She went out and I took over. Wrung the rags out in the suds and scrubbed again. Moved over to where the floor was dry and scrubbed more. I noticed the small window had been cleaned. The ceiling, made of painted board, was still wet from her scrubbing. It dripped a little near the lightbulb. I scrubbed my way out the door and hauled the pan of disinfectant with me. I shut the bedroom door to trap the smell.

In the living room, Carlotta was kneeling on the mattress, stuffing folded sheets in a grocery bag.

“Spike’s wife gave me these sheets. She’s boiled them, but I had them hanging out in the sun this morning. The sun purifies things.”

I sat beside her on the mattress and rubbed at my running eyes and nose with my arms.

“What are you going to name the baby?”

“I don’t know.” She closed the bag carefully and laid it on top of the piled clothes.

“Aram says we ought to wait awhile and see what he’s like. He says a name can influence your life so it ought to be appropriate to a child’s nature. Not picked to please some great-uncle or something.”

“Where is Sam?”

“Out in the cabin talking to Lichtenstein. His wife left him.”

“Already?”

“She didn’t like the life. She wanted a toilet and a washing machine. She was a real phony. Six inches of mascara. He only married her because he caught Laura going around with Professor Lynch.”

“Oh.”

She stretched out on the mattress and put her hands on her belly.

“Where’s the kid going to sleep?”

“In there.”

She waved an arm and I went to a corner with a cardboard box full of diapers and shirts. The size of my hand, the shirts. They made me nervous, giggly. Next to the clothes box was an apple box. It reeked of disinfectant. A woven blanket padded the bottom. Another blanket cushioned the sides.

“That’ll do for a while.”

“I thought of that shopping cart, but I don’t like all that shiny chrome. And I can move this around anywhere. Babies aren’t supposed to use a pillow—did you know that?”

She went into the kitchen. I heard water running into a pot. Angelina entered the living room and sniffed. The disinfectant seemed to please her, and she snorted about with her long nose. Carlotta walked by with a plate of cold rice. She leaned out the door and scattered the rice for the chickens. Their chuckling sped up and became cheerful.

“Ugh. Come look at this.”