Before Anna even had a chance to take that in, her aunt continued talking. “My Ma died when I’se ’bout ten. Arter th’ War, my Pa’n me ’n m’ brothers an’ yore Ma all lived in Shady Holler, near t’Soddy, afore most of the minin’ an’ coke-makin’ started. Afore th’ War, my Granny and Granpappy on my Ma’s side had this here cabin, an’ afore we moved ter Shady Holler, we had the farm y’all passed at the mouth of the Holler, but thet’s another story. Y’all’s Ma’s Ma was a widder-woman. Pretty liddle thang, delicate liddle thang. My Pa promised her dead man t’look arter her, an’ by his way of thinkin’, that meant marryin’ her.” Aunt Jinny shrugged. “I didn’ care, I was s’posed t’go to my Granny t’learn t’be a Root Woman like ’er. An’ I did. Then yer Ma’s Ma had Maybelle an’ up an’ died, an’ my Pa spoilt that liddle girl rotten. I seed it when I come home now an’ agin. I was there when thet Lew Jones an’ a buncha Taffies like ’im came breezin’ inter Soddy, all set t’make a for-tune. He had eyes on plenty’o gals, but Maybelle put eyes on ’im an’—” Jinny put down her cup and threw up her hands. “Weren’t no reasonin’ with ’er,” she said in disgust. “She were gonna hev Lew, an’ thet was thet. I reckon Lew thunk Pa was better off’n ’e was. Pa ’ad a war-pension; thet died wi’ ’im. Lew didn’ know thet, or I reckon ’e’d not hev married yore Ma, and thet’s the plain truth. An’ I reckon when there’s hard words between ’em, he don’t stint t’tell her so. So yore Ma was an’ is pure desperate t’keep ’im. So when she knowed she was gonna hev a chile, she thunk it was a boy an’ was desperate t’be rid of ’t, on account of she reckoned it likely Lew would dote on ’is son an’ fergit ’bout ’er. An’ I reckon she was right,” Jinny added. “She wrote t’me, fust time since Pa died, she did, tol’ me she was gonna hev a baby, an’ begged me fer a potion t’be rid of it. I reckoned she’d made ’er bed, an’ tol’ ’er ’twas too late, anythin’ I give ’er ’ould kill ’er too. But then she had y’all, an’ ev’thin’ was fine, cause Lew ’ad no use fer a girl-chile, an’ she reckoned she could make you inter a help right quick. But she kept a-writin’ me, wantin’ potions so she wouldn’t hev no more chillen, an’ then potions she could sell on. I didn’ want ’er throwin’ herself down stairs or somethin’ else jest as stupid, so I give her the potions she wanted fer herself. An’ I figgered pickin’s was getting thin in the Jones house when she wanted ter sell my potions. Which I seed a-comin’, on account of thet Lew Jones was so big about bein’ th’ on’y man in the Soddy Mine thet knowed how t’use a steam drill, an’ them things ain’t called ‘widder-makers’ fer nothin’. I knowed ’e was gonna start a-sickenin’ an’ money was gonna get scarce, cause a miner’s paid by what ’e digs, an’ purdy soon ’e’d be too puny to run thet drill for long, an’ he’d be diggin’ with a pick like ev’body else. But—I’m a Christian woman. So I sent them potions, on account of she’s still my sister, an’ on account of there weren’t no call t’make y’all suffer because yore Pa is a damn fool. An’ when she started beggin’ fer potions fer Lew, I sent them too. Then she started tellin’ me how y’all was sickening, an’ I knowed what caused it, an’ I started a-tellin’ ’er t’ send y’all t’me.”