The grandmother held a snake by its jaws. I recognized it. It was a cottonmouth, alive and squirming in her fist.

In her other hand she held a knife.

She lifted the knife to the snake’s throat and slit it, grasping the creature’s head while its tail whipped around in a frenzy, the blood running down its body and onto the dirt. When it stopped wriggling she tossed it on the ground.

One by one, the Urquharts turned and left, the dead snake a bloody S on the driveway.

Grandma sat back on the bed, chewing her lip.

“What in the hell was that?” I said.

When Grandma spoke, her voice shook, like it was painful for her to say the words.

“That man you call ‘the Hobo,’ the one who saved your life—that was Carl Urquhart.”

There was no way. It wasn’t possible.

“How?” I said. “I thought he was missing.”

“He was, for years and years,” said Grandma. “Not anymore.”

“It just doesn’t make sense. I mean, I spent my whole life terrified of him. He would watch me through my bedroom window while I slept. I would wake up and see him there, staring at me. I saw him on the night Mom died. I thought he was a vision, like an omen of doom or something. I thought he meant that I was going to die.”

“Well, I guess if he was an omen, he meant the opposite of death for you,” said Grandma. “He meant life.”

“But George said he hated us, that all the Urquharts hated us. Why would he risk his life for me?”

“Since when have you spoken to George Urquhart?” said Grandma.

I stammered a little about how George had come to see me a couple of times.

“You are not to be seen with any Urquharts, do you understand me?” she said. “Now listen to me. The Urquharts have opposed the Farm, and all us Sanfords, ever since I was just a girl. The Urquharts hated us, always have, because my daddy won this land off them long before I was born. The Urquharts always swore they’d been cheated. Trash does that, Lee—blames other people for their problems, won’t take responsibility. Truth was, the Spirit wanted us to have this land, chose us to bring its message to the world. See, there are forces aligned against us. You do know that, don’t you, Lee? There are two sides to this power here, and they are always at war with one another.”

“That’s what the Gentlemen said. ‘There are two worlds, and they are the same.’”