He was broke now—completely penniless—but for the first time in his life, he felt like he finally had enough room to breathe.
The day he finally walked into the local branch of the Grange Bank, he wasn't wearing a suit. He had grease under his fingernails and the cedar box tucked under his arm. The loan officer, a young man named Marcus, looked at the stacks of crumpled fives, tens, and twenties with a mixture of pity and confusion. money to buy land
He kept his "land money" in a heavy cedar box under his floorboards. It wasn’t just paper; it was thousands of hours of inhaled iron dust and skipped meals. Every time the box grew heavier, his world grew larger. He was broke now—completely penniless—but for the first
