Summary

Chapter Twenty-Six starts from Loreda’s perspective as she wakes in the barn to watch the sky turn lavender then pink. She walks back to the camp and finds her mom writing in her journal. She apologizes to her Mom and her Mom hugs her. Loreda tells her she learned something she has to tell her about.

The perspective changes to Elsa as Loreda tells her about the communist meeting and she wants Elsa to go but Elsa forbids it saying, “Whatever the question is, communism is not the answer. We’re Americans. And we can’t get on the wrong side of the growers” (311).

Winter gets more severe, and rain starts coming down. One stormy night, Elsa writes in her journal about her life and the weather. Suddenly the thunder cracks and the tent collapses around them, water rushing in...