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Chapter 3 Molly l As he walked home from the pool hall, Eli could feel everything he drank sloshing back and forth in his stomach, and he felt nauseous. He wasn’t sure, though, whether it was the soda or the feelings in his heart that made him sick. As soon as he arrived at the cabin he and Jim shared, he went to his room. Eli could remember the first time he had come into this house. He had been so hungry, and the smell of the already prepared food was so overwhelming that he could think of nothing else. Jim slid a pile of dirty clothes off of a chair for Eli and scooted it to the table. Once Eli had finished eating, and sat back and looked around, he could tell this was the home of a bachelor. Clothes, most of them worn and dirty, were draped across chairs, tables, and everything else. Although it was nice, the house was dusty and cluttered, having had little or no care in years. Jim cleared enough out of a second bedroom for Eli to sleep that night. It had a bed in it with a toy bear resting on the pillow and a beautiful, carved wooden horse on the floor beside it. Eli wondered why an old bachelor would have a two bedroom house containing such things. When he inquired about it the next day, Jim had just grunted and quickly stored the toys out in a shed. Eli decided that Jim must have had people rent from him before, or something, but he wasn’t sure. Over the next few days, Jim and Eli had 32