Countless Haints (Part 6)

Rounding the bend, she saw her house.  Chickens milled about the yard, pecking up bugs, and Madi felt a hint of guilt for driving the grasshoppers in their direction.  The cows, including the new calf, stood in their fenced pasture, chewing vacantly at grass and weeds.  The vineyard's wire trellises climbed the hill, already heavy with leaves and drooping grape clusters, and the sharp scent of the scuppernongs was thick in the air.  At the summit of the hill stood the old tree in dark...