Cash Says It Won't Balance — As I Lay Dying

It won't balance, Cash says. If you want it to tote and ride on a balance, we will have. Pick up, Jewel says. Goddamn you, pick up. I'm telling you it won't tote and it won't ride on a balance unless. Pick up! Pick up, goddamn your thick-nosed soul to hell, pick up!

That is the whole chapter. Cash speaks in load and physics. Jewel speaks in curse and command. Cash built the coffin to her measure and weight and now he sees the wagon will not carry it level, but he never reaches the unless that would tell them what to fix. Jewel hears delay as betrayal and will not wait for one more sentence.

It won't balance, Cash says again at the end. If they want it to tote and ride on a balance, they will have. The word hangs cut off twice. Cash built the box to her measure and weight; he knows how load shifts on a hill. Jewel hears only betrayal in every second of delay. The Jefferson trip is about to start anyway, coffin and all, before the unless can land. What happens when the person who sees the crash coming cannot finish the warning before the load moves?