She held it agape a beat before saying, "Are you talking to me?"

"Your name Estafay, isn't it?"

Estafay stood there looking shocked, and Robert Earl could feel her eyes searing the top of his head. She muttered something under her breath and then stormed out of the kitchen.

Shirley said, "We also need to inform Leonard."

"You really think we oughta bring the fag into this?"

"Don't call him that!" Shirley snapped. "His name is Leonard, and he needs to know."

"What about Momma?"

"She doesn't need to know. It'll only upset her."

Robert Earl scratched his neck and looked toward the ceiling. "It scares me to even think about this thing. In a way, it feels sorta...you know...wrong! Wouldn't it be a lot easier to beg Ruth Ann for some of the money? Wescreamed. "Get it off me, Shane! Get it off me!"

Shane tilted her head with one hand and pinched her neck with the other. "Here it is," presenting a small brown bug with a white dot on its back.

Ruth Ann almost fainted. "What if it has Rocky Mountain spotted fever? Or West Nile disease? I'm dead!"

"I doubt it. They bite me all the time. The head is still in. You'll know if you start getting sick."

"What! The head is still in?"

"I didn't get it all out, just the body."

"I feel sick already," rubbing her neck. She did feel queasy and her neck felt a little swollen where the tick was imbedded.

"I'm going hunting. Might be a while 'fore I get back."

"Shane, you can't leave! A tick with a dot