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finger, bracing herself for his fury.
    “When you get tired of that, give him a bottle,” Lulu said.
    “I don’t have a bottle,” Eveline said as Hux lapped eagerly— magically! —at her finger. Why hadn’t she thought of this? What kind of mother was so resourceless? So bottleless?
    “I’ll bring you one tomorrow,” Lulu said.
    Eveline wondered what she meant by neighbor . After a long winter, the very idea of Lulu made her hopeful. A friend!
    “You just changed my life,” Eveline said.
    Lulu put out the cigarette with her boot and flicked it off the porch. “For the better, I hope.” She held out her hand, which Eveline shook. “Lulu Runk.”
    “I know who you are,” Eveline said. “I used to see you in Yellow Falls.”
    Because she realized how much she missed talking about things that husbands weren’t interested in, she added, “Ain’t something I’m likely to forget soon.”
    Lulu’s mouth got crooked again. “I only do that so people will stay out of my way.” She lit another cigarette and passed it to Eveline, who pulled the nursing blanket over Hux’s face and held the cigarette between her thumb and index finger like Lulu.
    “What’s your name?” Lulu said.
    “Eveline LeMay. I mean Sturm .”
    “You’re nervier than you look.”
    The two of them sat on the front porch most of the morning, enjoying the sun and cool spring wind, which made Eveline think of those lazy Saturdays and Sundays growing up in Yellow Falls, when her mother would make blueberry pancakes and her father would listen to his favorite radio program and Eveline would swipe spoonfuls of maple syrup when no one was looking. Tuna was flying herself dizzy, trying to keep up with all of spring’s birds. While they rocked, Lulu smoked more and Hux fell asleep. For the first time in weeks the world slowed down, and Eveline could hear herself think again.
    It turned out Lulu lived in what Eveline and Emil had thought was the abandoned cabin on the other side of the river.
    “We were gone this winter,” Lulu said. “Trapping up north. We’re only back because Reddy was cleaning his rifle one day and shot one of his toes. You’d think he was dying for all the fuss he made. Reddy’s my husband. Our trapping days are over.”
    “How long have you been married?” Eveline said.
    “Long enough for him to drive me crazy. He’s like a brother you want to punch.”
    “I don’t want to punch Emil,” Eveline said, waving to himas he came up from the river through the forest, a rod in one hand and a string of bluegills in the other.
    “Give it time,” Lulu said. She stood up and called for Gunther to quit horsing around in the meadow and bring back those mayflowers straightaway. “You need a cowbell,” she said to Eveline. “That’s what I use to herd my menfolk in.”
    “Will you stay for lunch?” Eveline said, the taste of fish already on her tongue.
    “No thanks,” Lulu said. “I have a hard-boiled egg somewhere in here.”
    She reached into the pocket of her coonskin coat and, instead of an egg, which sounded wonderful—Eveline hadn’t had one since September—Lulu pulled out a rumpled envelope. “I almost forgot why I crossed the river,” she said. “When I was in Yellow Falls a couple days ago, Earl gave me this. He said you all moved out this way during the fall, but he says a lot of things that aren’t square. If I’d known you were up here for sure, I’d have brought you supplies from the general store. Or a few chickens. Gunther got his hands on it if you were wondering about the dirt.”
    “You didn’t get our note then?” Eveline said.
    “What did it say?”
    “My husband wrote it,” Eveline said, motioning to Emil.
    After Eveline introduced Lulu and Emil, Lulu tucked the cigarette she’d rolled but hadn’t gotten around to smoking behind her ear and walked up to the meadow to retrieve Gunther, who was minding his toy gun instead of her. Even when they’d made it through the forest