“Dear, please don’t,” The voice came from a middle age woman. Desperation was clearly seen in her face.


“I must, though we don’t have much, we do have some cattle left. They’ll be enough for Molly.” At this the man put a damp cloth across his face and disappeared into a thick cloud of dust. The woman, knowing that hope was a fool’s game, sat down and cried. She cried for the land, the rain, the crops, the cattle, and her half dead daughter…







“Daddy Daddy!” yelled a voice in excitement, “Guess what happened in school today,”


“hmm well let’s see now,” said John McConer teasingly, “learn to read, maybe write?”


“Daddy! I learned that sense last year. The wind carried dust into the school house; it was so thick the teacher said that we can’t hardly see the words on a book, so she sent us home!” Mr. McConer chuckled dryly, trying to hide surge of fear that had struck him.


“Dinner’s ready,” called a middle age woman.


“Oh dinner, hope its beef.”


“I hope it ain’t not, them cows didn’t do nothing…” Mr. McConer smiled and patted his daughters head as they walked to the table, sharing a expression of great fear with his wife as they walked.





“What is causing this?” asked the middle aged woman, Savannah McConer.


“I’ll tell you what it is!” yelled Mr. McConer, who then quickly lowered his voice remembering that his daughter was sleeping. “We used the land, this is natures pay back.”


“You think that these dust storms are going to continue?”


“Without a doubt, we should get some sleep now though; tomorrow I must put some wet sheets over those cracks.”



“Mommy, Daddy the dust is inside!” Mr. McConer sprang to his feet, but it was useless. He couldn’t see anything more than a yard in front of him.


“Dear hurry to the kitchen and get a wet rag to hold over your face,” Mrs. McConer said into a cloud of dust. “Who is that coughing? Molly? Hurry get that rag over your face!”


“There’ll be no school today, Savannah, you take Molly into the cellar with a wet blanket, I must get those cracks fixed.”


“John, it will do no good! The dust gets through our best rags, the dust is too fine, it’s just too fine.” Mrs. McConer then broke down in sobs no longer caring to hide the fear from her daughter.


“Daddy, will we be alright?” Molly asked coughing because of the dust invading her lungs.


“Of course, tell you what, how about tomorrow you come out and help me in the field.” Molly gave a big goofy smile to this, she loved the fields.



“Mol, can you carry this water, or is it too heavy?”


“I can do it daddy” she responded straining her arms to keep the bucket from tipping. Mr. McConer opened the door and peered out. Most of the dust had settled, though there was still a dim glow of dust in the air.


“Daddy, why have the cows died?” asked Molly as they walked by what was left of the barn.


“Well not all have, but most of them have died from dust phenomena.’


“What’s that?”


“It is when the cows breathe in the dust, it kills them.’


“Them cows didn’t do nothing, will I die?” John acted as if he didn’t hear, but in reality he did. But he refused to admit to himself or his daughter the truth.


“John!” yelled a man as he drove his pickup to where Mr. McConer and Molly stood.


“Hey Pete, what is it? Rain I hope.”


“Yes, it is rain!” Pete announced with excitement.


“Pete, don’t you dare get me or my daughter excited about what we both know is a lie, there isn’t a cloud in the sky.”


“Not yet John, but I heard of this guy. You see he says that he can blow rain out of the sky.”


“Blow rain out of the sky? Pete, this guy sounds like a nut.”


“He’s not, come listen to him speak today in town. All of us farmers are going to get a pot together to fund this.”


“Is that so? What’s his name?”


“Tex Thornton,” Pete then started his car and drove off, knowing that leaving John in suspense was the only way to get him to town.


“Boom, boom, rain; it’s as simple as that. You see the latest science shows that if you disturbed the dust particles that make up clouds, they will fly around. By doing this they collect water vapor which turns to rain. It’s as simple as boom, boom, rain; boom, boom, rain


“But how will this cost?” yelled one of the many man in the crowd. The crowd consisted of about 40 men all wearing dust stained overalls, the wear of the time shown on all of their faces.


“You can’t put a price of rain my friend!” Yelled Thornton, “I will give a good price, I am not looking to make money, only help my fellow men.” Thornton was lying though his teeth.





“Mommy look, one’s going up!” Molly was staring at a small black object flying up to the air. The explosion that followed was reflected in her soft blue eyes.


“I see that, hopefully this will be the end of the dust.” Molly’s mother looked at her gently, once again covering the deep fear she held within. One by one the flying bombs flew to the sky and exploded. The famers cheered as fragments of each fell around them. They hoped this was the cure to their problems, but they were wrong.





“Molly? Molly!” a course voice yelled out in the dusty night. The sound of thick coughing could be heard throughout the McConer house that night. Their worst fear had finally become reality, Molly had dust phenomena.

“That’s it John, we have to get out of this dust! We are moving to California.


“Dear, I can’t leave the farm. It is all we have left.”


“No John, no, you have a family. But if we stay much longer that two will be taken away!”



“Ready?” Asked Mrs. McConer. During their preparations Molly had gotten worse. Now she could hardly move, or breathe.


“Dear, if we take her out now she will die. We must wait till morning, than the dust might settle some. Knowing that John was right Mrs. McConer sat down to endure a horrific night.



“We must leave now,” Mr. McConer spoke softly knowing the pain his wife was in. Mrs. McConer was crying while holding a sheet. Inside of the sheet laid the lifeless body of Molly.


“No, I will not leave my daughter behind!” cried Mrs. McConer in a fit of rage. “How dare that dust! How dare you! We should have sealed the walls better, or put a wet blanket over her as she slept. We should have…”


“Dear, what’s done is done.” The McConer family loaded up the few possessions they had and left that the wall of dust for good. As they left they heard an explosion coming from the neighboring valley, where words boom, boom, rain echoed.