And Ruth Ames watched him with an expression he could not read. He said, "I will take the two youngest." Ruth Ames said, "Mr. Dunn, the terms allow one child." He said, "I know what the terms allow." She said, "If you take two, you will need to show the society that you can provide for both.
That means a home visit, a letter from a minister or a teacher, and a second placement fee." He said, "How much is the second fee?" She said, "$15." Caleb had $52. The feed store in town was owed 11.
The frier was owed six. The placement fee for one child was $10, which left 25. And 15 of that would go to the second fee, which left $10 to carry two children and himself through the spring. He said, "I will take Lucille and Bess." Ruth Ames did not write anything down.
She said, "You understand that Lucille is 5 years old and Bess has not yet turned four. Neither of them can work your land or keep your house. They will need to be fed and clothed and sent to the school in town when it opens, and they will give you nothing in return for years except the cost of raising them. Caleb said, "I understand." She looked at him for a long time.
Then she said, "Wait here." And she walked back to the children and knelt in front of Lucille and said something quiet that made the girl look over at Caleb with wide eyes. And then Ruth Ames stood and took Bess by the hand and led both children across the platform to where he was standing. Lucille looked up at him and said, "Are you taking us both?" He said, "I am."
Lucille said, "Best, too." He said, "Best, too. Lucille turned to the smaller girl and said, "We are going with him, Bess, both of us." And Bess looked up at Caleb for the first time, not at his boots, but at his face, and she held her tin cup against her chest and did not say a word. The five children still standing on the platform watched.
Edmund Pace, who was 12 and strong and had said all the right things, stood with his jaw set and his hands at his sides, and watched the man walk away with the two smallest children on the train. And he did not move, and he did not speak, and he did not look away until the wagon pulled out of the depot yard and turned south on the Alcali road. Ruth Ames stood on the platform with the remaining five and did not watch the wagon leave. She was already writing in her ledger. The ride back to the claim took 3 hours.