(A)
In 1887, when the land was up for sale, grandpa bought two hundred acres from the Granger family. In 1918, (a) he bought another two hundred. It was good rich land. However, there were bank loans for and taxes on the land. Unfortunately, there had not been enough money from the cotton to pay both of them and live on. To make things worse, the price of cotton dropped in 1930.
(B)
Some of it belonged to Stacey, Christopher, and John, not to mention the part that belonged to big mama and mama. However, papa never divided the land in his mind; it was simply the land of our family. For it, (b) he would work the long, hot summer pounding steel; mama would teach and run the farm; and big mama, in her sixties, would work like a woman in her twenties in the cotton fields and keep the house; but always, the taxes would be paid. Papa said that one day I would understand.
(C)
When he came back from Louisiana, I asked papa why he had to go away and why the land was so important. (c) He took my hand and said in his quiet way: “Look out there, Cassie. All that belongs to you. You will never have to live on other people’s land. As long as the family survives, you will have your own place. That’s important. You may not understand now, but one day you will.” I looked at papa strangely, for I knew that all the land did not belong to me.
(D)
That was why papa had gone to work, ending up in Louisiana in 1931. (d) He set out looking for work, first going far north and south, and finally west into Louisiana. It was there he found work laying track for the railroad. He worked the remainder of the year away from us, not returning until the deep winter. The following spring after the planting was finished, (e) he did the same. Now it was 1933, and papa was again in Louisiana laying track.