BooksBarbecue
Back Come Again No More
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover
  3. Title Page
  4. Contents
  5. PART I 
  6. 1.
  7. 2.
  8. 3.
  9. 4.
  10. 5.
  11. 6.
  12. 7.
  13. 8.
  14. 9.
  15. 10.
  16. 11.
  17. 12.
  18. PART II 
  19. 13.
  20. 14.
  21. 15.
  22. 16.
  23. 17.
  24. 18.
  25. 19.
  26. 20.
  27. 21.
  28. 22.
  29. 23.
  30. 24.
  31. 25.
  32. 26.
  33. 27.
  34. 28.
  35. 29.
  36. 30.
  37. PART III 
  38. 31.
  39. 32.
  40. 33.
  41. 34.
  42. 35.
  43. 36.
  44. 37.
  45. 38.
  46. 39.
  47. PART IV 
  48. 40.
  49. 41.
  50. 42.
  51. 43.
  52. 44.
  53. 45.
  54. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  55. Touchstone Reading Group Guide

The Sunday after they returned to Scottsbluff, she and Jake drove out to the Lindquist place. Emaline made a roast beef dinner while Lee and Jim walked the farm with Jake, explaining how they did things and why. Lee said a long prayer in Swedish before they ate and she could feel Jake getting restless, but at last the prayer ended and they fell to, the men eating like famished coyotes. Emaline explained what they wanted, a little place with a house in fairly good shape, maybe with some farm machinery in the deal.

Jim knew of one such farm, a place about three miles north of Stegall and twice that far from his own farm. It had been good land before this drought hit. Eldon Duncan, a farmer working a homestead there, was about to go broke. If they moved quick, they could buy a hundred and sixty acres of land and a pretty good house for three thousand dollars.

“Eldon paid sixty dollars an acre in 1928. Now he’ll let it go for less than twenty. Another five hundred will get you his team and machinery. That will just about square him with the bank. Anything he has left, he’ll use to set up somewhere else.”

Jake and Emaline drove out to the Duncan farm early Saturday morning. The farmer met them on the front porch. He was a man barely over forty, with a stoop and a weathered face that made him look twenty years older than he was. Emaline saw his wife watching them through the screen door, a thin, worn-out woman with three kids clinging to her dress and one big, sullen boy who stood off to the side of the house with his cap pulled low over his eyes. They walked around the place while Duncan pointed to this and that, improvements he had tried to make. Emaline worried about the house itself. The front porch sagged, making the house look like it was about to collapse. There was a second house on the land, the original homestead, a basement house built right down into the earth, with the edge of the roof only two feet above ground level and a single window facing south.

The fences were in good shape, as were the corrals and the pigpen and chicken house. The barn looked more solid than the house. Duncan had obviously put all his effort into looking after the farm. Duncan pumped water to show that it was a good well and filled tin cups with fresh water so they could sit in the shade of the one big cottonwood tree while they talked. He rubbed his thumbs along the seams of his bib overalls.