Roscoe appeared to ponder the reply. “It is thought to be cruel to break up families, to part a son from his mother. However, if you are determined to keep him as a pet slave, I must submit to your power to do so.” For the last time he bowed slowly; for the first time he did not bother to conceal his feelings of triumph.

19

That evening after supper Leon found Floyd and the two walked away from the buildings into the wide, moonlit fields, so that they might talk in privacy. Leon told Floyd all that had happened and been revealed in the meeting with Rooster the day before Thanksgiving and the meeting with Roscoe today. Then he asked Floyd to take Roscoe’s job.

Floyd said, “I will, but I won’t be called ‘Overseer.’ Let Roscoe be the only Overseer that Beulah Land has ever had.”

“I don’t care what they call you or you call them, just so you take it over and stay here.”

“Oh; I’ll stay. I tried the leaving. I went a long way and then I turned around and came home.”

“I never knew why you left. I spent a while trying to figure it out.”

“Does it matter now?”

“No.”

“When do you want me to start?”

“Now,” Leon said.

“If I catch Roscoe giving even one more order, I’m going to kick his ass all the way over to ‘the Elk Place.’”

Both men whooped and roared with laughter. They hit each other on back and shoulders; they bent double and wept and staggered about. And when they had worn out their exuberance, Leon said, “Floyd! Look at it, just look at it all around us. Far as we can see it’s Beulah Land—yours and mine!”

“Yours on paper, but mine where it counts, in my bones. You don’t know, you can’t, no matter how I try to tell you, the way I’ve thought about this place. I love every goddam privy door and hound dog! When I was gone, I worked mostly as farm hand or sailor. I’d wake in the morning and tell myself: all right, there’s work to do, get up and do it. But it was never mine, Leon. I never cared a damn. Not caring what you do can kill your heart. I mean it.”

Leon did not understand, and Floyd saw that he did not, but such was their joy on the occasion it did not matter.