Chapter 145

The next morning, my youngest daughter's husband went about his business as usual on the farm, as if nothing had transpired the previous night. The act helped him cope with the tragedy of the family's untimely death. It was he who instructed seven farmers to report to the berth area where we kept our small boats and be prepared to go fishing for the day.

As part of my attempt at being useful and as part of my desire not to remain in the same house as my daughter's body, I accompanied the men as they made their way to the waterfront to begin preparing the nets and fishing lines. We had just finished loading the fishing gear into the two little skiffs and were about to start out for the fishing grounds when a messenger came crashing down the highland from the farmhouse and stopped us in our tracks. He summoned us to the sick room in a thrashing of sweat and terror, telling us that something strange was taking place in there.

My son-in-law grabbed the sculls he was about to place