The Dust and the Dream

<p> Between 1926 and 1940 Ludlow and the roads west do not vanish-but they flicker.<br> A depression hollows out the banks and the breath.<br> Dust covers prayer and ledger alike.</p><p>Isaiah Whitman does not shout. He walks the alleys the banks the chalk-scuffed corners writing sermons the wind might remember.<br> Clarence Whitman stays in the attic voice low <strong>broadcasting comfort </strong>through static and grief.<br> And Lila kin by dust and willpower drives west with silence as her passenger naming ghosts at the wheel.</p><p>This is not a novel of triumph.<br> But of staying.<br> Of humming when no hymn survives.<br> Of trading cornbread for <strong>truth.</strong><br> Of ringing the bell when the light returns.</p><p>This is <em>The Dust and the Dream</em>.<br> It holds.</p><p><br> </p>