"I don't care," Wendell said. "Molly, you have to stop Reverend Crane. Go to the camp and warn the elders. It might not be too late to save Mr. Gooddell."
"Hold out your arms," she said. She used the scissors to cut off the empty halves of his sleeves. "I'm not sure what we can do about these pants. It's too bad the missus isn't here. She knows a lot more about sewing than I do. My Aunt Clara always told me I had the hands of a-"
"Mr. Gooddell is going to die! Don't you even care?"
"You really are an ill-tempered little boy. I do care about Mr. Gooddell. He's been like a father to me these last five years, but there's nothing I can do for him now. As the reverend says, we have to make sacrifices. I hate to sacrifice Mr. Gooddell because I know it will upset the missus terribly, but it must be done for the greater good. Do you understand?"
"Nothing good ever comes out of murder," Wendell said.
"It's not murder. It's really his own fault. If he'd listened to the reverend like he ought to, then everything would have been fine. He has no one to blame but himself now." She cut the excess from his pants and then used some of the string to cinch the pants to his narrow waist. When she finished, she pinched his cheek again. "You are so cute. I hope the reverend and I can have a bunch just like you, only with a better attitude. Although maybe you'll sweeten up after a few days. I know this must be a shock to go from a grown-up to a little boy. It was a terrible shock for me too. I'm still not used to it. When I walk around, sometimes I still think I have my grown-up legs. I tripped a few times on the way here. But after a while I'll get used to it and I'm sure you will too. Why, we look so much alike we could pretend to be brother and sister. I always wanted a baby brother, but Mama said we couldn't afford to have any other children and then the fever took them-"
Wendell hit her in the face as hard as he could. She yelped with pain, but didn't so much as stumble back a step. She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him over to a corner. "I want you to sit right here facing the wall and think about what you did. You can't go around hitting people. It's not polite."
"Molly, you have to listen to me-"