She wouldn't live to be cut or be gnawed by coyotes. At breakfast, sometimes, Call would catch him staring into the fire the way old animals stared before they died--as if looking across into the other place. At some point she heard the baby whimpering but she was too tired to rise. Perhaps it's best that it dies, she doesn't want it, she thought, and then the next moment the baby's eyes would open for a second and her heart would fill.
It was because she was so frightened of him that she wanted to, yet the same fright kept her from it. That boy's dressed all right, how come you skimped on the girl? No opportunity, Roscoe said. Gamblers were thick in the saloons and he had never seen a place where as many people went armed. It put her out of sorts with Lippy, for it was still hot in her room and she would rather have stayed in the saloon, where there was at least a breath of breeze.
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