Rhines living in Gloucester, the news that Molly and Sally had been taken to the workhouse turned out to be the last straw. Tammy was still around, though not even Easter would have welcomed a visit—however unlikely—
from that bitter pill. Cornelius flitted around like a bat, but he never stopped in. Of course, Ruth was right there under her own roof, but Easter might just as well wait for one of the wild dogs to inquire about her aching knees as expect her boarder to sit down for a chat. Ruth was the only reason she’d been able to stay in her house for as long as she had. The meat, pelts, and feathers from Ruth’s traps brought in enough to trade for sugar, needles, and the few other things they could not grow, scavenge, or mend. But the fact was, Ruth gave her the mopes. Easter needed company.
So when Judy Rhines made a special trip to talk to her about the possibility of a situation in town, Easter heard her out. It seemed that Louisa Tuttle, newly widowed, needed help at the tavern she’d inherited from her husband.
She did not want a man around telling her what to do anymore, and she was wary of younger women who might get
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themselves into trouble or just up and leave if a husband happened by. Easter posed no threats and had no prospects but still enjoyed some reputation as a friendly and honest publican. “You’d get two rooms above the tavern at the green,” Judy said. “I saw them, Easter, and they’re more cheerful than you might expect. And you know that I’d be pleased if you were closer by.”
Judy had told Louise that Easter would never leave her own house, but she had agreed to tender the offer because she was concerned about Easter’s health: her dress hung off her like a scarecrow.
Easter looked around and considered. She certainly did love her house and liked having her way. It would be hard leaving the roomy parlor and setting things exactly where she wanted them. Starting over at sixty seemed an awfully steep mountain to climb. But after a year without a single paying visitor, she had to admit that her business was dead.
“I’ll do it,” she said.
Judy gasped. Easter was herself surprised as well; not only about how easily she’d decided, but also at the way the words had immediately lifted a weight off her shoulders.
She was sick of eating squirrel, and the walk into Gloucester seemed to get longer and steeper from one month to the next. But the main reason for her relief was that Easter was starved for conversation.
At supper—the only meal Ruth was ever there for—the African usually took her plate upstairs. On the rare occasion Easter insisted she stay at the table, Ruth never answered a question with anything more than a shrug or a nod. After a thousand nights of cheerful attempts, Easter had admitted defeat: Ruth’s silence was as much a part of her as her nose.
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Easter didn’t like eating alone, so she ate too little and sighed too much.
Once Easter said yes, it wasn’t more than two weeks before she was ready to move. The night before she left, Easter made an especially big pot of stew and enough bread for a week. She motioned for Ruth to sit down at the table and then held her by the arm until she’d had her say.
“I’ll be going tomorrow, Ruth, but I’m counting on you to stay right here.” Easter spoke slowly, wanting to be sure the African heard every word, even if she made no reply.
“I ain’t selling the place, ’cause I ain’t sure that I won’t be back. I know you’ll take good care of things for me. You keep the town boys from taking any of my timber, or the windows. They steal the windows first. And you mind that the roof stays tight.”
Easter waited until Ruth nodded.
“I’m going to leave you the table and my good chair, and a few other things. You get out of that attic and hunker down by the fire, too. You’ve been a good boarder,” Easter said, her voice quivering at the thought of Ruth alone in the house. “I got no complaints, there, and I hope you . . .” But she didn’t really have any hopes for Ruth, who had retreated inside herself, more every year.
Ruth’s head hung below her shoulders, like a dog getting a scolding. They finished eating in silence. Finally, Easter released her for the last time. “Good night, dearie,”
she said and went back to the last of her sorting and packing.
Ruth scraped the chair getting to her feet and Easter startled, thinking maybe she heard a good-bye. But when she turned, Ruth was on her way up the stairs.
Judy Rhines arrived early with Oliver driving the
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