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By Root 670 0

table, Alice might get off and running about doing something commonplace. She could make a transaction at the walk-up window at First Federated in downtown Prairie Center sound as elemental as a Greek tragedy. She’d fling her arms around, raving. Her hair would come out of its band. Sometimes I’d rein her in. She tended to see the world in black and white, and if I’d make a remark about how the bank manager wasn’t actually evil, that he was forced to be conservative because of federal banking regulations, she’d lower her eyes and pinch up her lips, butter a piece of bread. Theresa would urge Alice to go on, to continue the story. It was always Theresa who would say something lighthearted and probably true. “Don’t pay any attention to that man,” she’d say, laughing at me. “Men, they know too many details for their own good.” With modest prodding Alice would continue, looking to the right of me. She meant to tell her story only for the benefit of our neighbors.

Emma had removed her shirt. The three of us stood watching the coil under the teapot turn orange, as if the electric stove had the mesmerizing power of a campfire.

“What is this about, Howard?” Theresa had a naturally soft voice. When she spoke, a person had to watch her mouth to understand what she was saying.

“What?” I asked.

“How are you?”

How was I? I needed to get Alice out of the county jail. I needed to work. I was spending the day walking in circles, getting close to nothing done. I needed to care for Emma and Claire, and protect them. I made them take naps in the afternoon so I could rest from their noise. They were then wide awake half the night. We had run out of food and I didn’t know if I had the energy to drive far enough away to buy groceries. It seemed that the world beyond the farm was itself floating farther and farther from us. I wasn’t sure I was going to meet the month’s payment, let alone come anywhere near the bond or Rafferty’s fee. I wasn’t at all sure that our cows were going to have anything to eat in the coming winter, or for the rest of the summer, for that matter. I was hungry myself. “I’m fine,” I think I said.

“I’m so upset about this,” she whispered across the table. She was taking quick, short breaths so she wouldn’t cry. She rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up. “We only got home this afternoon. We took longer than we planned. I hate this country. I walked in the door—I nearly tripped over the stack of papers in the hall. I’m standing reading, saying out loud, ‘What? What?’ And who should come along but Suzannah Brooks, of course, the model Christian, making sure I’ve heard the dirt. When she said ‘Robbie Mackessy’ I just shut my mouth and closed the door.”

I put my hand to my lips, to make her stop talking. I didn’t want her to say anymore in front of Emma.

“If I’d been here I could have prevented this, I just know it. I would have insisted on interviewing Robbie. I would have talked to the police. I know the Mackessys—I’ve had them in therapy. Give me four, five hours, and I could tell you their troubles. Carol’s parents, both of them, were profoundly deaf. I mean, they’d never heard a thing. They had about six kids and every single one of them ran wild. Carol never said exactly, but I’ve a feeling that her two older sisters are—”

“Let’s talk later—” I began.

She was skipping from thing to thing, literally rattling on. She was shaking both hands, spitting as she spoke. “Robbie is an accomplished liar! I’ve seen children like him who will do anything to manipulate his family. His mother has given him plenty of opportunities to build his conman skills. When I told Dan that Alice had been arrested, that she was in jail, he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Don’t worry about it! Can you believe it? That man is practically unconscious. When I told him I was coming down here he said, ‘That’s probably not a good idea, Theresa. You know how people talk.’ Do you see what I mean? He’s lost his senses! I put it to him: I said, ‘They’re in trouble, so they’re not our friends anymore?’ The worst of it is, I don’t have a clue how to