Jade tried to slide the bean sack beneath the counter and caught her right fingers between the cloth and a bowl groove. The fingers closed after the sack had stopped. She had to lift it with her left hand before she could free them, spilling a handful of beans across Solla's clean floor.
The father who had brought the sack crouched beside her, gathering each bean into his palm while his wife kept their baby away from the stove. He held up what he had recovered. "I brought these here because our room was turning. If they're kitchen beans now, what do I take when we leave?"
Jade left the sack on the floor. She had seen Solla checking the bread shelf and assumed the beans belonged with the rest. Behind her, someone shifted the folding chair from the lamp house to make room for a child. Its owner immediately pulled it back beneath his wife.
"I should have asked before moving what you saved," Jade said. "Where do you want it while you decide?"
