He said, "What are you doing?" She said, "Cooking." He said, "That is not how you make biscuits." She said, "Then show me." So he stood next to her and showed her how to cut the lard into the flour with a fork and how much water to add and how to roll the dough flat on the board without pressing so hard that the biscuits came out like hard attack.
She watched him with the same focus she gave to everything and repeated each step exactly. And the biscuits that came out of the oven 20 minutes later were flat and lopsided and the best thing Caleb had eaten since October. Bess sat at the table during the lesson and watched. She held her cup and did not speak. But when Caleb set a biscuit in front of her, she picked it up and took a bite and looked at him, and she held his eyes for more than a second before she looked away.
The fifth day brought rain, and the sixth day brought more rain. And on the seventh day, the creek rose and took three fence posts from the south pasture. Caleb spent the morning in mud up to his knees pulling wire and driving new posts. And when he came back to the house soaked in cold, he found Ruth Ames sitting at his kitchen table drinking coffee that Lucille had made. He stopped in the doorway.
Ruth Ames said I am here for the home visit. He said already she said the society requires it within 10 days of placement. I have inspected the house and spoken with both girls. Lucille showed me the kitchen and told me that you taught her to make biscuits and that the cat sleeps on the porch and that you gave them the bed and you sleep on the bench. She also told me that you have not raised your voice once in seven days, which she said she is keeping count of.
Caleb looked at Lucille, who was standing by the stove with the coffee pot and looking at him with an expression that dared him to deny any of it. Ruth Ames said, "The placement is provisional for 6 months. I will come back in August. In the meantime, you will need that letter from the minister." He said, "We do not have a minister in Whitfield."
She said, "The school teacher will do." Mr. Harlon on Main Street. I spoke with him this morning and he said he would write the letter. Caleb said, "You already spoke with him." Ruth Ames said, "I am efficient, Mr. Dunn."
She stood up and put on her coat and picked up her bag and walked to the door. And then she stopped and turned around and said, "The five children who remained on the platform in Whitfield were not placed." The northbound carried them onto Ellis and the Ellis families took two. Edmund and Joseph and Thomas went on to Hayes. Caleb said nothing.