Chapter 4
Perrin was often reminding me of the miserable life I’d have if I left home for town like our sister did. Our farm provided fresh food and offered space for long walks through the woods. Without it, there would be no cats to pet or breed, no goat’s milk, no long afternoons swinging in the hammock tied between two mammoth oak trees or any other such leisure. Without an income, I could wind up as an Unsaved—a person without a home or security of any kind, left to certain death by disease or starvation.
“Better to be a spinster here than leave for town,” Perrin once advised. “Even better, marry Archie Thimm and have your own farm. He’s a little old and c**k-eyed, but nice enough. He would treat you well. Fate is cruel, sister.”
After the bus dropped me off and I fed the two horse
