Salvage the Bones

The chapter opens with Esch walking to her Mother Lizbeth’s and Papa Joseph’s house. When her grandparents were alive, they lived on the same land as them. “The house is a drying animal skeleton”, because “now [they] pick at the house like mostly eaten leftovers” (58). Esch finds Skeetah pulling up linoleum from the house. He wants to cover the floor in the shed for the puppies because he believes they are contracting parvovirus from the dirt floor. Skeet also asks her for her help. The only instructions he gives are that she has to run, and that they’re going to the woods.

Their father arrives and Esch sneaks the linoleum out of the window so he won’t see. Their father asks them for help and even though Skeet tries to evade him, his father won’t let him go. He wants a few boards from the ceiling and makes Skeet use Esch like a stepstool to get them. Even though Skeet tries to refuse because he knows it will hurt Esch, his father won’t let up. Skeet tries to reassure Esch that he will be as quick as he can, and despite her feigned strength, she lets out a few sounds of pain.