He gazed up at her seriously from the dust of the dooryard. He knew that however much she might love him, he would always love her more. And as always when he thought these things, the premonition came that ka was not their friend, that it would end badly between them.

If it’s so, then your job is to make it as good as it can be for as long as it can be. Will you do your job, Eddie?

“With greatest pleasure,” he said.

She raised her eyebrows. “Do ya?” she said, Calla-talk for Beg pardon?

“I do,” he said, grinning. “Believe me, I do.” He put an arm around her neck, pulled her down, kissed her brow, her nose, and finally her lips. The twins laughed and clapped. The baby chortled. And on the porch, old Jamie Jaffords did the same.

Four

All of them were hungry after their exercise, and with Susannah helping from her chair, Zalia Jaffords laid a huge meal on the long trestle table out behind the house. The view was a winner, in Eddie’s opinion. At the foot of the hill was what he took to be some especially hardy type of rice, now grown to the height of a tall man’s shoulder. Beyond it, the river glowed with sunset light.

“Set us on with a word, Zee, if’ee would,” Tian said.

She looked pleased at that. Susannah told Eddie later that Tian hadn’t thought much of his wife’s religion, but that seemed to have changed since Pere Callahan’s unexpected support of Tian at the Town Gathering Hall.

“Bow your heads, children.”

Four heads dropped—six, counting the big ’uns. Lyman and Lia had their eyes squinched so tightly shut that they looked like children suffering terrible headaches. They held their hands, clean and glowing pink from the pump’s cold gush, out in front of them.

“Bless this food to our use, Lord, and make us grateful. Thank you for our company, may we do em fine and they us. Deliver us from the terror that flies at noonday and the one that creeps at night. We say thankee.”

“Thankee!”cried the children, Tia almost loudly enough to rattle the windows.

“Name of God the Father and His Son, the Man Jesus,” she said.

“Man Jesus!”cried the children. Eddie was amused to see that Gran-pere, who sported a crucifix nearly as large as those worn by Zalman and Tia, sat with his eyes open, peacefully picking his nose during the prayers.

“Amen.”

“Amen!”

“TATERS!”cried Tia.

Five