Arabella Farms, Ras, and the Kids
[Lore Dump]
Erasmus (Ras), post-military discharge, moved his family to the Panhandle in Texas to get into the cattle farming business. He bought a plot of land and built a homestead with his own hands. Over the years, he worked to expand their business, eventually succeeding and turning it into a multimillion dollar meatpacking company.
The Todds’ estate increased exponentially, becoming one of the biggest plots of privately owned land. The humble homestead became a luxurious, rambling ranch-house. Their life became plush and far beyond comfortable, for the price of Ras’ good conscience. There were holes on the property, six feet deep – the final resting places of rivals and whistleblowers.
Arabella, weary of her husband’s constant traveling, and due to her inherent insecurity, begins an affair. Her older children discover this. Susannah, coerced by her mother to keep it secret, said nothing. Darrell, too, is manipulated to stay quiet. B (the most hot-blooded of the litter), having lost all sympathy for his mother, tells Ras everything.
Arabella divorces Ras and starts a family with her lover. The Todds carry on without her. Ras hires Pilar to be the farmstead’s nurse and the children’s nanny. B becomes very close with her, calling her “Mama”, while cutting ties with his own mother. Susannah follows suit, becoming solely devoted to her father and siblings.
Nathan is the only one to reach out to Arabella, desperate for the normalcy he was familiar with. Despite being let down every time, he still loved her. And B hated him for it. Ras understood that the two seemed to share an animosity greater than petty sibling rivalry. The brothers shared a love of the land and the country life, but they were very different. Nathan was constant - grounded - like the corn that rose every summer and the earth that fed them. B was wild, like the fire that tears through a field or a river that cleaves a valley.
Ras loved him with all his heart. His little lightning. His miracle sunshine child. It was a shame that he was unsuited to inherit the business. Nathan, too, didn’t want the burden. He was content raising the cattle, far away from the suits and their interests. He had no real ambitions nor desire for personal distinction. He doesn’t even pursue a college degree. Darrell was a similar letdown. He was bouncing from one vocation to another, reaching out for something divine (But that’s a topic for another time).
So, the responsibility fell to Susannah, who was more than happy to do it for her dad. She gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, gets into business school, and becomes Ras’ successor.