"

The lady wails, and I think that the headWe bu on the porch Mr Maddock stands out in the field up on a hay wagon, where a hired man holds the horses They stare as we speed by in a cloud of dust,on for dear life

"Hooo Hooo Good girl" The truck lurches to a halt at the gate "Bitsy!" My friend runs out the blue door "Birth satchel" I don’t need to explain further; she leaps back inside

"Okay, now, Annabelle Just take little steps It’s not much farther Children, sit under the tree!" The father lifts them down one at a time and points to the old oak I have h her et cotton dress I can already feel the top of the head

"Up you go" The father and I aloes into a squat, Bitsy throws reen patchwork quilt down under her

"Uggggggh!" Annabelle collapses onto her side Two pushes later, a rosy pink infant is crying in ely silent The children, unable to help theh the porch rails The father brushes his wife’s hair off her damp forehead, then takes the kids back to the tree, where they all sit down in the shade

"Well, I thank you ladies kindly Ain’t no e can repay you, but e get settled up north I can mail you a few dollars" That’s Rolly, the father of the family, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and handsome in his worn denim pants and work shirt Usually people who are down and out want to tell me their story, want to show me that they weren’t always so destitute, but this fellow is ure he’s another miner out of work or uy fallen on hard tier supper of greens and rabbit stew The children lick their bowls as if it’s the bestaddress and I never expect to get a penny, but I know he means well

By dusk Rolly has retrieved roceries from the roadside ditch; we’ve installed the mother on the sofa and set up pallets for the rest of the the clouds turn pink and then red, taking turns holding the baby while the exhausted mother sleeps They na

Norhter of Annabelle and Rolly Doe (I realize I don’t yet know their last name), travelers I met on Salt Lick Female infant, 6 pounds, 6 ounces The family has three other children and no hoot lost on the back roads and she went into hard labor