Knox nodded and Nash reached to give his scalp a good scratch to be sure. Undoubtedly he found it itchy because he kept on scratching while nodding.

“It’s best to check everyone’s head and figure out who needs treatments. I stopped by the drugstore on the way here.” Walynn lifted the bag slightly.

Once Boss returned, we lined up like farm animals waiting for inspection at the 4-H tent with hopes of taking home the blue ribbon from the county fair. Luckily, after thorough examinations, only the younger twins turned out to be victims of the menacing mess. They’d been attending a summer day camp, and that had to be where they’d picked up the problem. I made a mental note that they’d be spending the rest of the summer at Camp Tobacco Barn.

“Dave’s head needs to be checked too,” Walynn pointed out.

I shook my head. Pa never got within arm’s reach of the twins, and it was doubtful he’d picked up lice from across the room. “He’s not feeling so good. I’ll see to him later. For now let’s figure out what to do to get those boys’ heads clear.” I towered over the petite woman, but she didn’t seem to let that or my curt attitude intimidate her.

Walynn pointed a long red nail somewhere behind me. “Does that hand pump by the shed work?”

I glanced over my shoulder at the black apparatus with an aluminum bucket hanging off the lip of it. We’d washed up there and quenched many a thirst over the years. Not sure why, but the water out of that pump tasted better than any I’d ever had. “Yeah.”

“Perfect. If you’ll get me a chair off the porch, I’ll work on the boys’ heads out here and you can work on washing all their bedding and any dirty clothes. That should take care of disinfecting inside.”

The groan rose up my throat, knowing that equaled at least four loads of laundry. I hated doing laundry. But there was no time to groan. If Walynn was going to help me straighten out this mess, I’d have to suck it up.

Charlotte came rushing from the kitchen with plastic wrap coiled around her head. It reminded me of Foxy’s head wraps, except this one was transparent.

“What are you doing?” I started moving around her to grab the cleaning supplies, but she blocked my path with the roll of plastic wrap.

“Let me wrap your hair first. Then we can start cleaning.” She started unraveling a strip.

“Why?”

Rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth. “So those bugs don’t jump in our hair. Duh.”