Parable of the Sower

Overnight, two people slip into the group’s camp while Jill is on watch and bed down among them. They are a mother-and-daughter pair, and they are scared when everyone awakes. Lauren offers them food, and they promise not to steal from them. However, Lauren does not trust them and believes they are thieves. Justin breaks the ice, and they laugh at Bankole combing his beard. Everyone shares what they can spare.

The woman, Emery, asks if she and her daughter, nine-year-old Tori, can come with them. Lauren holds a conference with her group and asks if Bankole has enough room for them. This is the first the others have heard about Bankole’s land and want to know if there are jobs. The group agrees to let the two join, although Allie predicts they “will both be pains in the ass” (291). Harry thinks Lauren is going soft and that she would not have allowed this a few weeks back. He reminds her that it might be much harder to get rid of them if things don’t work out.

A couple of days later, Tori finds two more companions for them: Grayson Mora and his daughter, Doe, who is one year younger than Tori.