"Billy is eight-eight years old, and I don't worry about him dying. He will live forever. I know that."
This first sentence is near the beginning of Kindred Souls. An astute reader is sure to realise Patricia MacLachlan is giving you a hint about the possible ending to this family story.
Billy lives with his extended family on a farm near where he was born. His grandchildren are Lida, Jesse and Jake. Jake is named after a plow horse that Billy used to use on his farm and Jake is our narrator.
"I look at Billy's large gnarled hands and his wrinkled face and his bush of white hair. I believe him when he says he talked to the first bird of time. He lives in a sunny room that looks up to the slough that is empty in the summer and filled with water and ducks in the fall. It is a small piece of his old life, like the big prairie that spreads out around is a big piece of his old life."
The word slough is mentioned a few times in this story - it is an important word and one that was new to me. I read Kindred Souls on a Kindle and so I was able to use the online dictionary:
Slough: A swamp, a muddy side channel or inlet.
It is the summer holidays. Jake and Billy take a daily walk around the farm. Billy speaks gently to the cows and he feeds carrots to the horses.
"And then we go where we always end our walk. We go to the place where Billy was born on this farm. Up the rise and higher up the hill to the edge of the slough ... (and) When Billy pushes the branches of one bush aside, there it is. A small wall of prairie grass and mud three feet high."
This is all that remains of the old sod house. Billy misses it so much.
"I'll tell you everything. ... And then you can build me a sod house ...
Because we're kindred souls, you and I."
And this, my blog reading friend, is another hint about what is to come. Have you guessed?
After their walk on this day a dog arrives at the house. A small black and white dog. Billy seems to know this dog. He even knows her name is Lucy. It seems Lucy has come to stay, and she is here for Billy.
Back to the sod house. Billy is sure Jake can build this, and the family still have a very old book of instructions. Warning - this book will make you cry. When a new calf is born Billy insists he will also be called Billy - "That means there will be a Billy around here for a long time." Then Billy is unwell and the doctor (who Billy likes to flirt with) says Billy needs to go to hospital. Now Jake just HAS to build that sod house. But will Billy be able to come home and will the house be finished in time and most important of all will Billy like the little sod house.
Here are a few text quotes - they show how beautifully Patricia MacLachlan composes her sentences:
"He tells me the hummingbirds outside speak to him in short, brisk sentences when they fly quickly up and down and around the hanging feeders of sugar water."
"We are quiet. I love the feel of his hand. Outside the hummingbirds flash silently in the sunlight."
"My mama sang lullabies to me in the sod house ... She sat in that old rocking chair in my room and sang lullabies." [Hello again blog reader - this this sound familiar - an echo of a scene in Sarah, Plain and Tall perhaps].
Publisher blurb: Jake’s grandfather, Billy, hears the talk of birds, is eighty-eight years old, and is going to live forever. Even when Billy gets sick, Jake knows that everything will go on as always. But there’s one thing Billy wants: to rebuild the sod house where he grew up. Can Jake give him this one special thing.
If you click on the label I've given this post you can find all of the Patricia MacLachlan books I have talked about here on this blog.
If you are interested in the idea of the sod house or life on the prairie, try to find this gentle story:
And this verse novel:
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