Gabe tried hard to walk and keep up with the men, but he was clearly exhausted and in pain, so they took turns carrying him on their backs. He kept nodding off, and no one seemed to feel like talking. It was after dark when Daniel and George got back to the lakehouse with the child. The house was dark. Candles were a luxury and Tess had the only kerosene lamp. The solution was to simply go to bed at sunset.
George made the kid a place to sleep on the floor of our room while Daniel went down the dark hallway to talk to Tess. I knocked lightly on the door to her room and she called to me to enter. “Light the lamp, Daniel,” she said, without asking who was there. Perhaps she knew by the sound of his footsteps, or perhaps, she just knew. The lamp and the matchbox were always together
