looking down at this badlands , which he had made first alone and then with the help of his son ( somewhere under the rocks , he knew , were the rotting remains of the stumps he had yanked out one at a time before any of the fields could be tilled ) , will had lighted a cigarette and said , `` my daddy used to tell me that god loved rocks , houseflies , weeds , and poor people above all the rest of his creations , and that 's why he made so many of them . ''