Call Your Daughter Home

Gertrude is riding in a wagon with Lonnie to the Indian Fields Campground, where the homecoming festival will be held. Annie is asleep in the back of the wagon with Alma and Mary watching over her. Gertrude is overwhelmed by the number of people who are already preparing for the weeklong festivities. This is a local tradition dating back more than 100 years. Rather than having tents, the campground holds 99 two-story cabins containing every imaginable comfort. These are built in a great circle with outdoor kitchens in the back. Each house is numbered, and every family knows which is theirs. In the middle of the circle sits a large, covered tabernacle for the preachers who will speak during the week.

Mr. Coles, Eddie, and Lonnie hoist Annie out of the wagon and into the cabin. Gertrude recalls that they all had a fight that morning about bringing her. Lonnie insisted that Annie was too weak, but his father overruled him. Gertrude notes that Mr. Coles offers Mary a nickel, which she refuses. He then tosses it to Alma instead. Retta tells the little girls to do their chores but to stick together at all times. When they dash off, Gertrude checks on Annie.