A Thousand Acres Page #8

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- Rose, I don't wanna farm.

- You won't have to.

Marv Carson will make you sell

to the Midwestern Corporation.

I don't know what there's gonna be...

above and beyond the debt and the taxes.

No, don't do that to me.

We're not going to be sad.

We're going to be angry until we die.

It's hard to bear, Rose.

Are you okay?

Well, I better go before the girls get home.

What am I gonna do without you?

Exercise caution

while making up your own mind, as always.

Ginny.

I don't have any accomplishments.

I didn't make a good life with Pete.

I didn't see the girls into adulthood.

I didn't keep Jess.

I didn't work the farm successfully.

I didn't even get Daddy

to know what he did...

or what it means.

And all the people around town

talk about how I wrecked it all.

Three generations on the same land,

great land.

Daddy, a marvellous farmer

and a saint to boot.

So, all I have is...

that I saw.

That I saw without being afraid...

and without turning away.

And that I didn't forgive the unforgivable.

That's my sole, solitary,

and lonely accomplishment.

That's something, isn't it?

Caroline. Tell her about Daddy.

Rose died that afternoon.

Let us say that each vanished person

left me something...

and that I feel my inheritance

when I'm reminded of them.

Anger itself reminds me of Rose.

But so do most of the women

I see on the street...

who wear dresses she would've liked...

and carry their children on their hips

with that swaying grace she had.

Rose left me a riddle I haven't solved...

of how we judge those who have hurt us...

when they have shown no remorse,

or even understanding.

Remorse reminds me of Daddy,

who had none.

At least, none for me.

I didn't tell Caroline about Daddy.

I could've told her everything.

I could've poured the truth right over her.

But it would've been Rose's truth, not mine.

Daddy died of a heart attack

that next spring.

Our thousand acres were taken over

by a giant agricultural corporation.

The houses were bulldozed

to make room for more crops.

And although the farm and all of its gifts

and burdens are scattered now...

my inheritance is with me

in Rose's children.

As each year goes by, I watch them grow.

And in them, I see something new.

Something my sister and I never had.

I see hope.

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