The Marrow Thieves

Wab tells the group about her background: Her mother was a drunk who had sex with many strange men—many of whom also tried to assault Wab, who was still a child. Wab and her mother end up on the street avoiding food banks lest someone turn them in to the Recruiters. Wab describes: “We’d heard too many stories about the death camps, the way we were being murdered real slow” (81). Wab’s mother becomes useless, leaving Wab alone to trade her running skills for food. 

The Recruiters catch Wab “on a bogus run they’d put in” (82), using an “Indian” willing to sell Wab out. When Wab arrives at the delivery location, she learns that the “letter” she was to deliver is blank. The men there are interested in extorting people for services they can provide, but “[n]obody wants to pay the prices we’ve set for our communications excellence on account of some squaw bitch who’ll do it for a tin of food” (84). The leader slices Wab’s face, blinding her, then rapes her. While Wab does not recall exactly what happened, she hears later that she was held captive and continually raped for two days. 

Wab concludes her