Baby Paul was fussing.

Ma was passed out again.

Little Susie couldn’t soothe Baby Paul.

She plopped down outside in the grass, matching the intensity of her own cries to be in unison with that of Baby Paul.

The tears rolled off the high green grass.

The stream ran nearby.

Susie didn’t have no food. Her belly hurt. She knew that if her belly was a hurtin’ then Baby Paul’s was too.

She could use some of Ma’s liquor to rub on Paul’s gums and let him rest for a while.

She could go off on her own; but the world was a dangerous place.

She could drown Paul in the stream that ran beside the outhouse.

She would drown Paul in the stream that ran beside the outhouse.

Anything’d be better than this. She was doing him a favor.