Ella really did treat her second daughter badly. After getting her divorce, the daughter thought her little girl would be taken away from her. She sneaked into the school cafeteria, to taste the food her daughter would be eating to see if it was poisoned. Ella immediately sent her daughter off to the loony bin. The doctor told her that it had just been a temporary madness caused by her great heartache. She could have been helped by a bit of understanding and kindness. But Ella took the granddaughter to live with her. Let her daughter take care of her madness herself; probably she had not been toughened enough during her childhood. When her daughter left the insane asylum, she could never find work. She became too passive, drew into herself. This daughter is the only one now who comes to see them occasionally, to help them out. She doesn’t speak much. She prefers to sit by Francis’ bed. It once occurred to Ella that her daughter still holds a grudge about that wrong done to her. But when she tried to talk about it, it seemed to her that her daughter’s eyes started to flash, so she left it alone.

Oh, how beautiful, these blooms from God! See now, here’s some water for you. Drink, drink your fill, you’ve been hardened enough. Ella dusts the strong stalks. What healthy, strong blooms! It’s a joy to look at them. And all of them as if measured – all the same size.

She had to raise her son with the intervention of the regional party committee. In the beginning all went smoothly – they built this grand house together. But her daughter-in-law could not abide Ella’s dictums. But, in Ella’s opinion, she was generally not quite right. It turned out that the house had been built in her son’s name. Ella, seeking justice and restitution in court demanded that her son sign over half of the house to his father and mother. The woman judge stared rather oddly at her. But was it not only just? Ella persisted. Their son did sign it over and erected a wall in the middle of the house. How did he dare do that? Ella collected evidence that the son had obtained building materials illegally, and brought it to the attention of the regional party committee. There too she was treated oddly. She doesn’t to this day know how it all ended, because the son no longer talks to her. But she had not wanted to do harm; she had just wanted justice.

But see here, what this brave soul has done now. It has put forth all of six blooms. Four have already sprung open, two are still in bud. It should be staked, for they could be too heavy for the stalk, and might well break it, and what’s to be done then. Just take pictures of them for a magazine cover.