I stare at my mama with my mouth open. This had not crossed my mind. Of course she’s right. We can’t trade in town, but moving means traipsing through dangerous territory. Last time, it was nearly impossible to find a house with a working well outside of town walls. We’ll risk being attacked, running out of gas, or starving to death. No wonder Ethan’s in the barn sulking.

Arn raises his eyes to mine. The bruising under his left eye is a yellow green. He goes back to spooning the soup into his mouth. Auntie says nothing, but the furious clicking of her knitting needles speaks for her.

My mama offers me a calming smile. “It’ll be fine, darling, as long as we’re together.”

As long as we’re together. It usually brings me comfort. Today it falls flat.

“I’m going in the barn,” I say, heading for the back door.

“What about your lunch?” she calls.

“I lost my appetite.” It’s a childish thing to say, but I can’t help myself. I am jogging when I hit the back porch.

The barn’s familiar animal scent greets me as I enter. Bounty moos deep in her throat. I detour towards her and stroke the soft fur along her nose.

“Hey, girl. Thanks for watching them while I was gone.” She flips her ears back and forth, dislodging a few flies that buzz up and spiral around to her back. We won’t be able to take Bounty. Arn will butcher her and the pigs before we leave. God, this day just gets worse. I turn away from her big brown eyes.

Ethan’s squatting on the dirt floor next to the rabbit cage he’s constructed out of old chicken wire. He’s passing bits of carrot through the bars. Superman is a scrawny brown hare with long ears and a little cotton ball tail. He’s too skinny to make a good dinner, anyway. I sit in the hay next to Ethan, my arms around my knees. My brother slides another carrot top through the wire into Superman’s awaiting teeth.

Finally, Ethan looks up at me. “Are you gonna kill him?” he whispers.

I reel back. “What? No! I’m not going to kill your pet.”

Ethan shrugs. “Mom says I can’t keep him when we move, so I thought maybe she sent you out to kill him.”

I shake my head. “She promised. You and your pal got a couple more days. Then we’ll send him back to his bunny family.”

Ethan slips his fingers through the mesh cage and strokes Superman’s soft sides. The jackrabbit is surprisingly calm at my brother’s touch.

“He bite?” I ask.

Ethan shakes his head. “Not me. When I got him out of the snare, he was bucking a lot and scratched my arm, but I calmed him down.”

I stick my fingers through the wire and stroke Superman’s rump. He twitches a little at the initial touch, but doesn’t jump away.

I lean into Ethan’s skinny frame until our shoulders touch. “It’ll be fine, you know. As long as we’re together.”