He found three of them in the first 10 minutes. The split kindling pile was low. The water barrel on the east side of the house was almost empty, and one of the stall latches in the barn was hanging loose on one bolt. He started with the kindling. Calder found him there 20 minutes later working at the splitting block with an axe that was too heavy for him, but that he was managing through sheer bloody-mindedness, and he stopped in the doorway of the barn for a moment and watched the boy.
"You don't have to do that," Calder said. Wesley didn't stop. "Kindling piles low. I'll get to it tomorrow. I've got it. " Calder watched him for another moment.
Then he said, "You've been holding the group together since that platform, haven't you? " Wesley split a piece of wood. Someone has to. How long you been doing that? Wesley thought about it. Since we were all at the county house last year.
They put the young ones in with me. I don't know why. Maybe they just ran out of room and Maisie kept crying at night. So I He stopped. I just kept doing it.
How long's your leg been like that? Wesley's rhythm with the axe didn't change since I was nine. Had a fever. Does it hurt? Sometimes he split another piece.
Not always. Calder came the rest of the way into the barn and picked up the maul leaning against the wall. He didn't take the ax from Wesley. He just started splitting alongside him using the bigger tool on the bigger pieces of log. They worked in silence for a little while.
You think I'm going to send you back? Calder said. Wesley didn't deny it. Maybe, he said. I'm not.
You don't know that yet. You don't know us yet. No, Calder said. But I know what I said. Wesley split a piece of wood and stacked it and considered this.
People say a lot of things, he said. They do. Calder's voice was even. I'm not most people. You don't know enough about us to say that yet.