One of Ours

by Willa Cather




Book One: On Lovely Creek

I.

Claude Wheeler opened his eyes before the sun was up and
vigorously shook his younger brother, who lay in the other half
of the same bed.

"Ralph, Ralph, get awake! Come down and help me wash the car."

"What for?"

"Why, aren't we going to the circus today?"

"Car's all right. Let me alone." The boy turned over and pulled
the sheet up to his face, to shut out the light which was
beginning to come through the curtainless windows.

Claude rose and dressed,--a simple operation which took very
little time. He crept down two flights of stairs, feeling his way
in the dusk, his red hair standing up in peaks, like a cock's
comb. He went through the kitchen into the adjoining washroom,
which held two porcelain stands with running water. Everybody had