Summary

Donna’s Ladle, a soup kitchen for women, was enjoying an increase in attention as it had suddenly become the town’s favorite cause. Donna directed the kitchen while Pam and Beth were full-time employees. They required those who came to the kitchen to follow the rules — no one was allowed to hit or hurt anyone — even though they could do nothing about the abuse they suspected took place outside the soup kitchen. The women who came and brought their children or grandchildren to the kitchen sometimes had been drinking or drug problems as well as communicable diseases. The guardians were often mean to the children.

One day a girl and woman dressed in Puritan clothing entered the kitchen. The staff and volunteers at the kitchen immediately did not like the strange couple. Donna learned that the girl’s name was Rhea and her...