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she had eyes to weep, she would. If she had legs to run,
reach out, as best she could, to those few who could hear
caressed the loam between their fingers, and she told them
dusty boots along her surface. Of course, the wind and sky
spoke, too, but the land was something they could hold in
the old ways were dying. Most couldn’t hear her anymore.
she saw the future and cried in the only way she knew how,
PART 1 - 1969
CHAPTER ONE
bright morning sun. “This is where you get off,” the driver
something.”
Eastland, Iowa. Big enough to get you food and shelter, but
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that’s about it. You’re in the Heartland, kid.”
there.
bed for the night, and after being a drifter for a few
graying hair and thick beard just added a reason for the
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hostility of locals. Here in Eastland beards provided
hippies.
half of the couple, the woman who faced him. Petite and
pale, her jet black waves nearly overwhelmed her face, then
cascaded down her arms and came to a stop only when they
counter, and hers were blue and clear like marbles. Though
wariness, an edge. She did not smile, but she held Adrian’s
while, and it’s pretty much this way in every small town.”
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He glanced around, and the peering eyes dropped away to
years ago, and I’m still the new kid in town. So, where you
dwarfed hers, which were soft and warm. She smelled nice.
He took a closer look and knew that he had found his place
to stay. Every small town had its share of Wandas, the easy
sloppy man who most likely kept close tabs on his wife.
later.”
while the big guy poked his eggs glumly with one hand and
hardly ever get away alone these days.” Even her statements
home.”
I was in trouble. Out with it. What the hell did I do now?”
another kid. You can barely handle the one we’ve got.
wouldn’t be like that. You let her act like a crazy kid,
the kids.”
work these days, and no one would think any less of you. We
to.” He lifted his coffee cup, and his hands shook. “And
home very long. I’ll take care of you. You’ll never feel
sighed. “You’re right, Ruthie. It’s just that right now I’m
not myself, you know that. All the problems. It’s a lot of
know. But this will be good. You’ll see. Things will get
toward her. “They do this all the time,” she said, her
added, “I had a kid once, but I don’t see him anymore. The
old lady’s new husband adopted him. I’m off the hook, and
something in common.”
“Yeah, four.”
worry, none of them live with me. Two live with their
“Wow.”
babymaking days are done. They like me okay, and I see them
all the time. But look at this job I have. I can’t take
Luke Kellar had left the booth and now stood at the
here right now who keep an eye on her. She wouldn’t dare
ride home with any of them, either, because Luke would kill
“Fine.”
Back behind the counter now, Wanda faced him and put
one of her hands on his. “Look, I can see where your mind
is going, and it’s okay. It’s the 60s, right? We have free
love around here, too. I’ve known Ruth a long time, and
you’re not the first guy to fall for her. But I’m not the
tell that he was drawing her in. Just a few more gentle
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tugs on the rope.
with me while you figure out what you’re going to do. I’ve
the seams of her uniform. She had dark, wiry curls and
Ruth Kellar slipped out and began the long walk home.
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