“No, with a group of boys, which made it even worse.  They got six lashes.  I was a trial for my father every time he turned around.”

“He’s not the one I feel for,” Chace said.  He waited.  “I got ten for stealing a pig.”

“We were raised by the same people.”

“No, it was the missionaries.  It was their pig.  But we were very hungry.”

Charlotte put down her cards.  “We both know what it feels like then,” she said heatedly.  “Not what someone should ever think to visit on a child.”  Then she lightened.  “But how exactly do you go about stealing a pig?  Wouldn’t that be hard?”

“It was hard, don’t ever try it.  They make all these horrible noises and they’re slippery and fast. I felt like I deserved that pig after what I went through to get it.”

“I’m trying hard not to laugh.  I’ve got a very detailed picture in my mind.”  The image quickly faded from the pig back to the ten lashes.  “What’s wrong with people?” she said.

They kept playing but now Chace had gone quiet.

“There’s something I don’t understand,” he said.

“What is it?”

“Who is your father?  Who is this man called Samuel Duchesne?”

“If you really want to know, I’ll try and tell you.” She hesitated, thinking about how to explain it.  “I’ll start with my grandfather,” she said, “my father’s father, his name was Wallace.  Back east a long time ago, he and three friends were out hunting when they came up on what they called the Others.  All four saw them but the Others would only speak to Wallace.  They told him they’d come from an important place very far away, but this wasn’t the first time they’d been here.  They said he should call his people the Family and keep them prepared for the next time they came, when they wouldn’t be leaving again, they would stay and this would be their home.  My grandfather said he understood their language because they’d been in his dreams.  My father’s never seen them, but they talk to him all the time and he understands their language too, though he’s the only one who does.  So in public we’re the Family, but in private we’re called the Church of the Brothers of Ezekiel.  Wallace was the Founder and First Elder and when he died, Samuel took his place.