Chapter 1: The Basket Frank Ordered Her to Empty “Dump it.” Frank Hall’s voice carried across the vegetable rows before the first drop of rain fell. Kathleen stopped at the weathered fence with both hands locked around the wicker basket. Lettuce leaves pressed against her forearm. Carrot tops trembled in the wind, and three tomatoes…
Chapter 1: The Seed Sack at the Edge of the Corn Richard’s boot struck the red clover sack before Kathleen could answer. The burlap folded under his heel, then rolled off the field road and burst at one corner. A thin stream of seed spilled into the dust between the corn rows. No one moved….
Chapter 1: The Man Standing Where the Excavator Could Not Dig The excavator bucket stopped six inches above Raymond Miller’s back. Mud sucked at his boots as he twisted around, one hand still wrapped around the long ash handle of his shovel. Above him, the steel teeth hung black with wet soil. A thin stream…
Chapter 1: The Hose Gary Tried to Take Away Gary Carter jerked the green hose so hard it snapped against Sarah’s boot. “Move your foot.” Sarah pressed down harder. The hose ran across the baked yard from the pump shed to the only strip of alfalfa that still held any green. Beyond it, the rest…
Chapter 1: The Water Was Already Moving Backward Charles Martin raised his finger just as the muddy water reached the first row of corn. “There,” he said. “You see what you did?” The water pressed through the grass in a slow brown sheet, carrying shredded leaves and pale husks toward the field. Behind him, three…
Chapter 1: The Key She Refused to Return “Give me the key.” Ronald Davis held out his hand beneath the shadow of the combine, palm up, fingers stiff. Thunder rolled beyond the western fields, low enough to feel through the dry ground. Nancy kept the ignition key closed inside her fist. Behind them, the wheat…
Chapter 1: The Water Was Standing Where the Map Said It Couldn’t Gregory Allen’s finger stopped inches from Samantha Rivera’s face. “You take one more step onto that field,” he said, “and I call the sheriff.” Behind him, brown water covered the low pasture in a sheet broken only by reeds, fence posts, and the…
Chapter 1: The Report Richard Threw Across the Sunflower Fence Richard Allen held the graph so close to Katherine’s face that the corner of the paper trembled against the brim of her hat. “Explain that.” The black line plunged across the page from left to right. Behind it, forty acres of late-August sunflowers stood in…
Chapter 1: The Notice Landed Face Down in the Soil The notice struck the compost pile face down, slid six inches through the damp black soil, and stopped against the blade of Stephanie Hill’s shovel. Edward Miller pointed at it as though the paper had completed an argument for him. “You need to put that…
Chapter 1: The Red Notice Beside the Sheep Pen Richard Martin held the paper high enough for both farmhands to read the red word stamped across it. OVERDUE. Then he pointed at Joseph with the same hand. “You’ve had three notices.” The sheep pressed against the holding fence behind them, their dusty backs shifting like…