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She was al down the hallway toward her

“Stop her, Fred! She’s a criminal!” the woman at the desk yelled

He blocked the door

Elsa stepped closer to thethe bat down at her side Her heart was thundering, but strangely, she felt cal to stop her fro it to Jean “How badly do you want to stop me, Fred?”

The aze softened “The o It was a helluva lot easier then I’m sorry for the way you’re treated” He pulled out a five-dollar bill “Will this help?”

Elsa almost cried at the small kindness “Thank you”

“Now go Alice is probably calling the coppers already”

Elsa sprinted out of the hospital, threw the baseball bat into the truck bed, then started the engine and storavel and slowly straightened out on the dark road

She turned onto the road to the squatters’ camp and pulled up in front of the Deweys’ truck

She found Jeb in the bed of the truck with Jean, cradling his wife in his ar close to the side of the truck The boys held the little girls’ hands

“She keeps askin’ for gin,” Jeb said, looking bereft and confused “She don’t drink”

Elsa climbed up into the bed of the truck, settled in on Jean’s other side “Hey, you, bad girl I’ve got some aspirin”

Jean’s eyes fluttered open

“I hear you’re in,” Elsa said

“One martini before I die Don’t seem too much to ask”