The Four Winds

They stop for gas at the edge of the Mojave Desert. An angry mob congregates outside a grocery store across the street, demanding food. The scene turns violent, the mob smashing windows and breaking into the store. Elsa quickly pays for the gas and drives away, watching the riot play out in her rearview mirror. As they drive through the desert that night, the engine overheats, and Elsa pulls over waiting for it to cool down. After filling the radiator with water, they continue on in the darkness, but the danger of being stranded in the desert is ever present. Finally, nearing exhaustion, Elsa pulls over and falls asleep in the back of the truck.

The next morning, Loreda wakens her mother, beckoning her to the top of a rise. From the mountain top, they look out across a vast open stretch of green fields—California. They are hopeful for the first time. As they drive through the San Joaquin Valley with its fields of wildflowers and groves of fruit trees, Loreda feels the urge, dormant since Rafe left, to explore the country. While they eat lunch, Elsa decides to avoid Los Angeles and San Francisco since farming is what she knows. They opt for Bakersfield.

Driving through wide swaths of farmland, they see groups of homeless men and boys sleeping by the road. They stop for gas and a treat, but the owner of the store flashes a gun and tells them, “You best go” (216). Facing anti-migrant anger for the first time dampens their spirits.

They stop just outside of Bakersfield, inquiring about renting a small cottage, but once again, they encounter hostility. The proprietor informs Elsa that they don’t rent to “Okies.” She tells Elsa to drive further down the road, “where your kind lives” (220). They find their destination, a motley collection of shacks, tents, and old jalopies clustered off the main road. Elsa is shocked by the destitute conditions of the camp, but they decide to stay one night in an effort to save gas and formulate a plan. They set up camp, and as Elsa makes dinner, she observes how thin Loreda is; at 13, “she should be filling out, not wasting away” (223).

Later that evening, a family approaches Elsa’s camp and offers her a single potato, a magnanimous gesture considering their own poverty. They discuss job conditions. The man, Jeb Dewey, and his wife, Jean, barely survive by picking cotton. They direct Elsa to farms in Salinas that may have work, but Elsa must consider gas prices before she makes the drive. They also inform her about government relief, although she waves it off, claiming she prefers work to welfare. Looking out across the filthy camp with its contaminated stream, Elsa resolves to find a job the next day.

The next morning Elsa and Jean share coffee while Jean explains how the agriculture business works in California. Farms are corporatized, and the owners have all the structural and institutional support while the workers themselves have next to nothing. Discouraged but not hopeless, Elsa goes out in search of work while Jean agrees to watch Loreda and Anthony.

Elsa drives for half an hour before seeing a “Help Wanted” sign. She pulls up to a large house where the owner directs her to his wife. She hires Elsa to do housecleaning chores, although not without exhibiting more of the same hostile prejudice Elsa has encountered since they arrived.

Loreda wakes up to find her mother gone. Jean educates her about the reality of life during hard times. She must grow up whether she wants to or not. Loreda, eager to help, collects water to boil, makes breakfast, and does laundry. The sooner her mother finds work, the sooner they can leave.

Elsa works all day—no food, no break—scrubbing floors and polishing furniture. When she questions the woman’s blatant prejudice, the woman tells her not to come back, paying her 40 cents for her day’s work. Elsa drives back to camp, defeated. She tells Loreda that, despite her promise to stay only one night, they can’t afford to leave yet. Loreda rages against the injustice of their circumstances until, exhausted, she weeps in her mother’s arms. They unpack their small stove, resigned to a longer stay. That night, Elsa writes a letter to Tony and Rose, her tone optimistic.

The next morning, Elsa washes the kids, preparing them for school, but Anthony has no shoes. Jean lends him a battered pair her son has outgrown, and Elsa is stunned by her generosity. They walk to school, seeing a group of well-dressed children out front. Elsa tells Loreda to walk proudly; she is just as good as any of them. After enrolling them in school, an administrator shows them to their respective classrooms, admonishing them not to touch anything or sit too close to the other kids. Elsa leaves the kids at school and walks two miles to the town of Welty to register for federal aid. She is informed that, while she qualifies for food relief, she must be a resident of the state for a year before she can receive financial aid.

After searching for a job in Welty—with no luck—Elsa picks up Loreda and Anthony from school. Anthony has a black eye from fighting with a bully, and Loreda has received verbal abuse. Elsa tries to teach them that responding in kind is not the right thing to do, but she remembers the pain of isolation from her own childhood, and her advice rings hollow. That night, after Anthony falls asleep, Jean leads Elsa and Loreda to a small gathering at the edge of the camp where she meets Midge and Nadine, two seasoned transplants from the ravages of the Dust Bowl. They offer their support: “‘You stick with us, doll,’ Nadine said. ‘We get each other through the days’” (250).

Nearly a month after arriving in California, Elsa still has not found work. While Anthony has made friends with Jeb and Jean’s kids, Loreda remains isolated. A week later, they receive a letter from Rose. Tony is getting paid by the government to “contour” the land, but the dust storms continue.

By the end of May, Elsa still has no job. After hauling water, doing laundry, and soaking lentils for dinner, she takes a bath and dons her best dress. She walks into town to attend the PTA (parent–teacher association) meeting and is met with the same haughty contempt as always. She leaves the meeting, defeated, but then turns around, determined not to be cowed by ignorance and hate. She sits through the entire, two-hour meeting, feeling liberated by her indifference to the town’s hostility. As she leaves, she takes all the food on the table. Back at camp, she shares the bounty with Jean and her children. The kids run off to play, and Jean informs Elsa that she’s pregnant.