I Will Send Rain: Rae Meadows

This was a story about the Dust Bowl in 1934 in Mulehead Oklahoma. The Bells all have a secret. The Father, Samuel believes God talked to him in a dream to tell him to build an arc because another flood was coming to cleanse the land. Once he tells the town they laugh at him, but eventually his Arc ends up as a curiosity piece in town. Annie, the mom, is sleeping with the mayor, who she thinks might be able to get her out of the god forsaken town. She wonders what sort of woman she could have been and could still be. She wants more for her daughter Birdie, but Birdie's secret is that she is pregnant by a boy that left town because their family lost everything. The Son, Fred, suffers from dust pneumonia and found his mother's apron in an abandoned house, but is not sure why it was there. Fred can talk, but he choses not to talk to people. Fred dies in a dust storm and that is Annie's undoing, she realizes she has to make the best of the life she has and gives up hope of escape. She realizes her daughter is pregnant and accepts it, as she accepts that her husband may have the ability to hear God. There is a rain storm that causes some flooding, they load up into the arc/boat, and it floats for a little while tearing into a wall in the barn. Once the rain stops the Bells return to the house and Birdie gives birth to her daughter Rose. 1 week after giving birth Birdie leaves a note for her parent that she is heading west. Her parents know they could go after Birdie, but they would never find her, and she wouldn't be happy back home if they did. They raise Rose as their own which seems to bring them closer together again raising a new baby.