She took a wobbly breath in. “It’s my dad. He’s worse. Much worse. He’s not even making sense today. And the wound on his leg, it kind of … smells bad. And we’re stuck out here and there aren’t any other wanderers nearby, and I don’t like to leave him for too long. I don’t know what to do, Maggie; I just don’t know what to do.”

The trellicillin.

I pulled the bottle from my shorts pocket.

“Here, I got this.”

Una took it. “Is this antibiotics?”

“Yeah. For your dad. It’ll help his leg. And his fever.”

Una’s mouth dropped wide open. She held her hand to her lips. “Oh. Oh. I can’t believe it. I never thought … I can’t believe it. Maggie, are you even real? You’re like our guardian angel.”

I picked at my thumb.

Una turned the bottle so the label was on top.

“Who’s this, though?” she said. “Elsie P. Wetheral? Is this her medicine? Will she be OK without it?”

Will Elsie be all right?

I hadn’t even thought about that.

“She’ll, um, she’ll be fine,” I said. “She’ll just think she lost it. Or never had it in the first place. Her memory’s not so good, see. She can get another bottle. Doctor Sunita’s got plenty more.”

Did Doctor Sunita have plenty more? I didn’t know.

Una shook her head. “I can’t believe it. You’re the best, Maggie Cruise. The best. Is it really OK? Can I really take them?”

“Course.”

She put the bottle into the big patch pocket on the front of her dress and pulled out the cloth bag from yesterday.

“Here,” she said. “This is yours. The food was delicious. DEE. LISH. USS. Dad wasn’t up to eating much, so I’ve saved some for him. Oh, it was the best food I’ve eaten since he hurt his leg. In fact that homity pie was probably the best thing I’ve eaten since Grandad died. Dad’s fine at hunting, but he’s not a great cook, and neither am I.”

Since Grandad died?

“When did your grandad die?” I said.

She bit her lip. “Winter before last.”

Winter before last. Water froze up in the laundry pipes that year. We had to help Mum dig cows out of the snow. They didn’t all get dug out alive.

“It was really cold,” I said.

“Yep. Too cold for an old man to survive, that’s what Dad said.”