Lina hid coyly when Kade arrived in his truck to take her home. She’d spent all afternoon with us and had said very little. I was not surprised, as I sat in the rocking chair on the porch, (badly in need of paint) when she peeked her head round the lamppost near the shrubs at the side of the porch.

Kade spoke in quiet tones to Mother and Lina watched from behind the pole, twirling the frayed yo-yo string in her tattered fingers, endlessly fraying it further, so that if it were attached to a yo-yo it would never return the toy to its master’s hand.

Father’s footsteps sounded on the porch above me, the one that was only accessible from his bedroom. Kade and he had spoken only twice since Lina had come to stay with us, and I could smell the smoke from his pipe merge with sweet huckleberries as he paced the wooden boards above my head.

I tried to pay attention to the deer near the wood’s edge as they hovered near the dark. A mother and her fawn had rushed into the wood when Kade pulled up, but had cautiously ventured back out into the clearing to slowly make moves toward Mamma’s lettuce and tomatoes.

The deer where not enough to hold my attention, so that I became restless, playing with the change in my pocket, loosening my tie, rocking and sucking ice from the empty glass which was once full of Mamma’s homemade lemonade.

She (Mamma) became suddenly shrill. I heard her say to Kade that Lina would not be leaving this house in her condition. Not today, not ever, until Kade came to his senses.