Quiet as a mouse, I crept down the stairs of that big old house. Maybe I was more curious than I should’ve been, and the sounds they were makin’ made me think they mayhap wanted to be left alone, but I couldn’t help myself. I figured I knew what they were up to and just wanted to see exactly what they were doin’.

I’d heard Mamma and Pappy making those kinds of noises before and when they saw me, they yelled at me to git back to my room.

So I did what I was told and git, but after that I learned to be real quiet when I watched. I’d worked out that they didn’t want to be disturbed and so I did my best not to be seen; I learned to be a mouse.

I sure liked watchin’ when people made sounds like that. To start with, I didn’t really know all that much about what they were doin’ but I started to figure some of it out.  And I guess I just couldn’t stop myself.

It was only my third night here. Aunt Martha had been real kind to me since I arrived. I didn’t rightly know if she was my actual aunt but there wasn’t any place else to go, and this was where they’d brought me, and she’d said yes, I could stay for a few days while they figured out what to do with me.

That boy I saw when I got to the bottom of the stairs – I thought I’d heard someone call him Daryl. He wasn’t really a boy – he must’ve been about nineteen years old. Well, he wasn’t wearing anything at all, and his thing was going in and out of Mary-Beth like one of those pistols. It was all-shiny like, and I hadn’t ever seen anything that big before. Mary-Beth didn’t seem to mind though. I could tell it was Mary-Beth on account of her beautiful hair, which was the colour of molasses. I wish I had hair like that but mine was black as night. She was moaning and gasping and saying “Oh, yes, give it to me, baby!”.

She was on her back on that big couch next to the fireplace with her legs in the air and I got a real funny feeling in my tummy watching them. She seemed to be enjoyin’ it so much I wondered what it was like to be her at that moment. It certainly didn’t seem to hurt her none. Not like that time I put a zucchini in there to see what it was like, and it burned like a red hot poker when I pushed it in too far and I bled all over the sheets and Mamma got real mad at me; she had to go and buy another zucchini for supper.

“Daryl,” I heard a voice whisper. “I think we have a visitor.”

Crap! They seen me! I shoulda been more careful. Too busy wondering what it would be like if Daryl was doin’ that to me, I reckon.

I shuffled back out of sight real quick hopin’ maybe they’d forget about me but I guess that was wishful thinkin’.

“Hey, Dani, don’t go away. It’s okay – we won’t bite.”

I stopped, not sure what they wanted. Normally people get real mad at me, watchin’ them doin’ that and all.

Mary-Beth, she walked over – not wearin’ a stitch – and held out her hand.

“Hey, it’s alright, Dani. We know you didn’t mean anything by it. Daryl and me – well, we don’t get much time together, so we were just taking advantage of all the other kids being in bed.”

Cautiously, I took her hand, and she just held it, lookin’ at me, kinda curious-like. Main thing was, she didn’t look angry and I was kinda glad about that.

“Did you enjoy watching us, Dani?”

Keeping my eyes averted, I nodded.

“What did you like, Dani?”

I couldn’t meet her eyes, it was so embarrassing, her with nothing to hide her lady parts. She really didn’t seem to care, though, which was interestin’.

“Really, it’s okay, Dani. I know you’ve been through some stuff.”

“Those – those noises you were making, you – you really seemed to like it when he put his thing in you.”

She nodded like she understood. Mayhap she did.

“I did. Very much.” She looked questioningly at me. “Have you seen that before, Dani?”

I nodded again.

“Who did you see?”

“I – I seen Mamma and Pappy. Only They wasn’t making the same kinda noises as you. Pappy, he sounded more like that old mule we got out the back, a-heein’ and a-hawin’. Mamma, well she didn’t really say much at all.  Not when she was with Pappy, anyway.”

“Oh?”

“Some of the others, though – I think they liked it. Al – almost as much as you did.” I could feel my face reddening as I said the words.

“Others?”

I blushed again. “I – I like to watch. I try and keep real quiet so as no one notices me. I – I don’t normally get caught.” I looked at her reproachfully. “And I seen – I saw Pappy with Mrs. Dawkins once. He had her bent over the pew, her dress up over her back and all, and she was hollerin’ fit to burst.”

“Oh, really! Oh, my! In church?”

I nodded. “He was slappin’ her great backside like she was a horse and tellin’ her how he was doin’ her a real service, givin’ her his big woman-pleaser.” I paused, thinking back. “His thing wasn’t half as big as Daryl’s though.” I shook my head. “I guess I understand now what Mamma was on about when she was talkin’ to her friends.”

“Ooh, what did your Mamma say, Dani?”

“It was when all the Mamma’s got together for Knitting Circle. I was supposed to be playin’ with the others, only I was listening instead. She was tellin’ them all how Pappy had a wiener no bigger than her pinky finger, and I heard them all laughing when she said it. I didn’t know what a wiener was then, but I figured it out after.”

Mary-Beth looked like she wanted to laugh.

“Have you ever done it, Dani? You know – let a boy put his thing in you?”

I shook my head. “Mamma said it’s sinful. Unless I’m married. And she says I’m too young for that. I just turned seventeen last month and Pappy said I got to be twenty-one at least afore he lets me get married.”

“Well, now, I don’t think that’s entirely true. It’s kind of a matter of opinion, Dani. I'm seventeen too, though Daryl here is a mite older.” She paused. “What do you think?”

I bowed my head, not sure exactly what to say. I knowed – knew – what I wanted. Watchin’ them had me horny as a billy goat and slippery as an eel.

“Would you like Daryl to put his cock in you?”

My cheeks grew redder than my ass after Pappy gave me a whuppin’, and I could feel it getting even steamier between my legs when I thought about it.

Shyly, I nodded.

She smiled. “Well, we’d better get you warmed up, then. Shall we take this night dress off?”

I didn’t rightly know if I needed much warmin’ up – they had them a big fire going in the fireplace. But I didn’t want to argue with her, bein’ so nice an’ all.

I nodded again, and compliantly raised my arms. Mary-Beth carefully lifted my shift over my head, leaving me naked as a jaybird. It felt weird and nice all at the same time, and I guess I fit right in now that we was all in the buff.

“Oh, you’ve got such lovely tits!”

Warmth flooded my face at her words. People didn’t normally say nice things to me like that. ‘Specially about my boobies. They’d grown an awful lot in the last year. Then Mary-Beth reached out a hand and took me completely by surprise.

“May I…?” Before I could say anythin’, she took my nipple between her fingers, and I gasped in shock as the warmth shot right down to my beaver like it was joined to it by electricity.

“How does that feel, Dani?”

“Ohhh, ahh, pretty good,” I admitted in a hoarse whisper.

“But you’re not looking very happy…”

Truth to tell, I didn’t know what I was feelin’, her being a girl an’ all.

“Aren’t you enjoying it, Dani?” She was rollin’ my nipple now, and I was whimperin’, with my lips pressed together.

“It – it’s confusing. I – I like it, but I – I also feel…”

Then Mary-Beth slipped a finger between my lips down there and I thought I was goin’ to wet myself. I moaned like I heard Cindy-Lou do at the barn dance when Bobby Fletcher had her in the bushes.  

“What do you feel, Dani?”

“A – ashamed.” I just about got the word out, ‘cos what she was doin’ to me was making me all gooey inside, like I was full of warm maple syrup.

“Why do you feel ashamed, Dani?”

“Be - Because it’s a sin!” It was difficult to say anything with her fingers inside me like that. My legs were startin’ to shake and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand up.

“Who says?”

“Mamma. And P – Pappy…ohh!”

“How can something that feels this good be a sin?”

“I – I don’t know.”

“Does this feel wrong, Dani?”

“N – no…”

“Of course not. Because it isn’t.”

Then Daryl came over. He’d been watchin’ Mary-Beth playin’ with me with one hand on his thing and it was sticking out like one of those sticks the Sheriff carries in his belt. It was kinda wavin’ hello at me and I eyed it warily.

“You’re teasing the poor girl, Mary-Beth. Why don’t you both come and sit over here, and we can all get to know each other a little better?”

Mary-Beth sighed and let go of me and for a moment, I was disappointed. But I needed to sit down around about then to stop my legs shakin’ so much, and getting to know Daryl a little better seemed like a mighty fine idea, even though Mary-Beth was being so nice.

They sat either side of me on the couch, and then Mary-Beth leaned over and kissed me. I hadn’t ever been kissed before. Not like that, anyways. But her lips were real soft and I sighed as Mary-Beth went right back to playing with me. I opened my legs, and her fingers seemed to know exactly what to do. Daryl, he sat there watchin’ and strokin’ his thing.

“Do you want to stroke Daryl’s cock?” Mary-Beth asked.

I swallowed. I did. I really did want to stroke it. Trembling, I reached out my hand and touched him. I thought it would be hard like glass, but it wasn’t. His skin was warm and soft. I wrapped my hand gently around him and started to slowly move up and down, and Daryl groaned in response. My eyes widened at how he reacted to my touch.

“Mmm, he likes that, Dani.”

“He – he’s got a really nice thing,” I whispered shyly. “It feels really, you know, warm and friendly.”

“I bet it does,” she giggled. “You can call it a cock, you know.”

“Oh, no!” I shook my head vigorously. “Mamma caught me saying that word once, and she washed my mouth out with soap and gave me such a spankin’ that I couldn’t sit down for two days!

“Well, she isn’t here now, is she? And we won’t spank you for saying ‘cock’ – unless, of course, you want me to? Some people seem to like it.”

I looked at her a might puzzled, and then realized what she meant. And I blushed again as I remembered Stacy from across the street. She was always sassin’ her Ma until she got put over her knee and given a good hiding with that hairbrush of hers, and she sure did seem to be doin’ it a purpose sometimes, like she was wanting it. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might’ve enjoyed it – just like Mrs. Dawkins with Pappy that time.

I didn’t think I wanted to do that. Not right now, anyway. I was more interested in what I was doin’ with Mary-Beth and Daryl. They really were such nice people!

I didn’t rightly know why, but I wanted to get a taste of Daryl’s silky thing. So I slipped down on my knees and put my lips around the tip of his – of his cock. It was all purple and swollen, and only just fit in my mouth. I’d seen Mrs. Dalton do this to the boy who delivered her groceries, and she seemed to enjoy it, so it was surely worth a try. What she did to him made him sing her praises to the lord. Without a doubt, he was a lot more vocal with Mrs. Dalton in her backyard than when he sang in church.

I remembered what Daryl was doin’ when I first saw him, and I guess he tasted of Mary-Beth – which wasn’t at all like I thought it would be. I sorta licked around that purple part until Daryl put his hand around the back of my head and encouraged me some, and I tried to do what I saw Mrs. Dalton do that time; I took more and more of his thing into my mouth until I was just about chokin’. Daryl really seemed to like this, because he said so.”

“Oh God, Dani, that feels incredible! You sure you’ve never done this before? Oh, my lord, I think I’m going to cum if you keep that up, Dani!”

Guess I was having the same effect on him as Mrs. Dalton on that delivery boy. Thing was, if I was a bettin’ gal – which I wasn’t – I’d say Mr. Dalton was missin’ out.

“Are you – are you gonna, you know, make a mess?” I gasped in between deep-throatin’ him. I’d seen what happened when a man got too excited and past that point where he can’t help himself – it tended to go everywhere, and then some. I heard Mrs. Dalton cuss somethin’ awful when it went in her hair, and down the front of her dress. I bet that stuff was a real bitch to wash out, too. I guess it didn’t help when Mr. Dalton’s car pulled up right after. Everyone was runnin’ around like scalded cats pretending I don’t know what, but it turned out okay, and she greeted her husband with a smile and a kiss. She was a might out of breath, though.

“That’s okay, honey. You can let Daryl cum in your mouth. If you swallow it all, it won’t make a mess at all.”

Mary-Beth really was a nice person – she was full of good advice and tips on how to keep from mussin’ my hair. Even so, this was my first time, and I still wasn’t real sure and I guess Mary-Beth could tell from my expression that I wasn’t totally convinced.

“Hey, no, it tastes nice! Really – it’s like – like vanilla milkshake when you suck it up through a straw.”

I pulled a face but carried on bobbin’ and tickling him under those big balls of his with my fingers – somethin’ else I’d seen, only I couldn’t exactly remember who. It might have been Jacqui Stevens at her seventeenth birthday party when she was with her Pa’s best friend in the bedroom upstairs where they’d put all the coats. I heard him say he wouldn’t cum in her mouth, but I guess he lied.

Anyways, Daryl groaned something deep and I felt him pulse in my mouth, and I sure was struggling to swallow everything he was shooting in me, but I wanted to do what Mary-Beth said, like a good girl. And Mamma had told me it was rude to spit anything outta your mouth once you’d put it in, so I didn’t.

Turns out Mary-Beth was wrong about the vanilla milkshake – it really wasn’t like that at all. But it didn’t taste too bad. Maybe a bit saltier – truth to tell, it was more like that clam chowder you get at Pete’s Diner in town, only not quite as lumpy. When I ran my tongue around my mouth, there was a layer coatin’ my teeth.

Mary-Beth was smiling. “Well done, Dani. You know, after that, what I think you need is a drink.”

“I sure wouldn’t mind some lemonade, Mary-Beth,” I agreed.

“Not that sort of drink, Dani. A real drink. We’ve got something you might like right here.”

Mary-Beth handed me a glass and I took a big mouthful and washed it around my gums and swallowed. And I got to admit, it tasted good. Mary-Beth smiled at me again and reached for me.

“How does it feel when I touch you like this?”

I was getting’ used to her fingers now, and wasn’t quite so tensed up. In fact, I was startin’ to feel a lot more relaxed and what she was doin’ with her fingers felt even better than before. Daryl bent his head and put his mouth on one of my nipples and his hand on the other, and I could feel what Mary-Beth’s fingers were trying to do.

“Pappy calls them my beef curtains, and he told me they had to say shut.” I don’t know why I said that right then, but I was startin’ to feel so relaxed, I could say just about anything.

Mary-Beth, she looked at me real thoughtful like. “But, Dani, if you ever want to let the light in, you have to open those curtains, don’t you?” And her fingers parted those drapes of mine and started to stroke me up and down and I could feel the heat rising in me, and my heart startin’ to beat faster.

“Don’t you want to let the light in, Dani?”

“Ye – yes, please, Mary-Beth.”

“You know, they’re not really curtains, Dani. Where I’ve got my fingers, that’s your pussy. Is it all right if I call it your pussy?”

I didn’t really care what she called it. I just closed my eyes and let out a sigh. “Uh-huh,” was all I managed to say. Meanwhile, what she was doin’ just made me want to open my curtains right up so she could climb all the way inside me. Right now she was circling my little button, like I sometimes did when I was alone, only it was a lot nicer when she did it, and I didn’t feel ashamed in the same way.

“Daryl calls it my pussy, Dani. He also likes to say it’s my furry chalice. And he likes to drink from my chalice, Dani.”

I didn’t know what a chalice was, but it sounded good. Like something from Roman times that you rode in.

“Dani, would you like me to drink from your chalice?”

I frowned, and pressed my lips together. I wasn’t quite sure what she was suggestin’ – only at the same time, I kinda was. “Isn’t – isn’t that another sin?”

“Oh, no, Dani, it isn’t,” Mary-Beth said firmly.

Hesitantly, I nodded. I was so relaxed now that I thought I might fall asleep, and I felt like I was with good friends. I trusted Mary-Beth.

Mary-Beth got down on her knees between my thighs and I gasped as she put her lips on me.

She sighed. “Oh, my lord, Dani, you taste good. You’re just like apple pie.”

“Apple pie?”

Mary-Beth didn’t answer me. She was too busy eatin’ apple pie from my chalice, and I was certainly startin’ to ride something, I can tell you, though whether it was a chalice or not, I didn’t rightly know. But I took ahold of Mary-Beth’s head and pulled her into me and her tongue was findin’ places I didn’t even know I had…

Oh…

Oh, oh, ohhhhh…

I guess I had what those ladies in the Knitting Circle called an orgasm, and I don’t know if I wet myself or not, but I didn’t really care. Neither did Mary-Beth from the sound of it.

“Hey Dani? Hey, little mouse? Did you enjoy that?”

“Oh, yes,” I mumbled dreamily. “Can I have another swig of that drink?”

“Hmm, not sure that’s a good idea, little mouse. That’s quite strong stuff.”

“Just one more. Pleeease?”

“Okay. But take it slow, alright?”

Oh, my – that tasted good. It slid down my throat really easily. I’d never felt like this before. Didn’t know if it was the drink, or what had just happened to me. It was like something inside me had just up and exploded.

“Was that your first orgasm, Dani?”

“Uh-huh.” I was feeling soo sleepy.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Would you like to do the same for me?”

My eyes went wide, and I started to wake up again.

“Have you ever tasted pussy, Dani?”

“N – no.”

“If you like, you could taste my pussy, Dani. Just like I tasted yours. Would you like to do that? Make me feel like you just did?”

“I guess…” It was only fair after all. If she made me feel like that, then it was only right that I should return the favour. That’s what they taught us at school; if someone gives you a gift, then you should give something back of equal value.

I’d never looked at a woman’s parts before. Well, okay, I’d looked at mine in the mirror when Mamma and Pappy were out. But it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t get this close to myself, and right now I was as close as you could get to a pussy, and it weren’t – wasn’t – mine.

Mary-Beth was moist, and sticky and there was a lot of hair surroundin’ that stickiness. I dipped my tongue in her and it was a whole sight easier than suckin’ on Daryl’s cock, I can tell you.

She didn’t taste the same as Daryl, either. I tried to think what exactly it was like, but I don’t think it was like anything you could get at Pete’s Diner. It wasn’t really apple pie. Nor was it clam chowder. Anyhow, I thought it tasted just fine, and Mary-Beth, she was moanin’ just like I had been, so I guessed I was doin’ somethin’ right. Truth to tell, I felt right at home with my tongue in Mary-Beth and it didn’t feel like no sin to me if she was feelin’ good like I was. If anything, I was helpin’ her out, and that’s what they tell us to do when we go to church; you just naturally want to help your friends.

Mary-Beth started buckin’ and moanin’ and I had to hold on firm to her buttocks as she humped my face. My nose was slidin’ up and down her little button and my tongue was mostly in her pussy. But she was buckin’ like a bronco so much I’m sure my tongue spent just as much time in her ass as it did in her holiest of holies. She didn’t seem to mind, though, cos’ she put her hand on the back of my head and kept me there, just like I had to her, and I guess I didn’t mind either. I understood exactly what was happenin’ to her.

I think maybe it was better than apple pie. I can’t figure why they don’t make something that tastes just like this. Strikes me it would sell real well in Pete’s Diner. If I ever go back maybe I’ll suggest it.

When Mary-Beth finally let me go, Daryl was a watchin’ us and his cock was hard again. He looked at the pair of us like it was his birthday and Christmas all rolled into one plus he’d just gotten first prize at the tombola.

“So, what do you think, Mary-Beth? Is it my turn?”

“Well, she did say she’d like your cock in her.” Mary-Beth looked at me. “And she looks nice and warmed up now. Do you still want that, hon? Do you want Daryl to show you what bein’ with a fella is all about?”

I giggled and nodded. “Oh, yes please!” I didn’t know if I was floatin’ but it sure felt like it. I was light as a feather.  “Can he do it like when I saw you earlier? He was slidin’ in and out of you so easily, and you were sayin’ such nice things! I want to feel that, too!”

“Alright, hun. Now, it might hurt to start, and you might bleed a little…”

“…Oh, I don’t think that will happen Mary-Beth. Not after the Zucchini that time, but…

I frowned and hesitated. My mind was suddenly very woolly. “Mamma said a man mustn't ever let his thing, you know, erupt, in there.”

“Well, she was right about that. Now Daryl here is not gonna cum in you. He’s gonna pull out before he gets too close. Is that okay, hon?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded.

“Now, you lie back on the sofa and pull your legs back – that’s it, honey.”

Daryl shuffled up on his knees, and his cock was right at the entrance to my pussy, and all of a sudden I was worried ‘cos he looked a lot bigger than that poor zucchini.

But Mary-Beth was real helpful. She told me to relax and helped guide him into me, and I gasped as he started to push inside. It didn’t hurt at all. I guess I was so wet and slippery you coulda pushed a watermelon in there and it would’ve been okay.

He started slidin’ in and out of me and, oh my, it felt sooo good. It wasn’t the same as when Mary-Beth was lickin’ my chalice, but he was stretchin’ me and I felt so full! Mary-Beth, she started usin’ her fingers again, circling my lil’ button and all of a sudden I was startin’ to go back to that place where I’d felt so good before. I vaguely heard Mary-Beth’s voice somewhere, but it seemed to be a long way away.

“You better not cum in her, Daryl!”

Then someone – I think it must’ve been Mary-Beth – slipped a finger in my ass and I squealed as I instinctively squeezed my muscles and Daryl, he just groaned and then he was pulsing in me and tryin’ to pull out all at the same time.

“Oh, crap!”

But as he flooded my insides, I was explodin’ again, and I could feel waves all through me, and I wrapped my legs around him to stop him leavin’ me, and he cried out.

“Let go!”

“No, I want you in me!” I was in that special place again, pulsing like Daryl was, and I just wanted it to keep goin’ and goin’.

“I’ve cum in you, Dani! You need to let me out!”

I felt like I was floating on air. “You’re right, Mary-Beth. This can’t be wrong. It feels soooo good. No way it can be a sin.”

Then Daryl finally managed to pull out and I suddenly felt very empty! And I seemed to be leaking something awful. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Daryl and Mary-Beth arguing.

“You idiot! What did you do that for?”

“I couldn’t help it! Why did you stick your finger in her ass?”

“You pushed your finger up my bottom!” I chortled.

“I thought she’d like it!”

“I did,” I giggled. “It was very nice.”

“She’s been here less than three days, and you’ve knocked her up!”

“You don’t know that.”

“He filled my furry chalice,” I tittered dreamily.

“Mary-Beth, you’d better suck that out of her!”

“What? It’s not like snake venom, you muppet!”

“It’s got to be worth a try, though.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I tried to pull out. She wouldn’t let me!”

Mary-Beth sighed. “Honey, let me see if I can get that out of you,” I heard her say.

“Okay,” I giggled. I opened my legs and I could feel her tongue on me again. I put my hands in her hair. “Are you gonna give me another orgasm,” I asked.

ooOoo

I think I must have fallen asleep for a bit, but when I woke up, I was hungry. Daryl and Mary-Beth had both put on some clothes, and they'd draped a blanket over me, which was real thoughtful of them.

“Are you okay?” asked Mary-Beth worriedly. I frowned, then nodded. I thought back. “Uh, did Daryl – did he…?”

“Yeah, he did. But we’ll sort it out in the morning, Dani, okay? Hopefully, it won’t be a problem.” I nodded again. I trusted them, because they’d taught me so much and I felt so much better about myself.

“Um, Dani, can I ask you a question?”

 “Sure.”

“Do you know how you came to be here? Nobody’s saying anything, but there was a lot of whispering when you arrived. Can you tell us what happened?”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell. I wasn’t supposed to have been there but, truth was, I’d seen most of it. And that nice man from the Sheriff’s office, he never told me not to say anything.”

“They didn’t know I was there,” I whispered. “I was hiding – you know, like I do, pretending to be a mouse in the corner, where nobody ever sees me.”

“Dani, did you see what happened?”

I lowered my eyes and nodded.

“Mamma and Pappy, they were arguing something fierce.”

“Yes…”

“I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t without, you know, giving myself away…”

“Yes…”

“And then Ma shot Pa with that old scatter gun he keeps on top of the dresser.”

“Oh, my God! Why?”

“On account of what he was doing with Mrs. Perkins.”

“The woman in the church?”

“No, that was Mrs. Dawkins.”

“Damn, Dani! Didn’t your Ma know about Mrs. Dawkins?”

“Everybody knew about Mrs. Dawkins, but he didn’t get her in the family way like he did with Mrs. Perkins. I heard Mamma say that was the last straw, an’ Pappy, he started hollerin’ an’ shoutin’ but Ma wasn’t havin’ any of it. She reached that ol’ gun down, and Pappy, he stepped toward her, so he let him have it.”

“Dani! Did – did she kill him?”

“I don’t think so. There was a lot of blood and stuff, but we kept that ol’ gun loaded with birdshot in case of varmints and such. Made a bit of mess of Pappy, but he was alive when the ambulance took him away. He was cussin’ a lot, but I guess it serves him right. The County Sheriff took Mamma into custody, but they didn’t know what to do with me, so they brought me here.”

“Do you know how long you're going to be here?”

I shook my head. “They didn’t know what to do with me. They couldn’t leave me alone, and we don’t have any family hereabouts. So the Sheriff suggested they could bring me here, where the other orphans are. At least until they know what’s gonna happen.”

What’ll happen to your Ma?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Mamma has real strong feelings sometimes. She’s mostly okay, though, unless someone does something she thinks is especially bad. She just got really riled when she realized someone put their pecker where they shouldn’t and got someone in the family way.”

Daryl and Mary-Beth, they just kinda looked at each other, their eyes wide. They didn’t look too happy, but I sure felt a lot better with my two new friends. I hoped Mamma would like them, too - if she ever got to meet them, that is.