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“Shall I take it back? I could tell my husband how insubordinate you’ve been”

Forty cents

Elsa walked away, pushed through the door, let it bang shut behind her She got in the truck and drove down the driveway, trying not to panic

Forty cents for a day’s work

Now she knehy the folks in the camp walked to find work Gas was already a luxury she couldn’t afford

To the ditch-bank ca work in the fields The pay had to be better than this

But she’d be dao to school and get an education

Out on thethe roadside, his shoulders hunched in defeat, carrying a tattered knapsack Black hair hung in dirty strands from a holey hat One foot was bare

Rafe

It couldn’t be, but still …

She slowed the truck to a stop and rolled down theIt was not her husband, of course

“You need a ride, friend?” she asked

The htly drawn over sharp bones His cheeks were hollow “Naw Thanks, tho Ain’t nowhere to go and I got me a rhythm”

Elsa stared at hi, Yeah, none of us has anywhere to go, then she sighed and put her foot to the gas

THAT DAY IN CAMP, Loreda learned the flexibility of time Until today, it had always seemed funda her father and her best friend, and Ant’s illness—time had soothed with its consistency Ti its essential kindness She knew in fact that some wounds deepened over time instead of lessened; still, she’d relied on time’s constancy The sun rose and the sun fell every day; in between there were chores and meals and markers, a schedule of daily life