human
Mother wanted only some milk.
gpt
Do you think you can keep those youngsters busy today, so they won't bother your mother and sister?
human
Yes.
gpt
Try your best, Bobby. We're going into Laramie today.
human
I'll help drive,
gpt
I'll need help.
human
Dear Lord, spare us our little girl. She is a good child, Lord, and will grow up to be a good woman. We'll take care of her, Lord, and do the best we can for her, if only you'll pull her through again, as you did before. She rocked the child gently, and her thoughts went on after the prayer in a kind of formless argument. Little Emma hadn't asked to come out here in the wilderness. They had brought her, and now she was sick. For one wild, horrible moment she thought of baby Emma dying and being buried out here in the limitless plain, and her breath stopped. But no, no, no--she would be well again, she would be well and laughing and running in the tall grass. Emma bent her tense, determined face over the feverish child, as though by sheer will she could drive the illness away, banish the fever and the pain. And in her mind the prayer continued, over and over:
gpt
Dear Lord, spare us our little girl.