Dat had left after breakfast for an estate sale in Morning Star, where he’d read that several old clocks were being auctioned off. Loretta had gone to Simple Gifts first thing to tell Nora she wouldn’t be working there—but she’d come home with a big bag of fabric remnants she’d bought at the Willow Ridge Quilt store. She was sitting on the porch, keeping an eye on the twins in their playpen as she tore long strips of the fabric to make another rug. Rosalyn was in the basement organizing their jars of pressure-canned fruits and vegetables so they’d have room on the shelves to store this year’s crop. Edith filled the washer with warm water, shirts, and dresses so this load would agitate while she hung the clothes in her laundry basket. When she stepped outside, she gave thanks for the green pasture where red and white chickens pecked, and for the cloudless blue sky, and for the patchwork of farmsteads with white homes, red barns, and tidy shops she could see from their back stoop.
