Bip nodded. How different the family must have felt to Bay, who was able to boss people around. I thought how the longer I stayed with the family, the better off I’d be. In a few years I’d be like Gemini. In a dozen, I’d be like Sara.

“Can we at least eat a snack?” I said.

Bay gave me a sloppy, appeasing kiss on the cheek. “I’ll buy you a nice snack,” he said. “Maybe some pancakes. For my valentine.” He unlocked his car.

* * *

Bay ordered French toast for me at the diner in Woodfin. I saturated the thick triangles with artificial maple syrup. I got a coffee, which I marbled with plastic thimbles of cream. I was sure I had never tasted anything so delicious. On the farm they were probably eating heavy cornmeal cakes with sorghum syrup, and tea from the land. Bay ordered eggs and toast and only ate the eggs. He wouldn’t eat that fake-world bread. When I was done, I regretted that I hadn’t dilly-dallied to slow our progress to town. So I ate Bay’s toast as deliberately as possible.

The waitress called me sweetie. “He’s been giving you enough to eat?” she said. She kept trying to catch my eye when Bay wasn’t looking. The clock read only half past ten.

I went to the bathroom to gather myself, and to stall. I couldn’t resist the mirror, though I knew it was a bad idea. I hadn’t seen my own face since the bait shop. I looked strangely gaunt. No wonder the waitress had been so concerned. I had a line now between my eyes, and pitted cheeks, and my sunspot had darkened. My hair had grown over my ears into a shaggy bob. I splashed water on my face and slapped my cheeks. Isaac would not like the way I looked.

I rejoined Bay. He whistled as we headed to our first Dumpster in town. We pulled up to the Aldi’s parking lot. The store reliably didn’t spray bleach over the food waste. Bay handed me a headlamp and nodded toward the Dumpster. “I’ll be the lookout,” he said. Below a layer of scummy mushrooms I found bell peppers, raspberries, Butterball turkeys, and box after box of cream cheese. We piled our haul into bins in the backseat. Now I smelled terrible, along with everything else. I started to worry about how my plan could go wrong. I imagined finding Isaac and looking so dirty that he’d call the police. I slumped in the seat as we drove to Amazing Savings.

Bay looked at me. “Hey, you’re the one who convinced me to go on this trip,” he said.

“I don’t feel well,” I said. Maybe now was the time to sneak away. “Actually, I wondered if you have any errands you’d like me to run while you do the rest of the Dumpsters.”