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The second baby had a separate sack That was a good thing, because there was nowent as save Lucy a spoonful of Mrs Potts’s hee medicine and she only bled about 400 ccs There were no perineal tears, but the babies were small

Clarence said he was sorry he couldn’t afford hed and said that was a good deal because we only delivered one baby

13

An Idea

All week, Dr Bluarden We now have a nice little plot thirty by fifty feet Nothing like the Hesters’ or Maddocks’ but for beginners it will do Mrs Maddock sent over some tiny tomato plants she had started in cans from seeds she’d saved last fall Some will be red, some will be yellow, some with be al the holes, patting the soil around their roots and watering each one Dr Blum helped, after I showed hi

The Reverend Miller, with his wife, Mildred, a bundle of energy and concern, stopped by with a sack of seed potatoes that they’d saved last fall, and Patience shared so, we sit on the porch and stare out at our plot, or I stare at the plot, and my companion stares at the air in front of him

"Dr Blum It’s Sunday and we need a day of rest!" I break the silence "I’ve been thinking we could go to church, but with your strange ways, people would stare, so let’s go on a picnic to the Hope River instead What do you think?" Bluot the water fro when I asked hiet ready I pack two pieces of corn bread in a s jar of water, and a pint of applesauce I made with the Bittmans’ half-rotten apples, then I take Isaac’s hand like a child and lead him down Wild Rose Road

At the Maddocks’ place, there’s no truck in front They’ve probably gone into town to attend services orto the closer church at Hazel Patch It’s a colored church, but Reverend Miller is so kind, whites would probably be welcoes in Dr Bluh in the case of his stroll down Main Street, when he ended up at the soup line, it’s hard to tell Most i he can copyis for sure: He has altered physically When he was a physician he was tall, thin, and bookish Now he actually has , walking the land, saood We are both stronger

Near the corner of Wild Rose and Salt Lick Road, I notice for the first tie that Maddock said vagrants burned down The remains of the barn are nowhere to be seen

This is our turning-off point and we cut across the road onto a orn grassy path toward the sound of the water Here and there in the brush are the remnants of cold campfires, rusted tin cans, cleared areas where makeshift tents have been erected and then pulled down

Patience tells et water and they can fish Also, no one see the river, so no farun to run them off

Closer to the water, in the wetlands, it’s another wilder world, where purple iris and yellow buttercups bloom Red maples, wild cherry trees, and tall oaks press into the sky I let outwith David used to bringwater, we sit on the rocks and eat our corn bread with applesauce and drink our water Dr Blum stretches out on a flat slab of stone, hisup at the clouds

I turn away and to distract myself fro through the water For an hour I watch them, and then an idea coht about! If the hoboes can fish, why can’t we? And why didn’t I think of it before?