Perley’s snake had fled, maybe to nurse its wounds, maybe to die from them. But it wasn’t in our bed, and Perley wasn’t in our bed, and so Karen and I had our bed to ourselves. We hardly knew what to do. Waiting for Helen’s light to go off, we lay on our sides facing each other, uninterrupted and shy. Through the partition, Helen began to snore. I took Karen’s hands and placed them on my breasts, tight with milk.

“They’re enormous,” she said.

“They hurt,” I said.

“This is a mastitis risk,” she said. “Something must be done.”

She put her mouth there. It was a task that needed doing. She sucked to take care of me, and it was how we found our way back to each other, her sucking, me moaning, the toothless black snake cowering and ashamed somewhere, jealous of our heat.

8

PERLEY

After the snakebite is when I began to live alone and that’s when the real me starts. I lived in my own house and it was just my size with all the best furniture that I made myself. It was a round tin house with wheels. It was painted to look like it was the woods, real tree. My house had a label. THE MCCANN’S: STEP AWA, it said, and no one knew what that meant it was a secret and I made a secret password so no one would bother me. No one knew the password except Mama K. She was proud of me again and we did things together like we used to do. She taught me to use all her tools, the chisel the bevel the drill the Japanese saw, the tree-shaping sheep knife. Mama K was my elfin chief and I was an elf. She was the wise old wolf Nightrunner and I was Choplicker the wolf pup. We were steadfast and resolute and every night I gave her my report while she and Mama L held hands which they never used to do but now they did.

Mama L acted like any day they’d make me move back into the main house but I knew it was good that I moved into my own house because after that my women laughed at one another’s jokes or when one of them said something the other two would nod their heads instead of start telling her why she was wrong. Sometimes they would smile at one another which at first I thought their faces would fall off if they did that. So even though I would always have a scar, I knew it was good that I got bit by a snake and I knew it was good that I lived alone and one day I was ready.