This is a short story inspired by the painting "Drouth Stricken Land" by Alexander Hogue (1934). This painting is featured in the Dallas Museum of Art, where the photograph of the picture was taken. The story is of a young boy during the Dust Bowl of middle America. He is awaiting his father and brother to return from the nearest town where they are looking for work. However, while they are gone, he is stuck looking after his mother and bad news keeps coming in, including the constant teasing f rain just beyond the horizon.