Sadie was startled by the loud banging at the door. Myron, as usual, was not home. She opened the door to see a tall, angry man standing in front of her. He demanded to see Myron. Sadie told him that Myron was not home and she didn’t know where he was.

“You tell him,” the man said threateningly. “He better have the money or he will be really sorry.” The man stormed off.

Sadie’s heart was racing. She locked the door and sat on her bed.

Was this what Myron was doing? Gambling?

Myron returned home a couple days later. Sadie told him about the man.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s been taken care of.”

Myron promised he was done with gambling. He gave her money to pay the bills.

Things were better for awhile. Myron came home after work. He played with the children.

This did not last. Myron again began to stay out late. The bills went unpaid. Myron disappeared.

The banging on the door woke Sadie from a restless sleep.

“Tell your husband, the money or he’s dead,” the man shouted.

Sadie was shaking as she closed and locked the door. She scooped up her crying children and began crying herself.

Sadie called Emma from a neighbor’s house. Emma rushed over and helped Sadie pack and took them with her to the farm.

Emma had worried about Sadie and the children. Sadie was jumpy and looking out the window when she arrived. The electricity had once again been turned off. When Sadie told her what was going on, Emma insisted she return to the farm.

Sadie had hesitated. “He’s my husband. He won’t know where we are.”

“Leave a note,” Emma suggested. “You’re afraid being here alone. You can’t pay your bills. You’ll be evicted.”

Unlike Myron and Sadie, Arthur and Georgia had a happy marriage. Arthur couldn’t wait to get home and see his wife and child.

The couple had a daughter, Tessa. They wanted more children, but it was not to be.

Tessa was a curious child. She would follow her father around asking questions. She also adored her cousin June.

June had been excited to have a cousin. She had hoped to have siblings, but her mother just shook her head at the suggestion.

Tessa would mimic everything June did. June would play school with Tessa and teach her what she had learned that day.

Unfortunately, not long after Tessa was born, tragedy struck. June found her grandmother dead.

June was inconsolable. She adored her grandmother. Francis was devastated.

Ira took his cane and went for a walk, never to return. Later he was found drowned. It was said he fell off the embankment into the river below.

Charlotte briefly tried to console her husband and child, but grew bored when she felt they spent too long mourning what couldn’t be changed.

What could be changed was the decor. Charlotte had work to do. She could make the house hers.