After three weeks of Ruth May being in bed, Leah makes her get up. Trying to spark an interest in anything, she feeds an ant to an ant lion.
Ruth May, who normally gets a good chuckle out of animal cruelty, doesn't enjoy this. She makes Leah feel guilty about it: "Don't do any more of them, Leah. […] The ant wasn't bad" (3.5.10).
After that lecture in "insect morals" (3.5.11), Anatole comes along and chats Leah up for a bit. They talk friends, politics, communism, and fairness (or lack thereof) in the world.
Anatole leaves, and Leah takes Ruth May back inside. She contemplates writing a letter home, but "you'd have to explain the words, and then the words for the words" (3.5.130), and then you'd run out of paper.