" Clint got quiet and stared away at the hills. "Hell of a thing for a ten year old boy to have to do but I got it done."He sort of shook himself and ...ontinued, "Jolly took over the diggin when I went to see to Ma. I wrapped her in one of the quilts she'd made and we put her in the ground. For two days Jolly sat on our front stoop and stared at her grave. I took care of the stock and fed myself. Finally Jolly stood and went to work."Clint had been looking out over the valley below his home as. She knew she was fortunate as she opened the back door to a beautiful, warm, spring morning. Her uncle owned the house where she lived, so she didn’t have to worry about an eviction for unpaid rent. She was reasonably secure, where so many weren’t. It didn’t stop the nagging feeling that writing felt like a job now, rather than a welcome diversion. The bright sunlight and musical tinkling of her fairy-themed wind chime weren’t enough to lessen that feeling of drudgery.Nevertheless, she sat. ”“Nasty bugger,” I murmured as I gazed at the huge, half metre long ‘insect’ we’d seized.“It’s dying,” Xi replied. “It’s designed ... for want of a better word, to seek out a host for its eggs. Strange thing is, those eggs are sterile, and there are no males. It doesn’t even have a food tract; it’s grown, finds a host, lays its eggs and dies.”“We’re examining the venom that it injects with the eggs,” Kyra added. “It’s magical in nature like the Drow poison, meaning it would affect pretty much. The only thing people comefor is the springs." Sorry, I guess I should've kept going."With an eye toward the sky, the girl seemed to soften, and told Herman,"The next real motel is quite a ways down the road. Why don't you pullyour bike into the shed over here and maybe you can relax in thesprings. We have one of them set up with a shelter so that you can getout of the weather." Okay," Herman replied, wheeling his bike over to the shed the girlindicated. As they closed the sliding door, rain.