@@@@@Jeb chastised him halfheartedlyThey both
@@@@@Jeb chastised him
halfheartedlyThey both did a very good job of acting normalI had no acting abilityWhen
Jamie asked me about my day, the best I could do was stare intently at my food and mumble
one-word answersThis seemed to make him sad, but he didn't push me
At night it was a different story–he wouldn't let me stop talking until I begged to be allowed to
sleepJamie had reclaimed his room, taking Jared's side of the bed and insisting that I take his
This was very much as Melanie remembered things, and she approved of the arrangement“Saves me the trouble of finding someone to play guardKeep the gun close and
don't forget it's there,” he told Jamie
I protested again, but both the man and the boy refused to listen to meSo Jamie slept with the
gun on the other side of his body from me, and I fretted and had nightmares about it
The third day of chores, I worked in the kitchenJeb taught me how to knead the coarse bread
dough, how to lay it out in round lumps and let it rise, and, later on, how to feed the fire in the
bottom of the big stone oven when it was dark enough to let the smoke out
In the middle of the afternoon, Jeb left
“I'm gonna get some more flour,” he muttered, playing with the strap that held the gun to his
waist
The three silent women who kneaded alongside us didn't look upI was up to my elbows in the
sticky dough, but I started to scrape it off so I could follow him
Jeb grinned, flashed a look at the unobserving women, and shook his head at meThen he spun
around and dashed out of the room before I could free myself
I froze there, no longer breathingI stared at the three women–the young blonde from the
bathing room, the salt-and-pepper braid, and the heavy-lidded mother–waiting for them to
realize that they could kill me nowNo Jeb, no gun, my hands trapped in the gluey
dough–nothing to stop them
But the women kept on kneading and shaping, not seeming to realize this glaring truthAfter a
long, breathless moment, I started kneading again, to