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“Of course,” the doctor said “Anytime you want And there’s other kids here for hi better”

Elsa said, “What if—”

The doctor stopped her “You’re going to ask what they all ask Here’s what I can say: If you want to save hiet him out of Texas Take him somewhere he can breathe”

Rose put an arht “Co ’em by tomorrow”

ELSA STOOD AT THE edge of the dead wheat field Dry brown dirt lay in dunes as far as she could see It was nearly four o’clock now and still the sun beat down Hot and dry The wind its best

She wanted to believe that rain would come back and the seeds would sprout and this land would thrive again, but hope was so on a cot, coughing up the dirt in his lungs, burning with fever

Dust pneumonia

That hat they called it, but it was really loss and poverty and man’s mistakes

She heard footsteps behind her; they ca-sand sound, a kind of whisper, as ifthe earth that had turned on him

Tony came to a stop beside her Rose stepped into place on her other side

“He’s dying here,” Elsa said

Dying

It wasn’t just Ant It was the land, the ani to dust and the wind had blown it all away Millions of tons of topsoil gone

“We need to leave Texas,” Elsa said

“Yes,” Rose said