Children of no Man's Land by G.B. Stern

I

Deb knelt in front of the squat sturdy oil-stove with "CORA" gold-lettered across its front, and began carefully to trickle a supply of kerosene into the tank. Cora was essential to the evening's enjoyment of her three votaries; their friendship grouped itself round her personality, and Aunt Stella, whose wit ran fatally in the direction of punning, had even dared to nickname their union the Chorus.