“Some of the women tried, they got together and took turns visiting her, trying to help out, taking up food or cast-off clothes. It wasn’t easy for any of them, because they had their own work to do, but they kept on trying all that summer. They said Belle always let them into the cabin and she always thanked them for what they brought, but she seemed vague and limp somehow, the cabin was filthy and so were she and the baby, and now young McAllister was getting that way too, and thinner, because Belle didn’t seem to be able to look after any of them. She wasn’t doing anything, the women said, and he looked more and more hopeless every time we saw him. He brought the eggs into town that year, and he did most of the sitting at the roadside stand they had, although sometimes he would drop Belle and the baby off instead; even people who knew them, though, and felt sorry for them, didn’t like buying food from them. It was the dirt, and the way her eyes were.

“He broke even and a bit more that year, with it all, and paid off a little of his bank loan. He said he’d taken to hunting, and wanted to bag enough rabbits and such to keep them from having to buy meat that winter. He looked exhausted with trying to do everything and no help from Belle. He talked all the time about the farm, how he planned to keep it going, how he’d figured it would be tough the first while, but things were sure to get better and he was no quitter. He was real tight and determined. He didn’t say a word about Belle.

“Late in the fall, the three of them came into town for the big winter shopping. We figured they must have game stored away that he’d shot, for they didn’t buy much food, no meat or vegetables, just things like flour for baking bread. All three of them were pinched-looking, even the child. Belle just looked blank. We figured no matter what he’d said, they couldn’t stick it. There was an air about them that day that just spoke right out and said, ‘It’s over.’ We figured come spring, they’d have to sell out and go into town, settle down there, pay off the bank loan and pull themselves together.