After the boaters had dropped the two bodies at her house, the throng of neighbors mulled about for almost an hour. If anyone had stepped back and evaluated the events of that afternoon, what transpired would have seemed out of place and surreal. Normally, when a resident suffered the loss of a family member, covered dishes of food, delivered by a parade of neighbors, would have been commonplace. Offers of help and condolences would have accompanied the visitors. Rose received only two offers of assistance. The first was to bury her husband. The other gesture of kindness was from a widow who lived down the street and offered to take care of the children – if Rose had something for them to eat. The debate over the disposition of the bodies had raged in the front yard for some time. All the while, tempers rose and fell as people got worked up and then blew off steam with harsh words and empty threats. As with any group of desperate people, an enemy was soon identified.
