"Caramel inside."

The boy swallows. "I ain't never had chocolate like that before."

There is a shout from across the field; the boy looks again in that direction. Then he turns back to Ora, looking at her as if for permission, or release.

"Go on," she says, and she waves her hand. He puts the rest of the Milk Duds into his pocket, and as she watches him hurry through the dirt clods she is sure that Dale is also watching from the doorway behind her, is sure she feels his disapproving gaze. But when she turns, the doorway is empty, and she is alone.

The Mercy Seat © 2018 by Elizabeth H. Winthrop. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. All rights reserved.