Frank Greerson and Gregory Young have been discharged from the Army and are headed to their childhood homes. They both defied their parents in 1861 when they joined the Army. After battling southern rebels and preserving the Union of the United States of America, the two men set out to battle the Kansas Prairie and build a life together. Once they find their claim, they encounter common obstacles to life on the Kansas Prairie in 1866: Native Americans, tornadoes, wild animals, and weather.<br><br>When a prairie fire destroys their crops and takes their neighbor’s lives, Frank and Gregory are instructed to find their young son’s aunt. Faced with leaving a destroyed claim, the railroad coming through their land, and dwindling funds, Frank and Gregory must decide whether to leave the place they have worked hard to make their own or fulfill their friends' dying wishes.

A Place to Call Their Own

Later in the day, Frank finished reheating the dinner that Mrs. McAvoy had made earlier and set it in front of Gregory and James. Everybody was still moping about the recent turn of events, and it didn’t help that the summer heat kept hanging on. The same stifling heat that took away Frank and Gregory’s dreams and James’s parents hugged the Kansas prairie and wouldn’t let go.


“Eat up, son,” Gregory encouraged between his own meager attempts to eat.


James continued to sulk in his meal, but managed to sip a couple of spoonfuls of stew.


The three worked hard at eating their supper. The prairie was still. Even though there was a light breeze, there was little left on the land to blow in the wind. When a wagon got close enough to hear, it startled the three in their haze.


Gregory and James followed Frank to the front porch so they could see who was coming. Frank was the first to recognize the visitors coming in from the east.


Chapter 56