The Roots of the Olive Tree Read Online Free PDF

men slid planks under the foundation and forty others circled the structure. On the count of three, men pushed down on the planks and those circling the building moved in to take their place along the front or sides and hold up their section until the logs could be rolled underneath. It took no more than three minutes for the butcher shop to be placed on rollers. Anna watched as it was secured with ropes and then as six teams of horses were hitched to the logs. At that point every man put a hand on the building and walked with the horses to where lines had been burned into the prairie grass to mark the place for the shops. Anna returned to where the butcher shop had sat and poked her toe at the bone and dried blood that had dropped through the cracks in the floor.
    Wealthy and the Lindsey boys began scavenging for bits they could use in their cowboy games and pushed Anna aside. “This is no place for girls.” Anna pocketed a palm-size bone fragment the color of weak tea and settled herself on a stack of flour sacks. It took nearly ten hours to move the remaining eighteen structures. For the last two—the pharmacy and the blacksmith—the children were given lanterns to set atop their heads and told to walk the path between old Main and new Main. After the last had been settled into its new foundation, Anna watched her father set his foot on the path toward Hill House and then scurried back with her lantern to find what had fallen through the floor cracks of each of the buildings. That night was the only one she ever remembered staying out later than Wealthy.
    Anna kept that pile of treasures tied up in a blue handkerchief far into adulthood. It wasn’t until one long summer day when her children were small and in need of a distraction that she dug the pile from her hope chest. She doled out the buttons, shoe buckles, nails, and even the bone to each with a made-up story of the item’s owner and the special powers it held.
    From the orchard, Anna heard the grind of tires on the gravel and knew that the geneticist had finally arrived. She quickly ran her hands up several more branches, trying to pull as much fruit as she could. The basket at her feet was nearly two-thirds full. It would be enough.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Supercentenarian
    A nna watched the good doctor fill his plate with olives, green beans, and potatoes. He passed on the meat but took three of Callie’s dinner rolls. His muddy brown eyes flicked around the table, and he nodded each time he made eye contact with any of the women. He looked to be in his midfifties. Callie was probably too old for him. In Anna’s experience, men his age wanted a wife young enough to take care of them as they aged. Still, he had kind eyes, and they glanced most often at her granddaughter.
    Bets, who’d overseen the cooking of the ham, picked up the platter and tried to urge it on him. “It isn’t beef, if that’s what you’re worried about. Fresh meat, we only got the hog butchered last week.”
    Dr. Hashmi’s gaze dropped to his plate. “I’d not expected such a large lunch.”
    “Most of the Hindus I know are vegetarians,” Erin said. She’d come out of the bedroom during the introductions. They’d told him right away about her unexpected return, and he’d clapped his hands, offering that he was delighted that he’d get to meet the fifth generation in person.
    “Ah, yes. American food is quite complicated,” he said, bringing an olive to his mouth. “But quite good.”
    “Well I don’t eat the meat either,” Erin said and turned toward the doctor. “Philosophical grounds. Humane treatment and all that.”
    Anna stiffened. “Your second cousin Charley Spooner raised this pig up from when it was small. Bought it at the 4H auction, and it followed him around like a sheep. How much more humanity do you want?”
    Bobo growled and then Erin surprised them all by reaching for the platter and moving a slice onto her plate. She tore a bit off, tossed it to the dog, and