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Chapter 92

Chapter 92

Summary

Lorena settles into Clara's household — poultry, washing, and a clean room of her own that no man may enter, where Betsey comes for comfort after nightmares. She misses Gus only in sharp aching bursts, and does not miss the tent, the cowboys' looks, or the fear that Blue Duck will come back. Then Bob dies in the night. Clara sits with him an hour, reflecting that endings are never what you expect, that he wanted sons as unpaid hands while she only wanted them to look at, and that time has already begun mixing up her dead boys' faces. Cholo digs the grave beside the three boys; a drunken minister comes and lectures about prophecy. July, who now lives in a shed and knows he is hopelessly in love with Clara, cannot manage to feel sad at the news. Afterwards Sally confesses she wanted her father to die, and Clara tells her she wanted it too.

Analysis

Bob's death closes the household's old order and frees nobody — Clara reflects that endings never arrive as expected. Lorena, meanwhile, is quietly given the thing she wanted more than San Francisco: a room no man may enter. The novel grants her wish by changing the wish.

Plates

Lorena feeds Clara's hens in the yard while Sally and Betsey trail after her asking questions she answers untruthfully.
00 Lorena feeds Clara's hens in the yard while Sally and Betsey trail after her asking questions she answers untruthfully.
Betsey, driven out of sleep by a nightmare, comes into Lorena's clean room and sleeps the night in her arms.
01 Betsey, driven out of sleep by a nightmare, comes into Lorena's clean room and sleeps the night in her arms.
Hanging out the washing, Lorena stops at the fence and is taken by one of the sharp aching bursts of missing Gus — and by the fear that Blue Duck will come back.
02 Hanging out the washing, Lorena stops at the fence and is taken by one of the sharp aching bursts of missing Gus — and by the fear that Blue Duck will come back.
Clara comes in to change Bob in the morning, finds him dead, closes his eyes, and sits an hour with her memories while the girls laugh downstairs.
03 Clara comes in to change Bob in the morning, finds him dead, closes his eyes, and sits an hour with her memories while the girls laugh downstairs.
Betsey whoops over a hand of poker played for buttons, then sees Clara's face in the doorway and hears that her father is dead.
04 Betsey whoops over a hand of poker played for buttons, then sees Clara's face in the doorway and hears that her father is dead.
Lorena comes to the saddle shed with the news; July, who hoped the footsteps were Clara's, hears that Bob is dead and cannot manage to feel sad.
05 Lorena comes to the saddle shed with the news; July, who hoped the footsteps were Clara's, hears that Bob is dead and cannot manage to feel sad.
At dawn Clara carries two cups of coffee up to the ridge, where Cholo has finished digging and sits on the mound of earth beside the graves of her three boys.
06 At dawn Clara carries two cups of coffee up to the ridge, where Cholo has finished digging and sits on the mound of earth beside the graves of her three boys.
The burial — two German neighbour families sing hymns loudly in poor English over Bob's pine coffin while the girls try not to stare at Mrs Jensch.
07 The burial — two German neighbour families sing hymns loudly in poor English over Bob's pine coffin while the girls try not to stare at Mrs Jensch.
That night the Reverend, drunk after supper and full of his book on prophecy, rolls off the sofa onto the floor and snores while Clara rocks the colicky baby and July sits on, hoping to be useful.
08 That night the Reverend, drunk after supper and full of his book on prophecy, rolls off the sofa onto the floor and snores while Clara rocks the colicky baby and July sits on, hoping to be useful.
Upstairs, Sally sobs that she is bad because she wanted her father to die, and Clara holds her and says she wanted it too.
09 Upstairs, Sally sobs that she is bad because she wanted her father to die, and Clara holds her and says she wanted it too.