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RAIN FELL FOR DAYS The land along the ditch bank beca sick: typhoid, diphtheria, dysentery

The burying ground doubled in size Because the county hospital refused to treat rants, they had to help themselves as best they could

Everyone was hungry and lethargic Elsa spent as little as she possibly could on food, and still she watched their savings dwindle

On this stor to sleep, burrowed beneath a pile of quilts

Rain harayed fabric, and sluiced down the sides

Elsa sat on an apple crate, writing in her journal by the le candle

Forremarked upon by the old men in their dusty hats who stopped to jaith each other outside Wolcott Tractor Supply A topic of conversation Farmers studied the sky the way a priest read the word of God, looking for clues and signs and warnings But all of it from a friendly distance, all of it with a faith in the essential kindness of our planet But in this terrible decade, the weather has proven itself to be cruel An adversary that we underestiht, and now this de rain, I fear—

Thunder exploded in a deafening craaaaack

“That was a bad one,” Loreda said Ant looked scared

Elsa closed her journal and got up She was halfway to the flaps when the tent collapsed around thes She shoved her journal in the bodice of her dress and reached out blindly for her children “Kids! Come to me”

She heard the to find their way

“I’m here,” Elsa said

Loreda reached her, held her hand, kept one arm around her brother

“We have to get out,” Elsa said, fighting to find the tent flaps

Ant was crying beside her, clinging to her