She wandered down the general store aisle. She let her fingers run along the canned goods on the shelves. She stopped at the canned herring and sardines. The hunger inside her was crippling. And she had strange cravings ever since she’d had Maggie. Pickles were at the top of her list. She caught herself dreaming about pickles sometimes. If she could’ve taken a bath in pickle juice, she would have.

And oysters, she craved those, even though she had only had them a few times in her life. She looked at the can of Acme Oysters. She wished she could smuggle them without being noticed, but her brassiere couldn’t handle any more weight.

The man behind the counter was watching her. She could feel his eyes. A cigarette was between his lips and his arms were folded. “Do you need help?” he said.

“No, sir,” she said.

The man’s eyes didn’t leave her. He only raised an eyebrow. “What’re you looking for?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“You must be hunting something. You’ve been pacing for nearly fifteen minutes.”

The beans were tugging her collar downward. Her enormous chest was sinking. She wanted to leave the beans on the floor and run for the woods, head straight for Maggie. She wanted to forget all about this borrowing. She wanted to scoop her baby in her arms and get far away from this town and never come back.

But she stood still.

The man’s face got harder. He removed his glasses. “Little girl, what’s underneath your—”

She started for the door. She could feel the beans falling toward her ribs. She felt them slip past her belly. She made a strained face, willing the beans to stop sliding downward. A bag of beans dropped and plopped on the floor between her feet.

She ran as fast as she could.

He sprang after her. Caught her by the waist. To her horror, the man reached down her blouse and removed the remaining sack of beans. She moved by reflex. She heard a crack and was almost certain she’d broken his rib. He fell to the floor and held his side. His face was contorted with pain.

“Why, you thief!” he said, coughing. “You’re trying to rip me off!”

“No, I’m not,” she said. “I just wanted to try them out!”

She sprinted down the street. And she almost got away. But she ran face-first into a big man who was walking toward her. She collided with him so hard that she knocked him over and lost her balance.

“Stop her!” the store owner yelled.

The big man pinned Marigold to the ground. She spit at him until she ran out of saliva. “Go suck an egg!” she yelled.

“Get the sheriff!” the store owner hollered. “She’s stealing.”

“I wasn’t stealing!”