“Well, don’t go there anymore. A lot of weird people live down there.”

“They’re not weird. They’re just poor,” Lucy said reasonably. “Look how well the kittens turned out.”

“Those people live that way because they want to, Lucy. Nothing’s stopping them from working like the rest of us. Now listen to me,” he said, using his authoritarian father voice, “don’t go down there. Understand?”

“Yes, Daddy,” said Lucy, clearing the table. As she stood at the sink rinsing off the lunch dishes and putting them in the dishwasher, she watched Bill climb into his truck and drive off. She hated it when he treated her like a child. She was a woman, all grown up, the mother of three children. She managed all their money, she dealt with teachers and doctors. She was capable of making decisions for herself, thank you. Besides, she kept remembering that dark-haired little girl in her torn shirt. She was just the right size for Sara’s outgrown things.

Lucy loaded the bags into the Subaru and started the engine. She’d be back in plenty of time to make supper.

It was a beautiful day for a drive. The trunks of the trees lining the road were almost black and contrasted sharply with the light dusting of snow that lay on the ground. Thanks to the bright sun and the mild temperature, the snow on the road had melted. Lucy whizzed by in her little station wagon, humming along with the radio and enjoying driving all by herself for a change. She passed farms with snow-covered fields, the old farmhouses with attached barns far outnumbering the new houses on the road. As she drove farther from Tinker’s Cove the farms thinned out and the road was lined with thick woods on either side.

The turnoff for Bump’s River Road was just past an old store and gas station. This was a genuine country store that had made no attempt to pretty itself up for the tourists; the faded signs on the outside advertised cut plug tobacco and Nehi soda, but they were overlaid with newer signs for the state lottery. A teenaged boy stood in the doorway, his long hair hanging down either side of his face and his snowmobile suit unzipped to the waist, revealing his skinny chest. He watched as she turned off the state road.