“We don’t hoard things, if that’s what you mean,” I said, keeping my voice studiously even. “Those of us who have give to those of us who don’t, because we care for one another. We do own things. My books and clothes and tools and things are my personal property, until I give them away because they’ll be of more use to someone else. As for passing things down to heirs…In the general course of things, a mother passes her homestead to her eldest daughter, or whichever of her daughters seems most suited if the eldest isn’t.”
