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Show WORTHING FARM/5 sharp-tongued and violent at times, to be sure, but now Elijah wished she would raise her hand and slap him just to show she was alive. But she wasn't alive. Her blood had gone out with her sweat to water a field whose thirst could never be satisfied. She was as shriveled as last year's fruit. Elijah did not know why he loved her so much more and so tenderly now that her beauty was gone. He reached out and gently ran his hand down her back. She shuddered slightly. He took back his hand and picked up another haunch to cut into the pot. Outside the boys were quarreling loudly. Silently he discoursed with Alana, and Alana listened but did not hear. I can't leave Worthing Farm, he said to her silently, I am owned, there is a stone at the southwest corner that swears I can never leave. You knew when you married me, he said. But he dould hear her answer, though she didn't even think it: If you love me, let me live. Elijah got up and went outside to where his sons were fighting. Five-year-old John had Worin on the ground, viciously forcing the younger boy's mouth into the dust. "Drink it!" John yelled. "Lick it up!" Elijah was filled with rage. Silently he strode to the cloud of dust where the boys wriggled. He reached down and picked John up by the trousers and lifted him high in the air. The boy shrieked, and Worin, unhurt, immediately leaped to his feet and started to yell. "Hit him, Father! Hit him!" |