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The funny thing was, Elsa hadn’t meant that at all She was afraid of his she felt when he looked at her, afraid of the feelings he had awakened in her

“Aren’t you a union organizer?” she said

“I am”

It er he was putting himself in “So, I am not the only one who needs to be careful, am I?”

THIRTY

All that long, hot summer, Elsa and Loreda did their best to find work They didn’t dare leave the growers’ camp to look elsewhere, and didn’t want to use relief as, so they stayed in Welty and found ork they could On days when there was no work, Elsa did her chores and then walked Loreda and Ant to the library, where Mrs Quisdorf kept them busy with books and projects With the kids safe at the library, Elsa often walked to the ditch-bank camp and sat with Jean by the muddy water or the buried-in-dirt truck and talked

“Where is he?” Jean said on a particularly hot day in late August The cah heaven in this heat, but neither one cared They were just happy to get a little tiether

“Who?” Elsa said, sipping the lukewarm tea Jean had made

Jean gave Elsa that look, the one they’d perfected with each other “You knoho I mean”

“Jack,” Elsa said “I try not to think about him”

“You need to try harder,” Jean said “Or just admit he’s on your mind”

“I don’t have a good history with men”

“You know the thing about history, Elsa? It’s over Already dead and gone”

“They say people who don’t heed history are doomed to repeat it”

“Who says that? I ain’t never heard it I say folks who hang on to the past miss their chance for a future”