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Wonderful words of life.

Article Excerpt
After the last notes of the organ postlude and the pastor's amen, Mrs. Rosser stops Alice in the church vestibule. She waits until the other worshippers have filed outside. Mrs. Rosser clutches her tattered coat around her. There's no one else she can ask. She sees that Alice's husband doesn't come to church with her. He waits outside in their truck, a big quiet man. Something's wrong there, and that gives Mrs. Rosser courage.

Alice stands holding her new baby. A girl, Mrs. Rosser has heard. Must be, she's wrapped in a pink quilt, appliqued angels and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep embroidered in a fine hand.

"What is it?" Alice smiles. She's known to be friendly which is why Mrs. Rosser has chosen her.

Mrs. Rosser wrings her hands. "I was wondering. I need to ask somebody a favor." She can't keep her eyes still. She knows they're roaming around the room. She tries to settle them on Alice's face. "Next Friday. Could you watch my children? There's something I need to do."

She watches Alice's jaw go slack. Mrs. Rosser knows it's too much to ask. Three of them, two boys and her own baby girl. "I can bring them to you."

"Mrs. Rosser. We live seven miles out of town."

"I know where you live."

That was a mistake. Mrs. Rosser realizes as soon as the words are out of her mouth. How would she know where Alice Preston lives? She can't tell Alice that her man knows where everybody lives. That he makes it his business to know. That he follows people and sneaks behind bushes and peers into windows. She forces herself to look at Alice while she lies.

"I know it's that road west of town. Out by Degraw School, isn't it? That's what people say."

Alice hesitates and bites her lip. Mrs. Rosser doesn't help her. She doesn't say oh, that's all right, the way she knows she is supposed to. Instead, she holds her breath and waits.

When Alice agrees, Mrs. Rosser steadies herself with a hand against the wall. She watches while Alice walks down the stairs and out the door. She believes her prayers have been answered.

She lives in an abandoned storefront in a ghost town across the North Platte River from Redwing. Her days are full. She wakes the children, carries wood for the stove, hauls water from the pump across the road, heats oatmeal, warms the baby's bottle, sweeps the dirt floor, stuffs rags in the cracks of the walls, slices thin pieces of bread for the boys' lunch, walks them across the highway to school, rocks the baby, hauls more water, washes the baby's diapers, simmers a pot of turnips, walks to Parker's Store, lets down the sleeves of the boys' coats, mends the torn knees of their pants,...