The Four Winds

By June, Elsa has found semi-regular work picking cotton for 50 cents a day, although some workers whisper that wages might be cut. When she returns to the camp, Loreda informs her that, since school is out, she wants to work, too. Elsa agrees, but only for the summer. Loreda and Anthony’s education is her top priority and their ticket out of poverty.

By July, the cotton fields have been picked clean. With no work for the foreseeable future, Elsa and her kids pack up the truck and follow the Deweys north to find work picking fruit. They soon become itinerant nomads, moving wherever the work is. By September, the cotton is ready to be picked again. They return to their original squatters’ camp to find it bursting with new migrants. Elsa reluctantly agrees to let Loreda skip school to pick cotton, giving them the slimmest chance to save a bit of money for the winter.

Elsa and Loreda rise before sunrise the next day and walk to the nearest cotton farm. They stand in a long line and are eventually chosen for work that day. By noon, Loreda’s hands are bloody from the thorny cotton plants, and she is dehydrated from the heat.