Alfred made his way to the barn and stepped inside. It was cold but not bitterly cold like the outside world. He stood quietly for a moment trying to feel what it might have been like for his children.

Were they shivering, were they in pain, were they calling out for him?

It was then that he fell to his knees, lifted his arms to the sky, threw his head back and silently screamed. And the tears flowed and the silent scream went on and on. He was SO angry, so hurt, so sad and he wondered what he had done to make God so mad at him. He had tried to be a good person, he worked hard for his family, he loved his children but didn't understand how this could happen. Then he had kind of an epiphany. He thought of Job who lost everything and it was as though he got a direct answer. As with Job, it was not God who did this but some evil force of nature, some unimaginable sequence of events that took his children. He could not blame God for all of this and he need not blame himself. "Unforeseen circumstances, isn't that what the Good Book says? But why now? Why in the midst of all of the turmoil should this happen?" And he silently screamed again. He fell face first in the dirt and sobbed until there was no more in him.

And then he stood up, wiped away the tears, put aside the pain, the anguish and slowly walked back to the house to comfort Etta, his other kids and especially Betty, his little Betty for whom he had to be strong. And he knew he could be and had to be just like Job who endured what this old world threw at him. He had to do that for them. He had to fight the elements. Mother Nature was nasty but he couldn't let her win.

Lloyd sat in the corner of the barn with Scout watching Alfred's anguish and just stayed quiet not wanting him to know that he was there. It was so personal, so agonizing Lloyd would not have intruded if he wanted to. He saw a side of Alfred he had never seen before but then Lloyd realized something amazing about these strong, silent men of the prairie. And his own father came to mind, Liam who was so stoic, so introspective. 'Could it be his father had these emotions? Could it be losing his mother and sisters had this same effect on him? Is that why he could not talk to Lloyd? Is that why he seemed so distant?' Lloyd thought, "My God, they cry."

Then Lloyd who seldom cried, who always took his cue from his father started to cry himself. He cried not so much for himself but for everything these folks endured, for all the suffering he saw, for just being human, for the fortitude of these prairie men. And crying felt good.