The trip home was quicker since the wind had died down quite a bit and Betty was grateful it was a quick storm as some raged on for days but there was still an urgency in the air.

Scout would only go so fast no matter how much Lloyd yelled, pulled, kicked or cajoled. As they got to the old farm house Betty could see the group coming up from the cellar led by James, Thurber's dad. Phyllis must still be in the house helping Betty's mom with the birthing.

Betty was first to jump off of Scout followed by the Doctor and then Lloyd. She went running in ahead of everyone but was stopped at the bedroom door by Phyllis. There was total silence but Phyllis' face spoke volumes. She was ashen and her hands trembled. She could not look Betty directly in the eyes but kept glancing around as if she were a caged animal wanting to escape.

"Ms. Phyllis how is mother? What about the baby? Is it born yet?"

The Dr. arrived then and Phyllis turned from Betty and opened the door for him. Betty tried to slip in after him but she was stopped.

"Ms. Phyllis, what's happening? Please, tell me." There was no answer.

Soon the Doctor came to the door and motioned for Betty to enter the bedroom. Her Mom wanted to see her. Betty went to the bed where her mother was lying holding a newborn baby. The baby was quiet, too quiet and still, so very very still.

"Mamma?" Betty whispered.

"Betty honey the baby didn't make it, he's gone sweetheart."

Betty stood there for a moment trying to make sense of it all and could not.

"You mean I'm too late Mamma? "

"No honey, you were on time, the baby was just too early. It's a little brother Betty."

She stood silently for a moment trying to make sense of it all, "Can I hold him Mamma?"

"If you want to Betty." And with that she held out this tiny bundle wrapped in a small quilt Etta had made months before from old clothes and pieces of fabric she had saved.

Betty took the precious bundle and hugged him tight. He looked so peaceful, his little eyes shut as if he was sleeping, his blond wispy hair lying against his perfectly shaped little head. He had his hand up against his face. He just seemed like he was about to open his eyes any second to this old world, this vicious, uncaring old world.

"He needs a name Mamma, what's his name?"

"It was supposed to be Frederick, Frederick Emil. That's what we will call him."

The silence was deafening. There was no crying, venting, raging, no swearing or fist shaking at the Powers-that-be, only the silence. And nobody was blaming God. How could someone blame Him for something that was so human. Not His fault, not anybody's fault just a fact of life out here and it was just accepted.

"Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so."

Betty sang to her baby brother in her small, little girl voice, told him how sorry she was and that they had tried really hard to make it back in time.

"We will see him again honey" and with that the Doctor gently lifted the little boy from Betty's arms making ready to take him to town and prepare for a burial.
Town? Dr. Hoyt realized he had no way to get back to town except on Scout. How was he going to manage that?

"Oh my, I have no way to get back to town, not with this baby anyway."

He stepped out of the bedroom to find everyone that had been in the cellar was waiting quietly in the living room. There was James' family, Phyllis who was sitting staring out a dirty old unwashed window, Thurber, her 11 year old son and James, father and husband. The grandmother and Betty's siblings sat quietly on an old overstuffed couch. Betty came out and sat down on the floor next to Lloyd. Nobody said a word. The world had stopped turning.

"James could I impose upon you to drive me to town?"

"Of course Dr. Hoyt, I'd be more than happy to help you out."

James thought about how limited his resources were. They had been on their way hopefully to a new life since their farm got repossessed but this was something that he had to do and Phyllis knew it. The Brinks family would figure something out later, this was important, more important than the harrowing trip they were starting.

"I will be back for you in a little bit kids," James told them and with that the two men prepared to leave, Doctor Hoyt holding that precious bundle.

The rickety old Model A was loaded with all of the Brinks family's worldly possessions and there was hardly space to sit. Doctor Hoyt wondered at this with all the folks that had been riding in the vehicle but he said nothing. He held Frederick now totally covered in the quilt on his lap. The car started after a few tries and took off down the dirt-blown rutted trail. There was silence again in the car. It was just an unwritten word that men did not cry nor could they ever discuss their true feelings with each other. The same unwritten word told them to be staunch, strong and silent. That was the way it was. The Pearsons would bury their little one with nary a word about it and go on trying to scratch a living from a dead earth that just wanted to spit everything and everyone out, to vomit it all out. This same dead earth would welcome another one in a day or so, turning a once living thing in to exactly what it was, dust. From dust you were made and to dust you will return and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The wind had died down and all was quiet, blanketed in a fine, light powder.