The Four Winds

In 1933, the Texas Panhandle, like most of the Midwest, is in the grip of a long drought. The land has become dry and cracked, unable to nurture the corn and wheat that once provided so much prosperity to its farmers. Coupled with the Great Depression, the economic impact is devastating. Elsa drives a horse-drawn carriage into Lonesome Tree and sees all the closed storefronts. She enters the lone bar in town, looking for Rafe, who drinks regularly while he and Elsa cannot afford necessities for their two children (Elsa lost a third child, a son, at birth). Yet, she still forgives him, fearing the loss of his love. The scars of her parents’ emotional neglect still linger. She also mourns the changing dynamic between herself and Loreda, now a sullen and angry 12-year-old.

Loreda sits in school, dwelling on the drought and her mother’s emotional withdrawal. She feels a bond with Rafe that she doesn’t share with Elsa and marvels at her parents’ relationship: “Loreda couldn’t imagine how her handsome, charming, funny father had ever fallen in love with Mom” (69). Loreda, like Elsa so many years ago, plans to travel the world. The school bell rings, and Loreda and her younger brother, Anthony, find Rafe and Elsa waiting for them. Driving home, they notice a neighboring family, who have lost their farm to foreclosure, packing up and heading west to California. Rafe thinks about that possibility, but Elsa nixes the idea immediately. They cannot abandon the land into which they have poured so much effort and time. That night, Loreda also suggests a move to California, but Rafe, guilty over his neglect of his marriage, is resigned to a life on the farm.

Elsa is cleaning the house when she notices a dust storm approaching. Rafe scrambles to secure the animals while Elsa and Rose take shelter inside the house from the powerful wind. Elsa and Rafe worry about Loreda and Anthony, who are in school now. The strong wind “could blow whole farm away” (79). At the schoolhouse, Loreda and Anthony huddle together with the other kids while their teacher tries to keep them safe. When the storm finally passes, the kids leave the schoolhouse, walking through a shuttered town buried in sand and dirt. At home, while Loreda tends to the horse, she feels the ground rumbling beneath her feet. Stepping outside the barn, she sees cracks opening in the parched earth spewing clouds of dust into the air: “The land itself was dying” (85).

Loreda and Rafe sit together and talk about their dreams. Loreda senses Rafe’s resignation. When Elsa summons them to finish chores, Loreda accuses her mother of being the source of her father’s unhappiness.

Elsa confides in Rose about her unhappiness with Loreda, who is always angry with her. Elsa remembers visiting her parents—for the last time—after Loreda was born. They frowned at their granddaughter’s dark skin and slammed the door in Elsa’s face. Rose reminds Elsa that love is fickle and cruel—it comes and goes—but a mother never stops loving her children. As Elsa goes out to the barn, she catches Rafe crying. She wants to console him, but she can’t find the right words. As she reflects on her marriage, she realizes that she and Rafe do not find consolation in each other during these hard times. They are rarely intimate, and Elsa feels him slipping away, lost in his dreams of a different life.

The Martinellis prepare for the annual Pioneer Days celebration, an event celebrating the homesteading history of Lonesome Tree. As the adults discuss the economy and prospects elsewhere, Loreda’s best friend, Stella, tells her that her family is moving to Portland, Oregon. Her father’s bank is closing, and he has heard about a work opportunity with the railroad.