Yes, there was Congress news from Vida who had graduated, and Mrs. Bertrand wanted her to be a teacher but Vida thought maybe she could get a job in Omaha or Chicago, anywhere but Congress, and Aunt Mabel had been asking had she heard from Lucy and how was Mae? Vida had written: Your Aunt Mabel is worried about your mother and would like to take care of her until she is better but thinks you both don't like her. She's changed and is very sweet. She's very nice to me, sticks up for me to my mother. We talk about you all the time.
"Would you like to go for a visit, Mother?"
"But if I went, you would be all alone. Unless Vida could come and stay with you."
Mother was homesick for Congress, Lucy thought unhappily. She'd known all along Mother didn't like New York but hadn't wanted to admit it. Well maybe she would get better faster in Congress, Aunt Mabel would be better than any hired nurse. After all she was Mother's only sister. Cleo was dressing her now at the theatre so Mother would be alone nights until after the show. It would be wonderful to see Vida, who was like a sister, her other best friend, better even than Figente.
Chapter 21
THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER
Vida Bertrand not only had graduated with honors but, more important, $150—first prize for the State's High Schools short story contest.
"Who'd have thought the sleighride party would have so much money in it?" she had said to Clem.
Congress, to say nothing of Ma and Pa, had been shocked by the story; luckily two of the three judges knew all about Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, and one of those two even knew Theodore Dreiser personally. Semy Klug, unlike Clem, hadn't been pleased but had pretended to be. He'd hated having to reprint it in the Husker-Sun.
Lucy's invitation, plus the $150, was a sign from heaven.
