The bowl of water turned dark with dirt and blood. While Kate changed it, Auntie Vi tried to get some of the soup into him. Some made it down his throat, although it seemed to hurt him to swallow. The rest trickled down his neck. His first cry had been his last. After that, he remained silent, staring into space, taking no notice of their efforts.

At least he wasn‘t fighting them.

Kate brought more clean water and Auntie Vi and Old Sam started in again. Kate found some clean clothes belonging to Jim, measured them against the stranger‘s frame, and exchanged them for some of Johnny‘s instead.

Kate ran Johnny‘s tub full of warm water, thinking hot might be too much of a shock for him. The man came alive when they tried to remove the remnants of his clothes, until Old Sam lost his temper and said, You two broads get the hell out of here. Kate and Auntie Vi retreated to the kitchen. In the bathroom Old Sam swore. Auntie Vi made coffee with hands that seemed less deft than usual.

Kate watched her for a moment, and then remembered. Oh hell, she said, and went out to find the king filet burned to a crisp on the grill. She put the lid down and closed the dampers and went back inside. Water was gurgling out of the tub, and the faucet was turned on again full bore.

That boy plenty dirty, Auntie Vi said. Old Sam changing the water. Kate hoped the well held out.

They drank their coffee and felt better. Kate bundled the disgusting sheet the stranger had been sitting on into the laundry room. She knocked on the bathroom door and said, Give me his clothes.

A bundle of rags was thrust at her, and she took them outside and put them in the burn barrel. They had no identifying marks on them, Levi‘s jeans, Jockey underwear, what proved to be an All Gone Dead T-shirt, a JCPenney blue plaid shirt, a North Face jacket. Nothing that couldn‘t have been purchased from any of a hundred catalogs or department stores.

She put it all in the barrel save the remaining boot, squirted it with lighter fluid from the barbecue, and torched it off. If the guy never spoke again, she would get serious shit from Jim for disposing of evidence that might help identify him, but the clothes were filthy and crawling with livestock and she wanted them gone. The boot looked as if it had been well made, sturdy construction, thick soles. It had a steel toe, too. That she kept.