Betty came out to the barn to see what the commotion was all about. She found Lloyd in the barn with Scout. Lloyd was sitting in a corner behind the horse crying silently with his head bent and his knees up to his chest.

"You trying to disappear Lloyd?" asked Betty.

He did not answer nor did he look up. Betty sat down next to him and he moved away a bit. He wanted to be alone, he wanted to curl up in his sadness to have it surround him like a cocoon to protect him from the world that at the moment seemed so cruel.

"Go away Betty, I'm just tired. I been up a long time."

"I know better Lloyd, what's up?"

"I'm just missing my mom and sisters, that's all. I was gonna go see them but changed my mind."

"Why did you change your mind? If you want to go see them, go."

"I will someday. Just not right now."

His heart was breaking but he knew he did the right thing by giving his money to help the Brinks family. He only wished his mom could have taken him too when she left.

He remembered the day she packed her things and threw what little she had in the old car. His dad sat in the kitchen unmoving, staring out at nothing. Lloyd came in to beg his father to stop her but Liam ignored him. His mother put his two sisters in the car and started to drive away. Lloyd came running out after her.

"Don't leave me Mom, please, let me go too."

She never looked back.

He wanted so badly to be away from this dismal, distressing place, to see some flowers, to smell rain again, to ride Scout over fields of wild grass and down hilly country roads and stop to fish in a dam full of water. But most of all, he wanted his family. None of it was possible.

Betty sat silently by his side for a few minutes and then quietly put her arm around his shoulders. He started to sob. He hated himself for doing that in front of her but he couldn't help it. Scout came over and put his big ugly nose on Lloyd's head as if to say "I'm here too buddy."

When he was able to speak again Lloyd said in a small voice,

"I tried to see my mom and sisters a while ago. I went to the train depot in town, waited 'til the freight train slowed down and hopped it. There were other men on there too Betty, poor, hungry, angry men not even knowin' where they were going but they were Ok. Nobody bothered me or asked me any questions.

I went all the way to Mitchell where mom lives now and jumped off at that station. It was kind of scary but I made it just fine. I didn't have anything for the girls then but I knew they'd be happy to see me just the same." He paused for a moment.

"I found mother's flat, a small room where all three were staying and knocked on her door. A man came to the door and, Betty I swear he was in his undershirt. I thought I'd gotten the wrong room but then I saw my mom standing behind him just lookin' at me like she didn't know who I was. The man told me to go away. I told him I wanted to see my mom and sisters and he said my sisters weren't there and I couldn't come in, my mom was busy. Then he slammed the door in my face and that's the last time I saw her. I didn't know what to do Betty, I had no money, no place to stay, nowhere to go so I went back to the train station and slept that night under the dock.

When the train came through the next day I jumped on and headed home. I want to see my mom really bad and I think if I brought her a box of candy or some perfume or something, she'd like me again. But you know the Brinks need to stay in their home too so I gave them all the money I had. Now I will never get to see my family again, ever."

And with that tears started to roll down his cheeks again.

The men were back up at the house and were making small talk. Nobody really spoke about the baby's death especially not in front of Etta or the family. It just hung there like the dirt blown in on the wind, bad, hurtful but not a thing anyone could do about it.

Everyone ate something, there seemed to be a lot of food but it was a somber group, even the children were subdued.

Betty came in to the parlor with Lloyd. They found a plate and got a little bit to eat. It was a good feeling not to have to think about cooking for a few days. There was enough food for everyone and then some. Etta sat quietly on the couch and once in a while one of the neighbor ladies would come over to her, take her hand and assure her they were there for her. And then they would take their leave knowing that soon they would see the family again out at the old cemetery.

Betty and Lloyd sat down by Thurber to see what his family was about to do.

"What's your plan Thurber?" Betty asked.

"We are leaving in a few minutes to go back home. I'm really happy we aren't going West. I want to stay here. This is home and I want to be here."

"Good Thurber, we want you to stay too."

Just then James, Thurber's dad came in to announce it was time to head back to the homestead. They would be there until the bank auctioned it off. Betty wrapped up some of the food for them, gave them a jar of milk and the six eggs they had collected the night before and said their goodbyes for the time being.

Betty walked Lloyd out to the old bent gate that hung at an angle on a post that had long ago disentangled itself from the fence.

"Lloyd, my Dad needs your help, yours and mine. He won't exactly tell me what his plan is but he's got something up his sleeve. Are you willing to help us?"

"You know I am Betty, anything your dad wants me to do. You just let me know what and when."

"You need to get back home now but I will see you tomorrow. At the cemetery."

"Yep, I'll be there. We can talk more then." And with that Lloyd started walking back to his house, his house of silence, of painful memories of cold, blank walls, almost as if it were his tomb.