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“Good,” Moo pick cotton”

THAT NIGHT, AFTER ANOTHER long, hot day in the fields, there was a letter from Tony and Rose to cheer them all After supper, the children climbed into bed with Elsa and she opened the envelope and withdrew that letter It had been written on the back side of Elsa’s last letter to them No reason to waste paper

Dearest ones,

It has been a hot, dry suiven us a respite No dust storh to call an end to theust and the first half of September were entirely unpleasant All we did, it seems, eep, but these last few days have so far been kinder Also, the government has finally realized that the help wedelivered by the truckload We pray there will be a crop of winter wheat At least enough to feed our ts and the horse But hope is hard to come by

Sending you all much love Miss you terribly

Love, Rose and Tony

“Do you think ill ever see theain, Mo of the letter

Elsa leaned back against the rusted metal bed frame Ant resettled himself, laid his head on her lap She stroked his hair

Loreda sat opposite Elsa, against the narrow foot of the bed

“Remember that house I stopped at in Dalhart, on the day we left for California?”

“The big one with the broken ?”

Elsa nodded “It was big, all right I grew up there … in a house that had no heart My fauess the best way to put it Looks mattered to my family, and my unattractiveness was a fatal flaw”

“You’re—”

“I a for compliments, Loreda And God knows I’ your question This one, and one you haven’t asked in a while About randparents and your father Anyway, irl, I was lonely I could never understand what I’d done to deserve my isolation I tried so hard to be lovable” Elsa drew in a deep breath, released it “I thought everything had changed when I met your father And it did For me But not for him He alanted more than life on the farm Always As you know”