The Four Winds by Hannah Kristin
Author:Hannah, Kristin
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00
ELSA WOKE TO THE sounds of a new day: fires igniting, tent flaps being unzipped, cast-iron pans hitting cookstoves, children whining, babies crying, mothers chiding.
Life.
As if this were a normal community instead of the last stop for desperate people.
Careful not to disturb her children, she exited the tent and started a campfire and made coffee with the last of the water from their canteens.
Dozens of men, women, and children ambled across the field, toward the road. In the rising sun, they looked like stick people. At the same time, women walked toward the ditch and bent down for water, squatted on wooden planks that lay along the muddy shore.
âElsa!â
Jean sat in front of her own tent, in a chair by a cookstove. She waved Elsa over.
Elsa poured two cups of coffee and carried them next door, offering Jean one.
âThank you,â Jean said, wrapping her fingers around the cup. âI was just thinkinâ I should get up and pour myself a cup, but once I set down, I just stuck.â
âDid you sleep poorly?â
âSince 1931. You?â
Elsa smiled. âThe same.â
People walked past them in a steady stream.
âThey all heading out to look for work?â Elsa asked, checking her watch. It was a little past six.
âYep. Newcomers. Jeb and the boys left at four and ainât likely theyâll find anything. Itâll be better when they start weedinâ and thinninâ the cotton. Theyâre plantinâ it now.â
âOh.â
Jean pushed an apple crate toward Elsa. âSet a spell.â
âWhere are they looking for work? I didnât see many farmhouses . . .â
âIt ainât like back home. Around here the farms are big business, thousands and thousands of acres. The owners hardly step onto their land, let alone work it. They got the coppers and the government on their side, too. The state cares more about lininâ the growersâ pockets than takinâ care of the farmworkers.â She paused. âWhereâs your husband?â
âHe left us in Texas.â
âThatâs happeninâ all over.â
âI canât believe people live this way,â Elsa said, and immediately regretted her words when Jean looked away.
âWhere can we go thatâs better? Okies, they call us. Donât matter where weâre from. Nobodyâll rent to us, but who can afford rent anyway? Maybe after cotton season youâll have enough money to head out. We didnât, though, not with four kids.â
âMaybe in Los Angelesââ
âWe say that all the time, but who knows if itâs better there? At least here thereâs pickinâ jobs.â She looked up. âYou got enough money to waste it on gas going somewheres else?â
No.
Elsa couldnât listen anymore. âIâd best go look for work. Will you keep an eye out on my children?â
âCourse. And donât forget to register with the state. Tonight Iâll introduce you around to the other women. Good luck to you, Elsa.â
âThank you.â
After leaving Jean, Elsa carried two buckets full of fetid water from the ditch and boiled it in batches, then strained it through cloth.
She scrubbed her face and upper body as well as she could in the shadowy tent and washed her hair and put on a relatively clean cotton dress.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Twisted Games: A Forbidden Royal Bodyguard Romance by Ana Huang(3103)
The Push by Ashley Audrain(2418)
Den of Vipers by K.A Knight(2415)
Win by Harlan Coben(2292)
Echo by Seven Rue(2022)
Beautiful World, Where Are You: A Novel by Sally Rooney(1861)
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam(1857)
Midnight Mass by Sierra Simone(1756)
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao(1673)
Baby Bird by Seven Rue(1665)
The Four Winds by Hannah Kristin(1583)
Bridgertons 2.5: The Viscount Who Loved Me [Epilogue] by Julia Quinn(1566)
Undercover Threat by Sharon Dunn(1503)
The Warrior's Princess Prize by Carol Townend(1471)
Sister Fidelma 07 - The Monk Who Vanished by Peter Tremayne(1415)
Snowflakes by Ruth Ware(1358)
Dark Deception by Rina Kent(1306)
Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim(1298)
The Golden Cage by Camilla Lackberg(1289)