This Tender Land: Chapter 53 Summary & Analysis

Odie sleeps in Gertie’s shed, thinking about the love she shares with Flo, and feeling the world’s possibilities expanding. He listens to voices speaking in Yiddish, Spanish, and Arabic. When he wakes, Flo and Emmy are preparing for the lunch service. Albert and Mose are helping Truman fix his boat, and Gertie is shopping for dinner. Odie borrows paper and an envelope and writes a letter to Maybeth in Chicago. After the lunch service, Gertie asks Mose about the progress on Truman’s boat. Albert is still working on it using Wooster Morgan’s equipment. Flo insists that Truman cares about his crew and the boat, despite his rough personality.

John Kelly appears and asks if Odie would like to do something fun. He takes Odie to the railroad, where the freight trains slow enough to hop on for a ride. John Kelly’s family is doing well thanks to Gertie’s food. The boys jump into an empty train car as it passes. According to John Kelly, the trains usually stop at the railyards but go all across the country as well. He offers to help Odie send his letter to Maybeth, leading him to the post office in the federal courthouse. Nervous, Odie is trying to hide his face when someone grabs arm. It is one-eyed Jack, the man he shot dead in Fremont County.