When I woke up the old snow grayly slushed against the windows which had plastic stapled across them so you couldn’t see all the way out and the soup blanket curdled me and I had to pee so bad but I knew that if I moved the day would begin and I wasn’t ready for that, I needed to think. Then came coffee grinding in the kitchen and I heard Grandma Barlow talking to someone it was the Outside Girl back again. I heard their voices back and forth and soon I heard coffee go glug into a cup and they were in there talking about me. Everyone was talking about me ever since I got the snakebite and became super-popular and famous. So I just flexed my whole body really hard and held my pee which was one of my toxic skills and I listened.

Of course I can take another one, said Grandma Barlow. Of course I can.

The Outside Girl said, And I thank you for it, we appreciate it, the agency does.

I’m here to comfort them, Grandma Barlow said.

And you do, said the Outside Girl.

Grandma Barlow said, But some things, there’s no comfort. Losing your baby.

He’s not a baby, he’s seven, said the Outside Girl.

Altemonte’s eight and he’s still my baby, Grandma Barlow said. Altemonte’s mama’s a grown woman and she’ll always be my baby. There’s no words for it, is what I’m saying. I feel for Perley’s mama.

When she said that, I felt for my mama, too. I felt for her so that I almost followed the map in my mind right back home, but then the Outside Girl talked about me again. She said, Perley’s been through a lot. Which sounded like a quest so I just held on to my pee harder and I kept listening.

We’ll put together a reunification plan, of course, the Outside Girl said. But they’ve got a lot of work to do. He’s mostly been left to take care of himself. No proper nutrition. No adequate housing. Snakes in the house.

What kind of snakes? asked Grandma Barlow.

Black rat snakes, said the Outside Girl.

It certainly is hard to get rid of those, said Grandma Barlow. Everyone around here knows that.

Did you see that bite mark on his face? asked the Outside Girl.

Looks like it’s healed up good, said Grandma Barlow. That scar might fade in a year or two.

They don’t have a toilet, said the Outside Girl.

Grandma Barlow said, My own parents shat in a hole in the ground. They always had two holes, so that when one filled up, they’d just move the seat over and fill the next one.