Kate Heller

KATE HELLER

   Another of Kathleen Hite's female characters
was Kate Heller, an older woman in charge
of a relay station and a grandson.
Like most of the women in Hite's world,
Kate is feisty, hardy, and touched by tragedy.
   All of Kathleen Hite's touches are here,
such as her keen humor when she has Kate comparing
Matt to her four dead husbands,
and punning on the words 'first' and 'biggest.'
   Ministering to a wounded Matt and unaware
that her grandson is the back-shooter,
Kate Heller remarks to the weasel punk:
"Shot in the back, Andy--ain't nothing meaner than that."
Later, Hite has Kate saying:
"The only bullets worth using, are to destroy a killer,
or to ease an animal's mortal pain."
Little does Andy know that Hite is preparing his fate.