He said. "He said bank business." Clara said. She didn't turn from the stove. "He said it in the voice people use when they want you to know they have power over something."
A pause. "Yeah." Thomas said. "I know what he wants." He went through the kitchen to the front of the house.
She heard the screen door again. She turned the heat down under the pot on the stove and listened to the shape of the silence. 15 minutes later Thomas came back in through the kitchen and stood at the sink with his back to her. She waited. "He wants the land."
Thomas said. Clara set down the wooden spoon she was holding. "The ranch. The east pasture. 70 acres."
His voice was level in the way that voices get when the feeling underneath has been compressed into something that can fit in a sentence. "There's a note on it from when I borrowed to see us through the winter after Martha died. I've kept up with the payments but I missed one in April. He's saying I'm in default and he wants to work out a settlement." "What kind of settlement?"
Thomas turned around. His face was the same as always controlled deliberate but there was something behind his eyes that was working hard. "The kind where he takes the 70 acres and calls the note clear." He said. "And if you refuse he takes the note to the county court."
Thomas said it the way you say a thing you've already thought through from every angle and found no better exit. I can't pay the full amount, not right now. The cattle aren't moving until fall. Clara picked the spoon back up. She turned back to the stove.
"How much is the missed payment?" She said. "$60." She stirred the pot. She thought about $42 and a carpet bag and a letter with soft fold lines.
"And the east pasture is worth more than $60." Thomas said. "Considerably more." She stirred. "Thomas."
"Yeah." "Is there anyone in this town who would loan you $60 against the cattle receipts in the fall?" A long silence. "I haven't asked." He said.