“We could make more if waited until after the harvest,” he finally offered. “The land would still be worth plenty, plus we’d have the money from the corn and the rye.”
“But then we couldn’t leave till next spring.” She frowned. “Though I reckon that might not bother you.”
“I reckon it wouldn’t,” he replied.
Ma’s expression shut like the door of the cabin, and she didn’t talk during the rest of the meal. The silence should have been comforting and familiar, but instead he found it as upsetting as her chatter about Pa.
One silent day passed into another. They grunted good night and good morning, but there was no real talk. Was Ma furious with him, or did she feel just as mixed up as he did?
If they sold the cow and Dean’s horse, it would be enough money to send Ma to California. He could say he’d follow in the spring, and then when he didn’t… well, what could they do about that?
Except Pa wanted the money. Probably the money was the only reason he was sending for them at all, had Ma considered that? Well, they could sell the land, sell everything, but Dean could stay on. Hire himself out to whoever bought it, or to Grady. Save up his money year by year until he could afford his own land, land nobody could take away from him on a whim.
It should have felt good to have a plan, but it didn’t. He didn’t tell Ma over supper, unsure of how to break their silence, least of all with this.
After supper, Ma turned to him. “It’s time we talk.”
Dean nodded, feeling shaky inside, afraid of what she might say. Of what he might say in return.
“I’m the one who had us stay here, eight years ago. Your pa was all for the whole family going. I said no. Said Noah was too small, the journey’d be too hard for him. Thought your pa wouldn’t like California, that he’d be back within a year and would be pleased then that we’d held onto the farm. Course I didn’t tell him that part, but that’s what I was thinking.” She looked at him with those fierce eyes of hers. Alec had those eyes. “You’re going to be angry with your pa, best be angry with me, too.”
I enjoyed this story very much. I relate to it in a variety of ways, several of which are, tangential but my liking of it is real. I was raised in Nebraska, though on a farm. I’ve had, indeed I have, decisions pushed on me by circumstance, that seem to have no “proper” choice: some gain, some loss with any decision. I’ve written a story, much, much different, with the same title, which is what got me to read yours. Turned out that, after reading yours, I’ve realized that the two stories have much in common, in spite of their differences. Still, the core of my response to your story is, well done. It moved me.