I bring in what I got for Jacob and I start by giving him the water, but he’s on his back and he gurgles as I pour it in his mouth, and I get scared like I’m going to drown him. I sit him up quick, and slap his back and the water pours out of his mouth. I prop him against the wall and feed it to him in little sips and they seem to go down ok since I see his throat working.

I pick off little pieces of the lettuce and poke them into his mouth and he swallows that too, so I move on to the beans and that goes about the same way. I think it’s funny how Jacob now will eat his veggies when he couldn’t abide by them before, and maybe that’s a good thing, but I remember how before, Jacob would be funny when he would eat vegetables and would pretend to barf and that would make me laugh so hard water came out my nose once. I would pretend to barf too, but it wasn’t as funny as when Jacob did it. “Yuk!” I say “them veggies is mighty terrible. Ain’t that right?”

I make fake barfing sounds and Jacob ain’t crack a smile, but that’s ok and then I picture Jacob, just under water like what Momma says so maybe he can hear me a little, even though I can't bring him up out of it. I brush my hands together and say like Dady does, “welp! After that delicious meal, I say we’s about to go outside for an adventure!” I know I can't lift him, and I ain’t want to drag him on the floor again so I look around for something I can use. I grab up my blanket from my mattress and roll him onto it.

“Now you’s an injured cowboy what with arrows and all kinds of things sticking out of you. Shouldn’t have tangled with that tribe, and now I guess you’re paying for it enough, but we got to get you to safety! Maybe even have to chop off one of your legs on account of how deep that arrow went into your kneecap. Don’t that look like it smarts something awful!” I look around like I’m alarmed “here they come! I done heared a war whoop and they’s closing in on us!” I grab up the corners of the blanket and drag Jacob out of the room and I pull him through the living room and out the front door.

When we get out, I pull Jacob the opposite way of the garden for I ain’t want Momma to see us and I ain’t comfortable seeing her how she is right now. Pull him up into the woods under trees with high branches and the ground is covered in silky pine needles. He’s pulling along better than I thought he would. I’m getting out of breath and I stoop for a rest and I look up and there’s a fat squirrel sitting in a tree. He’s nibbling a pine cone, and there’s bits of it sprinkling down and it’s settling on Jacob and my shoulders and I say, “watch out! They droppin’ poison on us! They got the very wildlife against you now, and we better get moving!”

I keep pulling him along, and we finally reach a spot on the top of a little hill all covered in clover. Me and Jacob found it before, and we liked to sit and watch animals eye us suspiciously while they ate near the edge of the clearing. I sit next to him and a wind ruffles his hair and that makes him look more alive. The purple clover flowers are good to suck on, and they taste like honey and I give some to Jacob for the sweet of it. Bumble bees are all about us, and I like them, for they look like black velvet and they ain’t never in stinging moods. They only want to get the sweet from the hillside, like us.

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We sit for a time and the sun goes behind a cloud, and I’m cooled down after pulling Jacob and I get goosebumps, so I gather up the ends of Jacobs blanket and drag him back to the house, and it ain’t as hard seeing as how it’s now downhill. We get back to the house and I set Jacob down outside near the front door and peek around the corner at the garden, but Momma ain’t there no more and I look inside the house and she ain’t inside there either, so I drag Jacob the rest of the way inside to our room and lay him on his mattress. I can't read too good yet on my own, but I have a few books what have lots of pictures in them that Daddy let me bring up here. I set beside Jacob and get to explaining what all the pictures mean, and what story they is telling, even though I can't really be sure. “Ok, Jacob. I’ll read you my favorite story, and I expect the words tell it like it really is, but I’ll tell you how it ought to be”

I turn the pages until I come upon my favorite story. It’s my favorite because it’s a little spooky, but looking at the pictures and coming up with the story in the day time ain’t like when it’s dark when it makes me want to hide under things or make a small brick house and close it up at the top so nothing can get inside. “Here we go” I point to a picture of a cartoon wolf with a small crooked top hat. “That there is the number one wolf. He likes to wander around and lean on fence posts and stuff until people walk by and he can trip them and laugh.” I turn to the next page and there’s the wolf again only wearing a white coat with a head on it like a sheep, and in the distance, you can see a flock of sheep, eating grass and flowers and frolicking around. “This here is the part where he wants to be their friends. He thinks that if he wears a fancy coat, they’ll ask him where he got it and he can tell them. Then he can ask them a question because that’s what you call a conversation starter.”

I turn to the next page and this one has the wolf peeking above a small hill so just his nose and the top of the sheep head coat are showing. “This here is him getting closer, but he’s shy and having second thoughts about walking up to them.” The next page shows the wolf running at the sheep with the sheep coat flopping around him. “Here is where he’s finally gotten enough courage to run on up and say hello. Good friend he is.” I turn to the next page and this one is my least favorite page. It shows a man running at the wolf with a huge stick with a long, curved end to it, and his face is terrifying. The wolf looks scared and is running away.

“Here is where the bad man chases away the wolf who just wants to show off his fine coat to the sheep. Now he’s going to be alone forever.” I close the book and I hope I read this early enough in the day so that man’s face doesn’t give me nightmares. I read through another book with Jacob and I run out of ideas for what all we should do for the rest of the day. I look outside and wonder where Momma went off to, and when Daddy was going to be back.