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On March sixth, 1901, Jack Marston got a little sister, Abigail named her Ruth. Jack didn’t like Ruth that much at first, he was excited for her to come during Abigail’s pregnancy, but with her wailing late into the evening and Abigail’s attention diverting to her, he began to wish he was still an only child. But when Ruth was three days old and Abigail let Jack hold his little sister for the first time, and Ruth cooed up at him, Jack wanted her to stay.
They were renting a small room in a boarding house outside of Seaford, Delaware at the time. And when John was out doing whatever odd jobs he could manage, Abigail would sew or mop or do whatever other chores needed to be done while Jack would sit next to Ruth’s crib and read her one of his storybooks. When Ruth slept, Jack would tell Abigail that when Ruth could walk he’d take her to play in the snow. She had smiled and told him that she wouldn’t be walking for a while. When Jack's smile quickly turned to a frown, Abigail quickly told him that she’d take him and Ruth out to look at the thawing river the next day. Jack thought Ruth had looked funny all bundled up, the only part of her he could see was her face. Jack liked the thawing snow and river, it all looked pretty in the sunlight, he wished John had been there when Ruth was cooing up at the sky as snowflakes caught on her lashes.
Jack noticed that his father hadn’t changed much, but he held Ruth in such a way that he seemed like a softer man. Not a killer or a bastard, but a man who wanted to walk her down a wedding aisle one day. There was still that anger and fear inside of him, the kind that made him who he was, but it was different now. Jack was a little jealous. He’d sit at his fathers feet, playing with the few toys he had, his father would hold Ruth and his mother would rest her head on his shoulder with a look on her face Jack had only ever seen when a young woman was being courted. On some of those nights, when Abigail was doing something else or was already asleep, Jack would be the one sitting next to his father. It was more awkward for the two of them, but being so close to his father in moments like those were what Jack enjoyed.
Things felt entirely different, and Jack liked that. With his little sister, things felt a little more permanent. As if John would suddenly put an end to his life as an outlaw and buy a house for them all, like he was supposed to. And as Jack and Ruth would grow older, she’d get Jacks old story books gifted to her and they could sit in silence and read together. Or they could play outside and find a dog to bring home. They could all go into town and see one of those moving pictures and buy a new toy from the general store.
But Jacks hopes for that kind of future quickly started to dwindle when John didn’t put an end to his ways. They had to move again, heading up into Pennsylvania this time. Jack hated to leave the boarding house behind, he didn’t see it as the ideal place for all of them to live, but the room was always warm and he was almost afraid of where they’d have to stay in Pennsylvania.
Jack hadn’t seen his mother so upset with his father in a while. It was mainly because of Ruth. She didn’t want to be running around trying to find homes anymore, not that she ever wanted to do it to begin with. Jack remembers how Ruth had cried in his mothers arms for the entire fight, sitting up on the wagon box while John drove and Jack sat in the back, biting the inside of his cheek and trying to ignore the argument by reading.
Everything was tense when they got to Pennsylvania.Their new house was abandoned in a small clearing in the woods, it reeked of something awful and the land around it was muddy. Abigail would’ve demanded they stay somewhere else if she weren’t so tired. Every floorboard in the house creaked, a few of the windows were broken in and Abigail took to covering them with spare blankets.
No one liked it there in Pennsylvania, being there made everyone more irritable and uncomfortable. It wasn’t the worst place they’d ever stayed in, but Abigail acted like they were back in Beaver Hollow, she didn’t hide her disdain for the place, another argument had started between her and John a week after they moved in about how Ruth and Jack deserved a better home. They went further north the next week.
Things repeated; they’d find a new place to stay, things would remain tense, and they’d leave either because of some sort of trouble John got into or because they ran out of money.
It was September when they made their way out to Rushville, Illinois. They were renting a hotel room, John was doing delivery work for the post office on top of other odd jobs. Abigail and John’s fights continued, but Jack recognized the sweet moments between the two of them. When John would stand behind Abigail and massage her shoulders as she sat and ate, or Abigail straightening out the collar of his shirt. Jack had taken to trying to teach Ruth to read, walk, and talk even though she was far too young, he wanted her to grow up faster so he’d have someone to play with. Jack just wanted to hear his sister say his name, it would make it feel like she was more alive outside of her crawling and crying.
Things seemed steady again in Illinois, John and Abigail were slowly getting better, they had enough money to stay in the hotel, and Jack was able to read to Ruth again. Ruth would reach out for the pages of Jacks story book, cooing and putting her hands in and out of her mouth, Abigail would sit on the bed and sew a rip on one of John’s shirts, and John would sit in a chair by the window and chuckle to himself. Abigail saw things going smoothly, she’d point out houses to Jack that she could see their family living in sometime soon, John would humor her. Abigail would tell Jack about the school he’d go to and how nice the books there would be.
September dragged into October, and October quickly turned to November. The entire family was surprised they had stayed in Illinois for so long, but Abigail saw it as a good sign. John still hadn’t settled fully, he’d be at the saloon at least once a week, Abigail would berate him and Jack would ignore them. But Ruth was able to stand now, which was exciting to Jack and Abigail. Ruth was getting bigger, Abigail had began telling Jack many stories about him when he was little, John was often silent durning these stories.
Things were finally back on track, they had money, they had a place to sleep, they had food, and the arguments were becoming scarce.
On November thirteenth, their hearts shattered when John couldn’t wake up Ruth one morning. Abigail was beside herself, snow was beginning to fall and John had left to go see the undertaker, leaving Jack with his sobbing mother. Jack was sad, not as heartbroken as Abigail, but he had cried a little when John explained things to him. He had no one to play with again, his story books would belong to him until he had his own family and he’d find his own dog. Jack felt sick to his stomach knowing he had slept so close to the dead body of his baby sister, it didn’t make sense to him.
They buried Ruth three days later in the closest graveyeard. John had helped dig the scarily small grave. Abigail cried the entire time, Jack and his father were teary-eyed, but Jack couldn’t cry and John wouldn’t. John was the one who held Jack on his hip throughout the funeral, helping his other arm wrapped around Abigail. John and Abigail would always have a daughter and Jack would always have a sister, they’d all grow older and she’d stay the same, they’d leave Illinois and go far away from that place, coming back every few years, the last time they’d see the grave was when Jack was thirteen.
Jack wouldn’t visit his sisters grave for a long time after that, it was a strangers grave, really. He’d be wearing his fathers hat and he’d be much taller and look much different. Ruth would stay the same in her small grave, John and Abigail would stay the same in their graves and Jack would continue to change. Jack would often wonder how different things would’ve been had she loved a little longer, but he knew he’d still be an angry man with no family left and too afraid to go home.