`` Of course she was n't , '' scoffed Jerry . `` If you 're fatally sick you die . '' `` Oh , well , I never died exactly , '' said Mary , `` but I come blamed near it once . They thought I was dead and they were getting ready to lay me out when I up and come to . '' `` What is it like to be half dead ? '' asked Jerry curiously . `` Like nothing . I did n't know it for days afterwards . It was when I had the pewmonia . Mrs. Wiley would n't have the doctor -- said she was n't going to no such expense for a home girl . Old Aunt Christina MacAllister nursed me with poultices . She brung me round . But sometimes I wish I 'd just died the other half and done with it . I 'd been better off . '' `` If you went to heaven I s ` pose you would , '' said Faith , rather doubtfully . `` Well , what other place is there to go to ? '' demanded Mary in a puzzled voice . `` There 's hell , you know , '' said Una , dropping her voice and hugging Mary to lessen the awfulness of the suggestion . `` Hell ? What 's that ? ''
`` Why , it 's where the devil lives , '' said XXXXX .
Faith Jerry MacAllister Mary Una Wiley awfulness days pewmonia poultices