JESSIE AND MARTHA did the laundry and made bread. Sage took a few hours to take the girls on a hike up to Lookout Point. By the time they got back, the little ones were so tired they could barely eat lunch. Bethie fell asleep on her bread, and the butter made it stick to her face. Jessie cleaned it off and carried her upstairs without waking her. “I used to sleep like that.” Sage yawned when Jessie returned. “My brothers teased me that they gave me the downstairs bedroom in case I got fat and they could no longer carry me to bed.” Jessie smiled. “It must have been hard being the only girl.” “It was sometimes, but mostly it was grand.” Sage added, “Did you have any brothers or sisters?” “No. I was an only child of two people whose families were dead before I was old enough to remember even one of them. My parents were best friends as well as all the family they had. I don’t think one would have wanted to live on after losing the other. I buried them within a week of each other, and I remember thinking that they must have walked into heaven together.”
