Did she?
That’s what she always called it, he said. He scratched his head. Well, damn it, Maggie, I’m just trying to be proper. I’m just trying to get us started off on the right chalk. I don’t want to scare her off already.
Maggie patted his smooth-shaven cheek. You’re doing just fine, she said. Keep going.
They went out of the bedroom. And while the others waited in the dining room the girl stepped into the bathroom. Another small room, it had a sink and toilet and a freestanding enameled tub with a red hose and showerhead coiled under the faucet at one end. On the shelves above the sink were various half-used jars of liniment and salve and Cornhuskers handbalm, and tubes of back-rub and sore-muscle ointment, and there was also tooth powder and denture adhesive and shaving equipment, and hanging over one of the drying rods next to the bathtub, together with two old towels, was a single fresh new pink towel that still had the store tag stapled to it. The girl came back out of the room. Should I get my suitcase now? she said.
I think that would be a good idea, Maggie Jones said.
You need any assistance? said Raymond.
No thank you. I think I can do it, the girl said, then went out through the kitchen to the car.
When she had gone Harold said, She ain’t very big, is she. Why, she’s just a little thing. She don’t even show the baby any that I can see.
Not much yet, Maggie said. Some of her clothes are beginning to get tight. You’ll notice it more when she takes her coat off.
Is she scared of us? Raymond said. She don’t say much.
What do you think? Maggie Jones said.
Raymond looked out the window toward the car where the girl stood at the trunk gathering her belongings. She don’t have to be, he said. We wouldn’t hurt her. We wouldn’t do her a harm for anything in this world.
I know that, Maggie said. But she doesn’t know it yet. You’ll have to give her time.
The girl returned to the house carrying a single cardboard suitcase and dragging a plastic trash bag. These she took into the bedroom. They could hear her in the room, moving about on the wood floor, temporarily arranging things, then she came back out.
I’m afraid this is a hard trial for you, Raymond said to the girl. He was not looking at her, but peering past her into some distance of his own. But we want to hope . . . What I want to say is, Harold and me, we want to think that you might come to feel a little at home out here. In time, I mean. Not right away, I don’t guess.
She looked at him, then at his brother. Thank you, she said. Thank you for letting me stay here with you.
Well, you’re welcome, Raymond said. You sure are.
They stood awkwardly inspecting the floor.
Very well then, Maggie said. I believe I’ve done my part. So I think I’ll just go home and let you three souls get acquainted.
The girl looked startled. On the McPheron brothers’ faces there was the look of panic. Do you have to leave already? the girl said.
I think so, Maggie said. I think I better. It’s time.
We thought you might stay to supper, Harold said. Wouldn’t you care to do that?
Another time, she said. I’ll be back.
She went outside and the McPheron brothers and the girl followed her out and stood on the little screened porch in the wind, watching until she had driven away in the car. Then they turned and came back inside and stood looking at one another from across the bare wooden table in the kitchen.
Well, Harold said. I reckon—
The house was quiet. From outside came the faint sound of birdsong, coming up from the red cedar trees next to the garage, and there was the rising and falling noise of the wind.
—I reckon Raymond and me better go out and feed before it gets full dark, he said. Then we’ll come back in. We’ll have to see about getting some supper.
The girl looked at him.
It won’t take us long, he said.
What is it you’re feeding?
Cattle.
Oh.
Mother cows and heifers, Raymond said.