"Lloyd get yer butt out that door and get them hogs put up. The weather's comin' in. RIGHT NOW!"

Lloyd was a small, skinny boy of 13 with blond hair and blue eyes. His eyes were like small pools of water, pale and glassy with never a hint of what lay beneath. He lived with his father, Liam, on a small, rundown farm and life for Lloyd was hard. His mother had left the year before and took his two sisters with her. She left Lloyd on that desolate patch of earth, not once looking back and she had been Lloyd's world, his protection from Liam.

Now there was no buffer, no insulator from a hateful, mean-spirited man who had no time for his son. They were poor dirt farmers and Lloyd was bullied by some of the other kids and picked on by some of the older men, men who had had dealings with Lloyd's father. Most in the community knew Liam and would not work with him. He was not well liked. That meant that Lloyd was just a by-product of Liam's standing in the community.

"And, oh yeah, your horse is looking puny. We can't feed that old nag anymore. You need to shoot him. If you don't do it I will."

Today was going to be a bad one. Dad was in a vile mood and so was the weather. Best to keep out of everyone's way. As Lloyd headed out of the house toward the rundown old barn he saw his horse, Scout, running around wildly throwing his head. Scout was not a pretty horse. He was white with big blue splotches under his coat, his head was way too big for his body and he was skinny but that's what drew Lloyd to Scout. They were two of a kind, misfits, skinny, dirty, unloved by others. Lloyd loved his horse.

"What's the matter old man? I'm gonna be back just as soon as those hogs are put in the barn. Don't worry, I won't leave you and I sure as heck won't shoot you. We'll run away first buddy."

Lloyd looked at the sky and it reeked of dirt and promises of furious things to come. The earth was angry and it knew how to let people know. If only Lloyd could let people know how angry he was, he would be as strong and destructive as the wind. Someday.
He got the two stubborn old hogs inside and turned to Scout.

"Come on old man, let's get in the barn. I'll stay with ya', come on."

And with that he grabbed Scout's halter and tried to steer him into the barn. Scout would have none of it and broke away from Lloyd. The old wooden gate had blown open and Scout, seeing his chance at freedom, bolted and he was off running wildly terrified of what was coming upon them.

Lloyd stood silent for a moment wanting to cry but he didn't. Lloyd never cried. He was not allowed to cry so he took out after his horse barefoot across the dry, barren ugly landscape.

Scout ran a half mile full bore until he came to Betty's homestead. There he decided to stop and look for something to eat. He was always hungry just like everything else in this barren, nondescript land.

"You cantankerous old piss-poor excuse for a horse."

Lloyd, out of breath from running a half mile in the looming storm shouted at Scout all the while petting him and hugging him, so great was his fear that he'd lost his only friend.

The wind was blowing and everything was turning grey-brown as the earth gave up its lifeblood. Everything was getting covered with a fine, dry dust and it was getting hard to breathe so Lloyd took Scout into the Pearson's barn to find some protection there.

He carefully tied Scout to a post in a corner that gave him a little protection from what was to come and Lloyd would have stayed with him except he noticed a form moving in the yard. Worried about who might be out in the coming weather, Lloyd left Scout and headed towards the disappearing figure. As he got closer he tried yelling to the small girl struggling with a bucket, trying to stay on her feet as the storm got worse. He knew it was Betty as she slipped in the back door. He stood for a minute trying to decide whether to turn around and try to find the barn again or go on up to the house. He needed to make up his mind, the wind, the dirt, his very existence was hanging in the balance. He moved as best he could to the back door and knocked. No answer. He banged on the door, afraid now nobody would hear him. People have died in these storms and he knew it was a serious possibility.

Mr. Pearson came to the door and let Lloyd in.

"Lloyd! Where'd you come from boy? You shouldn't be out in this stuff, how'd you get here?"

Lloyd looked down ashamed of his apparent misstep and noticed his feet were bleeding. So did Alfred.

"My horse took off Mr. Person and I ran after him. I hope you don't mind but I tied him up in your barn. I'll leave as soon as the weather clears I promise."

"It's OK Lloyd, you ran all the way from your place? Look at you covered in dirt. Come in and we'll get you a drink of water. Come on now."

"Thank you sir, I don't need no water, I'm fine."

He was very thirsty but didn't want to bother anyone, he just wanted to stay for a little while and then he would have to figure out where he was going. It wasn't back to the homestead. His Dad would for sure make him shoot Scout.

From the other room came a low pitched cry and the sound startled Lloyd.
"We're havin' a baby Lloyd. That's the misses. You'll have to excuse me, it's getting real close."

And with that, he was gone. Lloyd found a chair and sat quietly listening to the commotion coming from the other room as the world groaned outside. Both were in serious trouble.

Alfred slipped in to the bedroom and moved over to his wife's side. She was struggling and he could tell it was not going well, not for her or the baby. Betty was holding her hand and when Etta had a contraction, she would squeeze Betty's hand so hard it made her wince but she would not remove her hand from her mother's nor let her mom know it hurt. Phyllis was at the foot of the bed and in the gloom couldn't really tell what was happening.

"Alfred, bring that lamp over here, hurry."

Alfred lit the kerosene lamp and held it so Phyllis had a clear vision of what was going on.

"Lord have mercy! I just don't know what to do for Etta."

Phyllis was not a midwife and even though she had helped birth animals on the farm she had never helped birth a child before.

Lloyd came to the door when he heard the commotion. He stood there knowing this was the end of the world and they were all in hell. The wind was howling outside and it must be 110 degrees in the closed up old house. The earth was trying to bury them, alive or dead, it didn't matter. "What had they done to deserve this?" he wondered to himself.

Betty came out of the bedroom looking pale and shaken.
"What's wrong Betty? Is everything OK?"

"Oh hey Lloyd, no, somethin's wrong, bad wrong. Mom can't have this baby and we need Dr. Hoyt here right now. Poor Phyllis is crazy scared and Papa is frantic. We can't use the truck, we wouldn't get out of the yard with this dirt blowin' so hard."

Lloyd thought for a minute, "Betty I could go to town and get the Doc. I can go on Scout. He knows the way and the wind would be at our back. We could do it."

"No Lloyd you can't get out in this stuff, it's too dangerous and besides there's no way to tell if the doc could even get back out here. No you can't go."

But Lloyd was already making plans.

"I could use those blinders on Scout to help with the dirt and I could borrow a towel to wrap around my head. I can do it Betty. Your Mamma needs help."

Betty looked at Lloyd and knew that really was the only answer.

"OK, Lloyd but I'm goin' too."

"You can't go Betty, your mom needs you right now."

"She's got everyone here to help. We will both go." Her mind was made up too.

"You need to tell your Dad Betty."

"No I'm not telling anyone. Let's go then before it gets any worse."

Betty grabbed some old dishtowels off the rack, took the boiled water off the stove, closed the damper on the stove so the fire would go out and off they went into hell.

Holding hands they made it to the barn where Scout was tied. The wind howled like a banshee and they had to yell at each other to be heard.

"Lloyd, how do you know Scout will head to town. He might go the other way."

"Betty he always heads to town, that's where he gets a carrot, or a few oats or something. He'll get us there."

With that, they found the blinders and an old feed bucket. Lloyd put both on Scout to help keep out the dirt. He didn't have a saddle but they found an old blanket, threw it over Scout's back and climbed up. They tied the dishtowels around their necks and pulled them up over their noses. Betty had some old goggles she gave to Lloyd so she just had to keep her eyes closed against the storm.