Summary

In Chapter Five Jeanne thinks to herself that she should not leave any money at all to her children. She remembers her own childhood as she grew up with her great-grandfather. Her mother died giving birth to Jeanne so she spent much of her time with her elderly great-grandfather. The Colonel taught Jeanne how to interpret the tracks of animals and encouraged her to take part in work on the cattle ranch. He showed Jeanne how to scrape the sap from cottonwood buds, the smell of which she still equates with her grandfather. She remembers working hard to help her family earn their fortune. As she considers the vitality of her oil wells, she wonders how she got on the floor.

Her children have no constitution, a fact she blamed on Hank, their schools, their friends and their teachers. She is embarrassed that...