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ROLL OF THUNDER HEAR MY CRY
MILDRED D
...
He could tell a fine old story that made me hold my sides with rolling laughter and sent
happy tears down my cheeks, or a story of stark reality that made me shiver and be grateful for my own warm, secure
surroundings
...
His memory detailed every event of ten or forty years or more before, just as if it had
happened yesterday
...
From my father the storyteller I learned to respect the past, to respect my own heritage and myself
...

He was warm and steadfast, a man whose principles would not bend, and he had within him a rare strength that sustained not
only my sister and me and all the family but all those who sought his advice and leaned upon his wisdom
...
In time, he taught me the complex things too
...
He
taught me of hopes and dreams
...
Without his teachings, without his words, my words
would not have been
...
The stories as only he could tell them died with him
...
They remain also

within the pages of this book, its guiding spirit and total power
...
TAYLOR
April 1976

One
'Little Man, would you come on! You keep it up and you're gonna make us late
...
Grasping more firmly his newspaper-wrapped notebook and his tin can lunch of
cornbread and oil sausages, he continued to concentrate on the dusty road
...
Always meticulously neat, six-year old Little Man never allowed dirt or tears or stains to mar anything he owned
...

'You keep it up and make us late for school, Mama's gonna wear you out
...
it
seemed to me that showing up at school at all on a bright August-like October morning made for running the cool forest trails
and wading barefoot in the forest pond was concession enough; Sunday clothing was asking too much
...
Only Little Man, just beginning his school career, found the
prospects of both intriguing
...
'
‘I betcha Mama's gonna "clean" you, you keep it up
...

‘Ah, Cassie, leave him be,' Stacey admonished, frowning and kicking testily at the road
...
’
Stacey cut me a wicked look and I grew silent
...
If I hadn't known the cause of
it
...
'Shoot,' I mumbled finally, unable to restrain myself from further comment, 'it ain't my fault you
gotta be in Mama's class this year
...

Christopher-John, walking between Stacey and me, glanced uneasily at both of us but did not interfere
...
he stuffed his free hands into his pockets and attempted to make his face as
moody as Stacey's and as cranky as mine
...
There was little that could make Christopher-John unhappy for very long, not even the
thought of school
...
I hated the dress
...
There was little I could do in a dress, and as for shoes, they imprisoned freedomloving feet accustomed to the feel of the warm earth,
‘Cassie, stop that,' Stacey snapped as the dust billowed in swirling clouds around my feet
...
Christopher-John's whistling increased to a raucous, nervous shrill
...

Before us the narrow, sun-splotched road wound like a lazy red serpent dividing the high forest bank of quiet, old trees on the
left from the cotton field, forested by giant green-and-purple stalks
...
A barbed-wire fence ran the length of the
deep field, stretching eastward for over a quarter of a mile until it met the sloping green pasture that signaled the end of our
family's four hundred acres, An ancient oak tree on the slope, visible even now, was the official dividing mark between
Logan land and the beginning of a dense forest
...
That was Harlan Granger land
...
In

1887, when the land was up for sell again, Grandpa had bought two hundred acres of it, and in 19I8, after the first two
hundred acres had been paid off, he had bought another two hundred, It was good rich land, much of it still virgin forest, and
there was no debt on half of it
...

That was why Papa had gone to work on the railroad
...
It was there he found work laying track
for the railroad
...
The following spring after the planting was finished
...
Now it was 1933 and Papa was again
in Louisiana laying track,
I asked him once why he had to go away, why the land was so important
...
All that belongs to you
...
That's important
...
Then
you'll see
...
Some of it belonged to Stacey,
Christopher-John, and Little Man, not to mention the part that belonged to Big Ma
...
But Papa never divided the land in his mind: it was simply Logan land
...
Papa said that one day I would understand
...

When the fields ended and the Granger forest fanned both sides of the road with long overhanging branches, a tall,
emaciated-looking boy popped suddenly from a forest trail and swung a thin arm around Stacey
...
J
...
His
younger brother Claude emerged a moment later, smiling weakly as if it pained him to do so
...
The Avery family share- cropped on Granger
land
...
' said T
...
jauntily swinging into step with Stacey, there we go again startin' another school year
...
J
...
'Your mama's really one great teacher
...
' He certainly
should
...
'You don't have to spend all day in a classroom with your mama
...
J
...
You'll be learnin' all sorts of stuff 'fore the rest of
us
...
'like what's on all them tests
...
J
...
'If that's what you think, you don't know Mama
...
J
...
'Jus' an idea
...
'
'Burning I What burning?' asked Stacey
...
I thought y'all's grandmother went over there last night to see 'bout 'em
...
She was good at medicines and people often called her
instead of a doctor when they were sick
...

'What Berrys he talking 'bout, Stacey!' I asked
...

'They live way over on the other side of Smellings Creek
...
Then he
turned back to T
...
'Mr
...
Said Mr
...
'
'He's low sick all right ~'cause he got burnt near to death
...

'Well, since y'all don't seem to know nothin',' said T
...
, in his usual sickening way of nursing a tidbit of information to death,
'maybe I ought not tell y'all, It might hurt y'all's little ears
...
' I didn't like T
...
very much and his stalling around didn't help
...
J
...
'
'Well
...
J
...

Finally T
...
said, 'Okay
...
Some white men took a match to 'em,'
'Y-you mean just lit 'em up like a piece of wood!' stammered Christopher-John, his eyes growing big with disbelief
...
J
...
'Don't know why
...
'
'How you know !' I questioned suspiciously
...
''Cause your mama come down on her way to school and talked to my mama 'bout it
...
'
'How'd she look!' inquired Little Man, interested enough to glance up from the road for the first time
...
J
...
'like
...
' He waited a moment for his words to be appropriately shocking, but
the effect was spoiled by Little Man, who asked lightly, 'What does death look like !'

T
...
turned in annoyance
...
He didn't like T
...
either, 'Like my grandfather looked jus' 'fore
they buried him, T
...
described all-knowingly
...
' replied Little Man, losing interest and concentrating on the road again
...
Stacey, man,' said T
...
morosely, shaking his head
...

Stacey pulled back, considering whether or not T
...
's words were offensive
...
immediately erased the question by
continuing amiably
...
They some real swell kids, but that Cassie 'bout got me whipped this
mornin'
...

'Now how'd she do that !' Stacey laughed
...
She up and told your mama 'bout me goin' up to that Wallace store
dancin' room and Miz Logan told Mama
...
'But don't worry, I got out of it though
...
Kaleb
give out sometimes and I had to go and get him 'cause I knowed good and well she didn't want us up there
...
J
...
'Mama 'bout wore him out
...
'You let him do that!' I exclaimed
...
He was more afraid of T
...
than of his mother
...
J
...
Friendly Christopher-John glared at T
...
, and
putting his short arm around Claude's shoulder said
...
let's go on ahead
...
J
...
J
...
'That was dirty
...
' I thought, promising myself that if he ever pulled anything like that on me, I'd knock his block off
...
jagged, clay-walled banks
...
'Off the road!' Without another word, all
of us but Little Man scrambled up the steep right bank into the forest
...
' Stacey ordered, but Little Man only gazed at the ragged red bank sparsely covered with scraggly brown
briars and kept on walking
...

'But I'll get my clothes dirty i' protested Little Man
...
Look!'
Little Man turned around and watched saucer-eyed as a bus bore down on him spewing clouds of red dust like a huge yellow
dragon breathing fire
...
He ran frantically along the road looking for a
foothold and, finding one, hopped onto the bank, but not before the bus had sped past enveloping him in a scarlet haze while
laughing white faces pressed against the bus windows
...

'Well, ole Little Man done got his Sunday clothes dirty, T
...
laughed as we jumped down from the bank
...
J
...

'Ah, shut up, T
...
,' Stacey snapped,
'Yeah, shut up
...
J
...

'Come on, Man,' Stacey said,' and next time do like I tell ya
...
'How's come they did that
...
dusting himself off
...
' Stacey said, balling his fists and jamming them tightly into his pockets
...

'We ain't got one
...
came running down a forest path toward us
...
J
...
'Hey, Jeremy,' Stacey said
...

'Y'all jus' startin' school today !'
'Yeah
...
'Ours been goin' since the end of August
...

'Yeah,' said Stacey again
...
He was a strange boy
...
and met us there in the afternoon
...
Still, Jeremy continued to meet us
...
' she said without a backward glance, and Jeremy, smiling
sheepishly, waved a timid good-bye and slowly followed her
...
Jeremy looked back once but then Lillian Jean yelled shrilly at him and he did not
look back again
...
a long white wooden building looming in the
distance
...
In
front of it were two yellow buses, our own tormentor and one that brought students from the other direction, and loitering
students awaiting the knell of the morning bell
...
was the Mississippi nag
...
As Jeremy and his sister and brothers hurried reward those transposed flags, we turned eastward toward

our own school
...
Consisting of four weather-beaten wooden houses on stilts of brick
...
a principal
...
Most of the students
were from families that sharecropped on Granger land, and the others mainly from Montier and Harrison plantation families
...
But
even so, after today a number of the older students would not be seen again for a month or two, not until the last puff of
cotton had been gleaned from the fields, and eventually most would drop out of school altogether
...

The class buildings, with their backs practically against the forest wall, formed a semicircle facing a small one-room church
at the opposite edge of the compound
...
As
we arrived, the enormous iron bell in the church belfry was ringing vigorously, warning the milling students that only five
minutes of freedom remained
...
Stacey and T
...
, ignoring the rest of us now that they
were on the school grounds, wandered off to be with the other seventh-grade boys, and Christopher-John and Claude rushed
to reunite with their classmates of last year
...
Plopping my pencils and notebook into the dirt, I propped my elbows on my knees and rested my chin in
the palms of my hands
...

'Hey, yourself,' I said, scowling so ferociously that she kept on walking
...
Certainly no one else did
...
Girls stood awkwardly, afraid to sit, and boys pulled restlessly at starched, highbuttoned collars
...
Tonight the
Sunday clothes would be wrapped in newspaper and hung for Sunday and the shoes would be packed away to be brought out
again only when the weather turned so cold that bare feet could no longer traverse the frozen roads: but for today we all
suffered
...

Moe was one of Stacey's friends
...
Because
of the distance
...
But there were some girls and boys like Moe who made the trek daily, leaving their homes
while the sky was black and not returning until all was blackness again
...
I don't think my feet would have wanted that badly for me to be educated
...
I stood up dusting my bottom as the first, second, third, and fourth graders crowded up
the stairs into the hallway
...
I
glanced down at my own shoes powdered red and, raising my right foot, rubbed it against the back of my left leg, then
reversed the procedure
...

A hallway extended from the front to the back door of the building
...
both
leading into the same large room which was divided into two classrooms by a heavy canvas curtain
...
I hurried to the rear of the building, turned to the right, and
slid into a third-row bench occupied by Gracey Pearson and Alma Scott
...
' objected Gracey
...

I glanced back at Mary Lou Wellever, depositing her lunch pail on a shelf in the back of the room and said, 'Not any more
you ain't,'
Miss Daisy Crocker, yellow and buckeyed, glared down at me from the middle of the room with a look that said, 'Soooooooo,
it's you, Cassie Logan
...
With the curtain drawn back, the first graders gazed quizzically at us
...

Mary Lou nudged me
...

'Mary Lou Wellever,' Miss Crocker called primly, 'have a seat
...


Miss Crocker walked stiffly to her desk, which was set on a tiny platform and piled high with bulky objects covered by a
tarpaulin, She rapped the desk with a ruler, although the room was perfectly still, and said, 'Welcome, children, to Great Faith
Elementary School
...
I'll be expecting many good and wonderful things from you
...
'
Already bored, I stretched my right arm on the desk and rested my head in my upraised hand
...
'Now, little ones,' she said, still talking to the first grade,
'your teacher, Miss Davis, has been held up in Jackson for a few days so I'll have the pleasure of sprinkling your little minds
with the first rays of knowledge
...

'Now since there's only one of me, we shall have to sacrifice for the next few days
...
but we shall
have to work like little Christian boys and girls and share, share, share
...
MIZ CROCKER,' the children chorused
...
I never did approve of group responses
...

'Cassie Logan!'
I looked up, startled
...

'Aren't you willing to work and share !'
'Yes'm
...
Gracey, and Alma giggled
...

By ten o'clock, Miss Crocker had rearranged our seating and written our names on her seating chart
...
Although being
eyeball to eyeball with Miss Crocker was nothing to look forward to, the prospect of being warm once the cold weather set in
was nothing to be sneezed at either, so I resolved to make the best of my rather dubious position
...

Everyone gasped, for most of the students had never handled a book at all besides the family Bible
...
Although Mama had several books
...

'Now we're very fortunate to get these readers,' Miss Crocker explained while we eagerly awaited the unveiling
...
' She
moved toward her desk
...
' She stared down,
expecting our response
...
"' She looked
sharply at me as she spoke
...

Sitting so close to the desk, I could see that the covers of the books, a motley red, were badly worn and that the gray edges of
the pages had been marred by pencils, crayons, and ink
...
But Miss Crocker continued to beam as she called each fourth grader to her desk and, recording a number in
her roll book, handed him or her a book
...
Miss Crocker
must have noticed them too, for as I sat down she said, 'Don't worry, little ones, there are plenty of readers for you too
...
' Wide eyes turned to the covered teacher's platform directly in front of them and an audible sigh
of relief swelled in the room
...
I knew that he could not see the soiled covers or the marred
pages from where he sat, and even though his penchant for cleanliness was often annoying, I did not like to think of his
disappointment when he saw the books as they really were
...
Girls with blond braids and boys with blue eyes stared up at
me
...

Suddenly I grew conscious of a break in that monotonous tone and I looked up
...

'What's that you said, Clayton Chester Logan !' she asked
...
Everyone knew that Little Man
was in big trouble for no one, but no one, ever called Little Man 'Clayton Chester' unless she or he meant serious business
...
His lips parted slightly as he took his hands from the book
...
'I –I said may I have another book please, ma'am,' he squeaked
...
'
'Dirty !' Miss Crocker echoed, appalled by such temerity
...
'Dirty! And just who do you think you are, Clayton Chester!
Here the county is giving us these wonderful books during these hard times and you're going to stand there and tell me that
the book's too dirty! Now you take that book or get nothing at all I'
Little Man lowered his eyes and said nothing as he stared at the book, For several moments he stood there, his face barely
visible above the desk, then he turned and looked at the few remaining books and, seeming to realize that they were as badly
soiled as the one Miss Crocker had given him
...
I nodded and Little Man, glancing up again
at Miss Crocker, slid the book from the edge of the desk, and with his back straight and his head up returned to his seat
...
'Some people around here seem to be giving themselves airs
...
' she
scowled
...

I watched Little Man as he scooted into his seat beside two other little boys
...
Rut as he stared at the book's inside cover, his face clouded, changing from sulky acceptance to puzzlement
...
Then his eyes grew wide, and suddenly he sucked in his breath and sprang from his chair like a wounded
animal, hinging the book onto the floor and stomping madly upon it
...
She shook him vigorously, then set him on the
floor again, 'Now, just what's gotten into you, Clayton Chester!' But Little Man said nothing
...
'Pick it up,' she ordered
...
'No! I'll give you ten seconds
to pick up that book, boy
...
' Little Man bit his lower lip, and I knew that he was not going to
pick up the book
...
Stamped on the inside cover was a chart which read:
The blank lines continued down to line 20 and I knew that they had all been reserved for black students
...
But as Miss Crocker directed Little Man to bend over the 'whipping chair
...

'Miz Crocker
...
Miss Crocker's dark eyes warned me not to say another word
...
'I just wanna tell you how come Little Man done what he done
...
I said
...
They give us these ole books when they didn't
want'em no more
...
'Now how could he know what it says! He can't read
...
He been reading since he was four
...
See
what's in the last row
...

This time Miss Crocker did look, but her face did not change
...

'S-see what they called us,' I said, afraid she had not seen
...
' she said coldly
...

I shook my head, realizing now that Miss Crocker did not even know what I was talking about, She had looked at the page
and had understood nothing,
'I said sit down
...
I turned back around
...

The switch landed hard upon Little Man's upturned bottom
...
Then she swung the switch five more times and, discovering that Little Man had no
intention of crying, ordered him up
...
'
By the end of the school day I had decided that I would tell Mama everything before Miss Crocker had a chance to do so
...
I knew that Miss Crocker had not spoken to Mama during
the lunch period, for she had spent the whole hour in the classroom preparing for the afternoon session
...
But before
I could reach the seventh-grade-class building
...
Mr
...
Meanwhile Miss Crocker briskly crossed the lawn to Mama's class building
...

Wellever, she had already disappeared into the darkness of the hallway,
Mama's classroom was in the back, I crept silently along the quiet hall and peeped cautiously into the open doorway, Mama,
pushing a strand of her long, crinkly hair back into the chignon at the base of her slender neck, was seated at her desk
watching Miss Crocker thrust a book before her, 'Just look at that
...
'A perfectly good book ruined
...
'
Mama did not speak as she studied the book
...
' she said, placing a second book on
Mama's desk with an outraged slam
...
I tell you, Mary
...
I always knew Cassie was rather high-strung, but Little Man! He's always such a
perfect little gentle- man
...
'You
say Cassie said it was because of this front page that she and Little Man didn't want the books !' Mama asked quietly
...
'The very
idea! That's on all the books, and why they got so upset about it I'll never know
...

'Well, I certainly did ! Whipped both of them good with my hickory stick
...
'
'Of course you did
...
' Mama said, turning back to the books again
...
' But her tone was so quiet and
noncommittal that I knew Miss Crocker was not satisfied with her reaction
...
'
Mama smiled up at Miss Crocker and said rather absently, ‘Yes, of course, Daisy
...
' Then she opened her desk
drawer and pulled out some paper, a pair of scissors
...

Miss Crocker, dismayed by Mama's seeming unconcern for the seriousness of the matter, thrust her shoulders back and began
moving away from the desk
...
‘Mary, what in the world are you doing!'
Mama did not answer
...
Then she took the paper and placed it over the glue
...
If somebody from the superintendent's office
ever comes down here and sees that book, you'll be in real trouble
...
'In the first place no one cares enough to come down here, and in the second

place if anyone should come, maybe he could see all the things we need - current books for all of our subjects, not just
somebody's old throwaways, desks, paper, black- boards, erasers, maps, chalk
...

'Biting the hand that feeds you
...
'
Again, Mama laughed
...
Daisy, T don't think I need that little bit of food
...

'Well, I just think you're spoiling those children, Mary
...
'
'Maybe so,' said Mama, ‘but that doesn't mean they have to accept them
...
'
Miss Crocker gazed suspiciously at Mama
...
Her ideas were always a bit too radical and her statements a bit too pointed
...
thinkers like
Miss Crocker were wary of her
...

'It will be easy enough for anyone to see whose responsibility it is, Daisy, by opening any seventh-grade book
...

Miss Crocker, finding nothing else to say, turned imperiously and headed for the door
...

Mama remained at her desk, sitting very still
...
When she did, she picked up one of the
seventh-grade books and began to glue again
...

I would wait until the evening to talk to her; there was no rush now
...


Two
'Cassie, you better watch yourself, girl,' Big Ma cautioned, putting one rough, large hand against my back to make sure I
didn't fall
...
Big Ma was Papa's mother, and like him she was tall and strongly built
...
'Ah, Big Ma, I ain't gonna fall
...

'You she' better not fall, girl,' grumbled Big Ma
...
I
don't like y'all children climbin' them things
...
Christopher-John and Little Man
farther down the field balanced skillfully on lower spikes of their own poles plucking the last of the cot- ton, but Stacey, too
heavy now to climb the poles, was forced to remain on the ground
...
‘Mary, child
...
'
Mama was stooped over a low cotton branch
...
She was tawny- colored,
thin and sinewy, with delicate features in a strong- jawed face, and though almost as tall as Big Ma, she seemed somewhat
dwarfed beside her
...
‘Come Monday, we'd better haul it up to the Granger place and
have it ginned
...
I had moved to the very top of my pole and could now see above the field to the road where two
figures, one much taller than the other, were walking briskly
...
There was in the easy fluid gait of the shorter man a familiarity that made me gasp
...

'Cassie!'
'It's Papa!'
'David!' Mama questioned unbelievingly as Christopher- John and Little Man descended eagerly and dashed after Stacey and

me toward the barbed-wire fence
...
But we pretended not to hear
...

When Papa saw us, he began running swiftly, easily, like the wind
...

'Papa, what you doing home!' asked Little Man
...
' He hugged and kissed each of us, then
stood back
...
'Ain't y'all something! Can't hardly call y'all babies no more
...
'Mr
...
But now, gazing upward at
the most formidable-looking being we had ever encountered, we huddled closer to Papa
...
The long trunk of his massive body bulged with muscles, and his skin, of the
deepest ebony, was partially scarred upon his face and neck, as if by fire
...
I glanced at the boys and it was obvious to me that they
were wondering the same thing as I: Where had such a being come from !
'Children,' said Papa, ‘meet Mr
...
T
...
Each of us whispered a faint hello to the giant, then the six of us started up the
road toward home
...
When Papa saw Mama, his square, highcheekboned face opened to a wide smile and, lifting Mama with spirited gusto, he swung her around twice before setting her
down and kissing her
...
is something the matter !' she asked
...
'Something gotta be wrong, woman, for me to come see 'bout you !'
'You got my letter?'
He nodded, then hugged and kissed Big Ma before introducing them both to Mr
...


When we reached the house we climbed the long, sloping lawn to the porch and went into Mama and Papa's room, which also
served as the living area
...
Morrison Grandpa Logan's chair, a cushioned oak rocker skillfully crafted by
Grandpa himself; but Mr
...
Instead, he stood gazing at the room
...
From it a person could reach the front or the side porch, the
kitchen, and the two other bedrooms
...
Papa and Uncle Hammer when they were boys, Papa's two eldest brothers, who were now dead, and pictures of
Mama's family
...

Mr
...

The boys and I pulled up straight-backed chairs near Papa as Big Ma asked, ‘How long you gonna be home, son !'
Papa looked across at her
...

'Sunday!' Mama exclaimed
...

Christopher-John, Little Man, and I groaned loudly, and Papa turned to us
...

Papa gently pulled one of my pigtails
...

'But, Papa –
'Listen, all of y'all,' he said, looking from me to the boys to Mama and Big Ma, 'I come home special so I could bring Mr
...
He's gonna stay with us awhile
...
they did not show it, but the boys and I looked with wide eyes at each
other, then at the giant
...
Morrison lost his job on the railroad a while back
...
'and he ain't been able to find anything else
...
I told him we couldn't afford much - food and
shelter and a few dollars in cash when I come home in the winter
...
Morrison, studied him for a moment, and said, 'Welcome to our home, Mr
...
'
'Miz Logan
...
Morrison in a deep, quiet voice like the roll of low thunder
...
Got in a fight with some men
...
'
Mama stared into Mr
...
' Whose fault was it !'
Mr
...
'I'd say theirs
...
ma'am,' answered Mr
...
'They was white
...
'Thank you for telling me
...
Morrison
...
especially now
...

'Stacey, what you think!' I asked as we milked the cows in the evening
...

Morrison!'
Stacey shrugged
...
'
I thought on that a moment, 'Papa ain't never brung nobody here before
...
,,Stacey, you think it's cause of them burnings T
...
was talking 'bout !'
'Burnings!' piped Little Man, who had interrupted his feeding of the chickens to visit with Lady, our golden mare
...
'Papa got no need to think
...

'Think what !' I asked
...
' he muttered, turning back to the cow
...
'
I glared at him
...
I just wanna know, that's all, and I betcha anything Mr
...
Sure wish I knew for sure
...
I wish P-Papa didn't never have to go 'way no more
...
and
stay
...
Silas Lanier leaned across me and whispered to Big Ma, 'John Henry Berry died last night
...
Samuel Berry
...

The way I hears it,' said Mr
...
Had a nice little place up there too, and was doing pretty well
...
'
Big Ma shook her head
...

The boys and I sat at our study table pretending not to listen, but listening still
...
Lanier, 'you know, Clara Davis's sister that live up there in Strawberry! Well, she's kin to the
Berrys and she was with John Henry and Beacon when the trouble got started
...
They was waitin' there for they gas when some white men come up messin' with them - been drinkin',
you know
...
" And when she heard that, she
said to John Henry, "Let's get on outa here
...


'John Henry, he took her on home then headed back for his own place, but evidently them men caught up with him and
Beacon again and starts rammin' the back of they car - least that's what Beacon and John Henry told they aunt and uncle when
they seed 'em
...
'
'It's she' a shame, all right,' said T
...
's father, a frail, sickly man with a hacking cough
...

Heard tell they lynched a boy a few days ago at Crosston
...
Lanier
...
Now I hear tells that some of them men that done it been
'round braggin' 'bout it, Sayin' they'd do it again if some uppity nigger get out of line
...
Avery asked, 'Lord have mercy I' Papa sat very quietly while the Laniers and the Averys talked, studying them with
serious eyes
...
'In this family, we don't shop at the Wallace store
...
The boys and I stared at the adults wondering why, The Laniers and the Averys looked uneasily
about them and when the silence was broken, the subject had changed to the sermon of the day,
After the Laniers and the Averys had left
...
'Your mama tells me that a lot of the older children been
going up to that Wallace store after school to dance and buy their bootleg liquor and smoke cigarettes
...
We don't want y'all going to that place
...
There's drinking up there and I don't like it - and I don't like
them Wallaces either
...
Y'all hear me !'
'Yessir, Papa
...
'I ain't never going up there
...


Three

By the end of October the rain had come, falling heavily upon the six-inch layer of dust which had had its own way for more
than two months
...

To shield us from the rain, Mama issued us dried calf- skins which we flung over our heads and shoulders like stiff cloaks
...
We preferred to do with- out them; unfortunately, Mama cared very little about what we preferred
...
As soon as we were beyond Big Ma's eagle eyes, we threw off the cloaks and depended upon the overhanging
limbs of the forest trees to keep us dry
...

If we had been faced only with the prospect of the rain soaking through our clothing each morning and evening, we could
have more easily endured the journey between home and school
...
Knowing that the bus driver
liked to entertain his passengers by sending us slipping along the road to the almost inaccessible forest banks washed to a
smooth baldness by the constant rains, we continuously looked over our shoulders when we were between the two crossroads
so that we could reach the bank before the bus was upon us
...

No one was more angered by this humiliation than Little Man
...
She had explained
to him, as she had explained to Christopher-John the year before and to me two years before that, that the county did not
provide buses for its black students
...
Great Faith Church just could not afford a bus, so therefore we had to walk
...
‘They done
it again, Big Ma! Just look at my clothes!'

Big Ma clucked her tongue as she surveyed us
...
All of y'all, get out
of them clothes and dry yo'selves
...

'But, Big Ma, it ain't fair!' wailed Little Man
...

Stacey and Christopher-John left to change into their work clothes, but Little Man sat on the side bench looking totally
dejected as he gazed at his pale-blue pants crusted with mud from the knees down
...

Big Ma was not one for coddling any of us, but now she turned from the stove and, wiping her hands on her long white apron,
sat down on the bench and put her arm around Little Man
...
Lord
...

don't you know one day the sun'll shine again and you won't get muddy no more !'
'But
...
' Little Man protested
...
'
'Well
...
'So ain't no use frettin' 'bout it
...
You jus' keep on
studyin' and get yo'self a good education and you'll be all right
...
go on and wash out yo' clothes and hang 'em by the fire
so's I can iron 'em 'fore I go to bed
...
she spied me
...

That night when I was snug in the deep feathery bed beside Big Ma, the tat-tat of the rain against the tin roof changed to a
deafening roar that sounded as if thousands of giant rocks were being hurled against the earth
...
High rivers of muddy water flowed in the deep
gullies, and wide lakes shimmered on the roads
...
Soon the thunder rolled
across the sky, and the rain fell like hail upon our bent heads
...
J
...
We were listening for the bus
...

Sometimes it worked; most times it didn't, It was as if the bus were a living thing, plaguing and defeating us at every turn
...

We plodded along feeling the cold mud against our feet, walking faster and faster to reach the crossroads
...
'Hey, y'all, I think I hear it,' he warned
...

'Ain't nothin' yet,' I said
...

'Wait a minute,' said Christopher-John, stopping a second time
...
'
We turned but still there was nothing
...
J
...

'Wait,' said Stacey, 'I think I hear it too
...

Soon the purr of a motor came closer and Mr
...
It was a grand car with chrome
shining even in the rain, and the only one like it in the county, so it was said
...
'Jus' ole Harlan,' said T,J
...

Stacey stopped them
...
' he suggested
...

'Ah, man, that bus ain't comin' for a while yet,' said T
...
'We left early this mornin', remember !'

Stacey looked to the south, thinking
...

'Come on, man
...
J
...
‘Why stay up here waitin' for that devilish bus when we could be at school outa this mess !'
T
...
and Claude jumped from the bank
...
Little Man, Christopher-John, and I followed,
Five minutes later we were skidding like frightened puppies toward the bank again as the bus accelerated and barreled down
the narrow rain-soaked road; but there was no place to which we could run
...
Here the gullies were
too wide, filled almost to overflowing, and there were no briars or bushes by which we could swing up onto the bank
...

Little Man, chest-deep in water, scooped up a handful of mud and in an uncontrollable rage scrambled up to the road and ran
after the retreating bus
...
Then, totally dismayed by what had happened
...

T
...
climbed from the gully grinning at Little Man, but Stacey, his face burning red beneath his dark skin, glared so fiercely at
T
...
that he fell back
...
J
...
'Just one word
...
We had never seen Stacey look like this
...
J
...

Stacey glowered at T
...
a moment longer, then walked swiftly to Little Man and put his long arm around his shoulders, saying
softly, 'Come on, Man
...
I promise you that
...

Then, shrugging, we hurried after him,
When Jeremy Simms spied us from his high perch on the forest path, he ran hastily down and joined us
...

The smile faded and, noticing our mud-covered clothing, he asked, 'Hey, St-Stacey, wh-what happened!'
Stacey turned, stared into his blue eyes and said coldly, 'Why don't you leave us alone! How come you-always hanging
‘round us anyway I'
Jeremy grew even more pale
...
Then he whispered
...
When we reached the crossroads, he looked hopefully at us as if we might relent
and say good-bye
...
It was only then that I realized that Jeremy never rode the bus, no matter how
bad the weather
...
Little Man, and me aside
...
'
'Why!' we asked
...
'I’ll show y'all how we're gonna stop that bus from splashing us
...

'Don't have time to explain now
...
And be on time
...

'Y-you mean we ain't gonna eat no lunch !' Christopher- John cried in dismay
...
But Christopher-john looked sourly after him as if he greatly
questioned the wisdom of a plan so drastic that it could exclude lunch
...
J
...

Stacey shook his head
...
J
...
but he's got no stomach for this kinda thing
...
J,'

'Good,' said Little Man
...

Stacey studied the tools available while the rest of us watched
...

Stealthily emerging from the tool shed into the drizzle, we eased along the forest edge behind the class buildings to avoid
being seen
...
'Come on
...
'We ain't got much time
...

'Up to where that bus forced us off the road
...

When we reached the place where we had fallen into the gully, Stacey halted
...
Without
another word, he put his bare foot upon the top edge of the shovel and sank it deep into the soft road
...

'Cassie, you start digging over there on that side of the road right across from me
...
It's
gotta look like it's been washed out
...
Quick now,' he said, still digging as we began to carry out his commands
...
'
We asked no more questions
...
And for once in his life, Little Man was happily oblivious to the mud spattering upon him
...
Stacey and I threw down our
shovels and grabbed the extra buckets
...
we worked wordlessly until the water lay at the same level as the road
...
Finding three rocks, he stacked them to identify the spot
...
' he explained, jumping down again
...
'looks like it's gonna rain real hard some more
...
'The more rain, the better
...
It'll also keep cars and wagons away
...
'And let's hope don't nothin' come
along 'fore that bus
...

Quickly we gathered our buckets and shovels and hurried back to school
...
As I slipped into my seat Miss Crocker looked at me oddly and shook her head
...

Soon after I had settled down to the boredom of Miss Crocker, the rain began to pound down again, hammering with great
intensity upon the tin roof
...
J
...

'You think we'll get there in time to see, Stacey!' I asked
...
They stay in school fifteen minutes longer than we do
and it always takes them a few minutes to load up
...
The buses were there but the students had not been
dismissed
...

Expecting to see the yard-wide ditch we had dug at noon, we were not prepared for the twelve-foot lake which glimmered up
at us
...

'The rain,' said Stacey
...
' Eagerly, we settled onto the muddy forest floor and waited
...
' I said, ‘won’t that big a puddle make that ole driver cautious!'
Stacey frowned, then said uncertainly, ‘I don't know
...
There's big puddles down the road that ain't deep
...

'If I was to be walking out there when the bus comes, that ole bus driver would be sure to speed up so's he could splash me,' I

suggested
...

Stacey thought a moment, but decided against it
...
It's better none of us be on the road when it happens
...
'
'Stacey, what if they find out we done it!' asked Christopher-John nervously
...

'Hey, I think it's coming,' whispered Little Man
...
It rolled cautiously through a wide puddle some twenty
feet ahead; then, seeming to grow bolder as it approached our man-made lake, it speeded up, spraying the water in high sheets
of backward waterfalls into the forest
...
But instead of the graceful glide
through the puddle that its occupants were expecting, the bus emitted a tremendous crack and careened drunkenly into our
trap
...
Then it sputtered a last murmuring
protest and died, its left front wheel in our ditch, its right wheel in the gully, like a lopsided billy goat on its knees
...

As the dismayed driver opened the rear emergency exit, the rain poured down upon him in sharp-needled darts
...
He looked under the bus
...
He
looked at the water
...

'How bad is it, Mr
...
'Can we push it out and fix it !'
'Push it out! Fix it!' the bus driver echoed angrily
...
'

'Mister Grimes,' a girl ventured, stepping hesitantly from the rear of the bus, 'you gonna be able to pick us up in the mornin' !'
The bus driver stared at her in total disbelief
...
Now y'all get on home
...

The students turned dismally from the bus
...
Some of them took a wild
guess and tried to jump it; but most of them miscalculated and fell in, to our everlasting delight
...

By the time most of the students managed to get to the other side of the ditch, their clothes were dripping with the weight of
the muddy water
...
Grimes leaned
moodily against the raised rear end of the bus
...

At supper Mama told Big Ma of the Jefferson Davis bus being stuck in the ditch
...
I didn't even notice the beginning of it this morning - did you, children !'
'No'm
...

'You didn't fall in, did you !'
'We jumped onto the bank when we thought the bus would be coming,' said Stacey truthfully
...
'If that bus hadn't been there when I came along, I'd probably have fallen in myself
...
We hadn't thought about that
...

'Somebody decided to put a board across the washout
...


'No, ma'am,' said Mama
...
Granger telling Ted Grimes - the bus driver - that they won't be able to get it out until
the rain stops and it dries up a bit
...

We put our hands to our mouths to hide happy grins
...

Mama smiled
...
'
'Mary !' Big Ma exclaimed
...
' Mama said defiantly, smiling smugly to her- self and looking very much like a young girl
...
'
Big Ma began to grin
...
'
Then all of us began to laugh and were deliciously happy
...
More than once Mama scolded
us, telling us to get down to business
...
Yet just one glance at each other and we were lost,
slumping on the table in helpless, contagious laughter
...
'
It occurred to us that Mama might be preparing to whip us and we shot each other warning glances
...
Stacey, holding his sides, turned to the wall in an attempt to bring himself under control
...
But Christopher-John and I just doubled up and fell upon the floor
...
'Over here, Cassie,' she said, directing me to a chair next to the fireplace and behind
Big Ma, who was ironing our clothes for the next day
...
Then back she went for Little Man and,

picking him up bodily, set him in the chair beside her rocker
...
Then she
gathered all our study materials and brought them to us along with a look that said she would tolerate no more of this
foolishness
...
When that
was finished, I lingered before opening my reader, watching Big Ma as she hung up my ironed dress, then placed her heavy
iron on a small pile of embers burning in a corner of the fireplace and picked up a second iron already warming there
...

While Big Ma waited for the iron to get hot
...
Little Man beside her was deep into his first-grade reader, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration
...
But he took no pride in it
...
he noticed that Big Ma was now
preparing to iron his clothes, and he smiled happily, Then his eyes met mine and silent laughter creased his face
...

'Cassie, you start up again and I'm sending you to the kitchen to study
...

'Yes'm,' I said, settling back in my chair and beginning to read
...
Now that the fire
no longer burned in the stove, it was cold in there
...
Engrossed in a mystery, I was startled when the comfortable sounds were shattered by three rapid
knocks on the side door
...
‘Joe Avery
...
Avery stepped dripping into the room
...
' Mama said
...
Take off your coat and sit by the
fire
...
Avery a chair
...
Avery, looking rather nervously over his shoulder into the night
...
' He stepped far
enough into the room so that he could close the door, then nodded to the rest of us
...
'How's Miz Fannie!'
'She's fine,' he said without dwelling on his wife
...
uh, I come to tell you somethin'
...

Morrison here!'
Mama stiffened
...
You heard something about David !'
'Oh, no'm,' replied Mr
...
'Ain't heard nothin 'bout yo' husband, ma'am
...

'It's
...
They's ridin' t'night
...

'Uh
...
'
'But, Mama -' we chorused in protest, wanting to stay and hear who was riding
...
' Mama said sternly
...
Now go!'
Groaning loudly enough to voice our displeasure, but not loudly enough to arouse Mama's anger, we stacked our books upon
the study table and started toward the boys room
...
That's not your room
...
Usually, we were allowed to build small fires in the other rooms an hour before
bedtime to warm them up
...
Stacey, take the flashlight with you and light the lantern in your room
...
"

I went back and got the kerosene lamp, then entered my bedroom, leaving the door slightly ajar
...

I put the lamp on the dresser, then silently slid the latch off the outside door and slipped onto the wet front porch
...
Tapping lightly, I whispered,
'Hey, let me in
...
The room was bathed in darkness
...

'Shhhhh !' came the answer
...

The rain softened upon the roof and we could hear Mama asking, ‘But why? Why are they riding! What's happened?'
'I don't rightly know,' said Mr
...
'But y'all knows how they is
...
You know what some of'em done to the Berrys
...
'
'But somethin' musta happened,' Big Ma said,'How you know 'bout it!'
'All's I can tell ya, Miz Caroline, is what Fannie heard when she was leavin' the Grangers' this evenin'
...
Granger come home with Mr
...

A clap of deafening thunder drowned Mr
...

I grabbed Stacey's arm
...

'Hush,' Stacey said harshly
...
That hurts
...

'No
...
'It couldn't be
...
'Whaddaya mean it couldn't be!'
'Stacey,' said Little Man excitedly, 'whaddaya think they gonna do to us ! Burn us up?'
'Nothin' !' Stacey exclaimed, standing up suddenly
...
He sounded like Mama and I told him so
...
I touched his arm lightly
...
'We all done it
...

'But we all wanted to do it,' I comforted
...
'All I wanted to do was eat my lunch I'
'Shhhhh,' hissed Little Man
...
'
'I'd better go tell Mr
...
Avery was saying
...

We could hear the side door open and we scrambled up
...
They'll probably come check on us now
...
Them men probably won't even come near here
...

'But shouldn't we tell Mama ?' I asked
...
'Now go on, hurry !'
Footsteps neared the door
...
Shivering, I pulled the heavy patchwork quilts up to my chin
...
Knowing that she would be suspicious of such
an early surrender to sleep, I sighed softly and, making sleepy little sounds, turned onto my stomach, careful not to expose my
shirt sleeves
...
Then she stooped and started fishing for something under our bed
...
Now what the devil was she looking for down there! While she was searching, I heard Mama approaching
and I closed my eyes again
...
'
'Help with what !'
'With
...

Mama was silent a moment, then said softly, Thank you, Stacey, but Big Ma and I can handle it
...
But right now you could help me most by going back to bed
...
I promise
...
'Go on and sit back down
...
'
Then Big Ma stood up and turned down the wick of the kerosene lamp
...
Then she closed the door and I was left to the darkness
...
Finally deciding that I should again consult with the
boys, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, but immediately had to swing them back again as Big Ma re-entered the
room
...
Parting the curtains so that the blackness of
the night mixed with the blackness of the room, she sat down without a sound
...
I waited for the sound of the door
opening again, but it did not come
...

When I awoke, it was still nightly dark
...
‘Big Ma, you there!' But there was no reply from the chair by the
window
...

She wasn't there
...
I stood transfixed by
the chair, afraid to move
...
I could not control my trembling
...
No doubt Mama had left them alone too
...
'Stacey,' I whispered
...
‘Little Man! Hey, y'all, stop
fooling 'round and answer me
...
From below,
a scratchy bristlyness sprang upon me, and I lost my balance and tumbled with a thud into the muddy flower bed
...
Then a long wet tongue licked my face
...

I hugged him, then instantly let him go
...

Jason whined again and I got up
...
Jason whined loudly, growing skittish as the lights approached, and when they
slowed and braked before the house he slunk beneath the porch
...
My legs would not move
...
The man walked slowly up the drive
...

The driver of the next car got out, waiting
...
Then he shook his head, and without a word returned to his car
...
Each of the cars used the driveway to turn around, then the caravan sped away as swiftly as it had come,
its seven pairs of rear lights glowing like distant red embers until they were swallowed from view by the Granger forest
...
As I reached for the porch to steady myself,
there was a sense of quiet movement in the dark- ness
...
Morrison clearly, moving silently, like a jungle cat, from the side of the house to the road, a

shotgun in his hand
...

Once inside the house, I leaned against the latch while waves of sick terror swept over me
...
I pulled off my muddy clothes, turning them inside out to wipe the mud
from my body, and put on my night clothes
...
I lay very still for a while, not
allowing myself to think
...
And it remained until the dawn, when I fell into a restless sleep
...
'You sure are takin' a sorrowful long time to churn that butter
...

'Nothin' !' Big Ma turned and looked directly at me
...

I sighed deeply and continued to churn
...
Frowning, she pulled her hand away as Mama entered the kitchen
...
‘She seem warm to you !'
Mama cupped my face in her thin hands
...
’
'How do you feel?'
'All right,' I said, still churning
...
'Cassie, she said
softly, fixing her dark eyes upon me, 'is there something you want to tell me!'

I was on the verge of blurting out the awful truth about the bus and the men in the night, but then I remembered the pact
Stacey had made us all swear to when I had told him, Christopher-John, and Little Man about the caravan and I said instead,
'No, ma'am,' and began to churn again
...
As she
studied me, she seemed about to ask me something, then the question faded and she pulled away, lifting the lid of the
churn
...
'Dip out the butter like I showed you and wash it down
...
'
I scooped the butter from the churning lid onto a plate and went through the curtain to the small pantry off the kitchen to get
the molding dish
...
As I
eased it out, Mama and Big Ma spoke softly in worried tones on the other side of the curtain
...

'She's not sick, Mama
...
She ain't ate right for goin' on over a week
...
Restless and
murmurin' in her sleep all night long
...
'
There was a moment's pause, then Mama whispered so I could hardly hear her
...
Mama, you think she could've
seen 'Oh, Lord, no, child,' Big Ma exclaimed hastily
...
She
couldn't've seen them old devils
...

Mama sighed
...
All of them, too quiet
...
I don't like it, and I can't shake the feeling it's got something to do with – Cassie
...
'Cassie, you hurt !' Mama asked, stooping beside me
...
I knew that if I let the tears fall
...
So instead of
crying, I jumped up quickly and began to pick up the broken pieces of the dish
...

'That's all right,' she said, helping me
...
'
'But, Mama…’
'I'll do the butter
...

I stared up at Mama, wondering if she would ever know what we had done, then joined the boys who were sitting listlessly
around the fire absently listening to T
...

'See, fellows, there's a system to getting out of work,' T
...
was expounding as I sat down
...
Only thing is, you can't let your folks know that's what you're doin'
...
Like this mornin'
when Mama wanted to bring back them scissors she borrowed from Miz Logan, I ups and volunteers so she don't have to
make this long trip down here, she bein' so busy and all
...
' T
...
chuckled with satisfaction
...
'
He was quiet a moment, expecting some comment on his discourse, but no one said a word
...
J
...
you'd use the old brain
to get the questions on that big test comin' up
...
'
Stacey cast T
...
an annoyed look
...

'Y'all sure are a sorry lot this mornin',' T
...
observed
...
'
'Ain't nobody asked you to give it,' said Stacey
...
J
...
Again
...
J
...

'You some mama's boy or somethin' you gotta do everything your mama tells 'You go on if you wanna,' said Stacey quietly, not rising to T
...
's bait, 'but we staying here
...
2Then T
...
said: 'Say, y'all hear the latest 'bout them night men!' Suddenly, all eyes turned from the fire and
riveted themselves upon him
...
J
...

'What 'bout them i' Stacey asked, almost evenly
...
J
...
'You see when a fellow's as smart as me, he gets to
know things that other folks don't
...

Taking his cue, I nudged Christopher-John and Christopher- John nudged Little Man, and the three of us forced ourselves to
stare into the fire in feigned disinterest
...
T
...
had to reinterest us by getting to the point
...

Sam Tatum's place - you know, down the Jackson Road toward Strawberry - and you know what they done !' Stacey, Little
Man, and I kept our eyes upon the fire, but Christopher-John piped eagerly
...
J
...
'You know Mama'd kill me if she knowed I was tellin' this
...
They was real scared
...
Them ole night men sure wouldn't scare me none
...
'Mama said she wanted us to take some milk and butter down to Miz
Jackson before noon
...
'
I nodded, and Christopher-John, Little Man, and I got up
...
J, announced hastily
...
' T
...
laughed
...
This time T
...
did not slow down
...
Jim Lee Barnett a liar - he's the man who runs the Mercantile down in Strawberry
...

Tatum's s'pose to done told him that he ain't ordered up all them things Mr
...
Mr
...
Tatum ordered writ down and when Mr
...
Barnett says, "You
callin' me a liar, boy!" And Mr
...

'Bus ! What's a bus got to do with it !'
'Nothin',' said Stacey quickly
...
' 'Well, if anybody said them night men was down in here 'cause of some stupid
bus, they crazy,' said T
...
authoritatively
...

Tatum herself
...

'Sure! Sure, I'm sure
...
'Come on, let's get the milk
...
When we got outside
...
J
...
As soon as we were alone
...
'Stacey, you really think them
night men put tar and feathers all over Mr
...

Little Man frowned, but it was Christopher-John who spoke, whispering shrilly as if a stray morning ghost might overhear
...

'Cassie,' said Christopher-John, his eyes wide, 'w-was you real s-scared when you seen 'em !'

Little Man shivered with excitement
...

'Well, I don't,' declared Christopher-John
...

After a few moments, Stacey said, ‘What’s keeping T
...
!' The rest of us shrugged
...
As we entered, T
...
jumped
...
E
...

'That don't look like your cap
...
jus' lookin' at Miz Logan's history book, that's all
...
' Still talking, he casually put down the book and
picked up his cap
...
J
...
'Say, what is this ! What's the meanin' of sneakin' up on me like that
anyway! Y'all think I was lookin' for them test questions or somethin' ! Shoot, a fellow'd think you didn't trust him
...
' And with those words of wisdom he left the room, leaving us to wonder how he had managed to slink out of this one
...
Morrison had moved into the deserted tenant shack that stood in the south pasture
...
But Mr
...
Mama sensed that Mr
...

Little Man, Christopher-John, and I took to Mr
...
Any- body who
was a friend of Papa's was all right in our book; besides, when he was near, night men and burnings and midnight tarrings
faded into a hazy distance
...

After the cleaning I asked Mama if Christopher-John, Little Man, and I could go visit Mr
...

'But, Mama, I wanna know more 'bout him,' I explained
...


'You know about as much as you need to know
...
'And long as Mr
...
If he
wants you down there, he'll ask you
...

"Cause we like him, that's why
...
Morrison
...
'What's the matter with you, boy, not liking Mr
...
'I like him all right
...
’
Stacey looked away from me
...
All that work he doing, I could've done it myself
...
Besides - I looked around to be certain that Big Ma and Mama were not near 'besides, Papa didn't just bring him here to do no work
...
'
Stacey turned toward me haughtily
...
'
I rolled my eyes at him, but held my peace
...
Morrison was within hollering
distance of the back porch, it made little difference to me what Stacey thought he could do
...
' said T
...
on the way to school
...
' He laughed then as Little Man set
his lips and stared angrily up
...

'Couldn't neither !' denied Little Man
...
' T
...
, leave Man alone
...
Little Man's my buddy, ain't ya, Man ?' Little Man
scowled, but didn't reply
...
J
...
'You ready for that history test?'
'Hope so,' said Stacey
...
'
'Betcha I could help ya, if you be nice
...
'
T
...
grinned, then slyly pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Stacey
...
'You planning on cheating !'
'Well, naw, I ain't plannin' on it,' said T
...
seriously
...
'
'Well, you ain't gonna,' said Stacey, tearing the paper in two
...
J
...
But Stacey turned his back to him and tore the
paper into bits, then deposited them in the gully
...
' replied Stacey, 'But at least this way you won't get into no trouble
...
J
...
J
...
J
...
'What's the matter
with him!' asked Christopher-John, 'Ain't he gonna wait for Stacey!'
The rest of the seventh grade, led by Little Willie Wiggins and Moe
Turner, spilled from the building
...
J
...
Moe Turner yelled,
'Let's see where he goin' !' Then he and three other boys dashed away in pursuit of T
...
But the others stood restlessly near the
steps as if school had not yet ended
...

Little Willie smiled
...
He got whipped today
...
'Why, can't nobody whip Stacey
...

'Mama !' Christopher-John, Little Man, and I exclaimed
...
'Yep
...

I swallowed hard, feeling very sorry for my older brother
...

'Why'd Mama do that !' asked Christopher-John
...
'
'Mama knows Stacey wouldn't cheat!' I declared
...
'Well, whether she knowed it or not, she sho''nough whipped him
...
But Stacey wouldn't
tell on ole T
...
, and you know good and well ole T
...
wasn't 'bout to say them notes was his
...
J
...
J
...
Me and Moe seen
him
...
J
...
J
...
Stacey was sittin' right side
of T
...
and when he seen them notes, he motioned T
...
to put 'em away
...
J
...
Well, Stacey didn't see Miz Logan comin' when he took them notes,
and by the time he saw her it was too late to get rid of 'em
...
Failed him too
...
J
...


'But knowin' Stacey, I betcha ole T
...
'And T
...
know it too
...
His square face was unsmiling, but there was no anger in his voice when
he asked quietly, 'Anybody seen T
...
!' All the students answered at once, indicating that T
...
had headed west toward home,
then surrounded Stacey as he started across the lawn
...

When we reached the crossroads, Moe Turner was waiting
...
J
...

Stacey stopped and so did everyone else
...

Looking over his shoulder, he found me and ordered, 'Cassie, you and Christopher-John and Man go on home
...
2'Got something to take care of first,' he said, walking away
...
"You know she said we wasn't to go down there, and she find out,
she gonna wear you out again! Papa too!' But Stacey did not come back
...
Then Little Man said, 'I wanna see what he
gonna do
...

'Come on,' I said, starting after Stacey with Little Man and Claude beside me
...
standing alone in the crossroads
...

The Wallace store stood almost a half mile beyond Jefferson Davis, on a triangular lot that faced the Soldiers Bridge
crossroads
...
The other three corners of
the crossroads were forest land, black and dense
...
Beyond the store, against the forest edge, were two gray clapboard houses and a small garden
...


Stacey and the other students were standing in the door- way of the store when Little Man, Christopher-John, Claude, and I
ran up
...
A man we all knew was Kaleb Wallace stood behind the counter
...
W
...

'Y'all go on to the back
...
Mr
...

As we turned away from the entrance, Melvin Simms said, 'Just look at all the little niggers come to dance,' and the laughter
of the men filled the room
...
'I don't like this place
...
Let's go on home
...

Music beckoned from the storage room where Dewberry Wallace was placing round brown bottles on a small table as we
crowded in
...
Boxes lined the walls and the center floor had been
cleared for dancing - several older couples from Great Faith were already engaged in movements I had never seen before
...

I shrugged
...

There he go!' someone shouted as the back door of the storeroom slammed shut
...
T
...
was fleeing straight toward Soldiers Road
...
J
...
The two boys rolled toward the road, each trying to keep the other's back
pinned to the ground, but then Stacey, who was stronger, gained the advantage and T
...
, finding that he could not budge him,
cried, 'Hey, wait a minute, man, let me explain Stacey did not let him finish
...
J
...
T
...
staggered back holding
his eyes as if he were badly hurt, and Stacey momentarily let down his guard
...
J
...

Little Man, Christopher-John, and I, with the others, circled the fighters, chanting loudly as they rolled back and forth
punching at each other
...
It wasn't until I realized that the shouting had stopped behind us and that the girls and boys beside me were
falling back that I looked up
...
Morrison towered above us
...
After a long, tense moment, he said to Stacey, 'You and your sister and brothers get
on in the wagon
...
Kaleb and Dewbeny Wallace, standing on the front porch of the store with the
Simmses, stared at Mr
...
Morrison looked through them as if they were not there
...
Morrison; the rest of us climbed into the back
...
'I told y'all we shoulda gone on home
...
Morrison took the reins, he handed Stacey a handkerchief in which to wrap his bruised right hand, but he did not
say a word and it wasn't until we had passed the crossroads leading to Great Faith that the silence was broken
...
Morrison
...

Mr
...
'Seems I heard your mama tell y'all not to
go up to that Wallace store,' he said at last
...
Morrison
...
' The boys and I looked woefully at each other and my bottom
stung from the awful thought of Mama's leather strap against it
...
Morrison,' I cried anxiously, T
...
was hiding there
'cause he thought Stacey wouldn't never come down there to get him
...
J
...
2I faltered for only a moment before deciding that my bottom was
more important than Stacey's code of honor - and Stacey had to take the blame for it and Mama whipped him right in front of
God and everybody?' Once the truth had been disclosed, I waited with dry throat and nauseous stomach for Mr
...
When he did, all of us strained tensely forward,

'I ain't gonna tell her,' he said quietly
...
'Ain't going down there no more neither,' he
promised
...
But Stacey stared long and hard at Mr
...

'How come, Mr
...
'How come you ain't gonna tell Mama!'
Mr
...
"Cause I'm leaving it up to you to tell her
...

'Sometimes a person's gotta fight
...
‘But that store ain't the place to be doing it
...
Your mama
knowed them Wallaces ain't good folks, that's why she don't want y'all down there, and y'all owe it to her and y'allselves to
tell her
...
'
Stacey nodded thoughtfully and wound his handkerchief tighter around his wounded hand
...
Morrison
had not said that he had to tell her
...
Morrison, I'll tell her
...
If he did not care about
his own skin, he could at least consider ours
...
Morrison’s and the two of them smiled in subtle understanding, the distance
between them fading,
As we neared the house, Mr
...
Mr
...
Big Ma was standing by
the yard gate that led onto the drive, gazing across the road at the forest
...
what was Mr
...
Little Man,
Christopher-John
...

'Nothin',' Big Ma replied absently, her eyes still on the forest
...
'
'Oh,' said Stacey, his tone indicating that he considered the visit of no importance
...
Granger had always wanted the land
...
Morrison
...

'Big Ma
...
Granger need more land for!'
'Don't need it,' Big Ma said flatly, 'Got more land now than he know what to do with
...

'Well, seems to me he's just being greedy
...
Instead, she pushed open the gate and walked down the drive and across the road into the forest
...
We walked in silence down the narrow cow path which wound through the old forest to the pond
...
They had been cut during the summer after Mr
...
The
offer was backed with a threat, and Big Ma was afraid
...
Papa was away on the railroad then but Mama sent Stacey for him
...

Big Ma surveyed the clearing without a word, then, step ping around the rotting trees, she made her way to the pond and sat
down on one of them
...
After a while she shook her head and said: 'I'm she'
glad your grandpa never had to see none of this
...
Him and me, we used to come down
here early mornin's or just 'fore the sun was 'bout to set and just sit and talk
...
'
She smiled vaguely, but not at me
...
I wasn't hardly eighteen when Paul Ed- ward married me and brung me here
...
Ow-ow, my Lord, that was one smart man ! He had himself a mind like a steel trap
...
He had done learned carpentry back up there near Macon, Georgia, where he was born
...
But then when he got to be fourteen and his mama died, he left that place and worked his way 'cross here up to

Vicksburg
...

Big Ma nodded, smiling
...
He was carpenterin' up there and my papa took me in with him to Vicksburg - we was
tenant farmin' 'bout thirty miles from there - to see 'bout gettin' a store-bought rocker for my mama, and there was ole Paul
Edward workin' in that furniture shop just as big
...
He wanted
himself some land
...

'And he bought himself two hundred acres from that Yankee, didn't he!'
Big Ma chuckled
...
Hollenbeck and said, "Mr
...
" Ole Mr
...
' Didn't nothin' scare that man !' She beamed proudly
...
Hollenbeck went on and let him have it
...
He'd had it for goin' on nigh twenty years - bought it during Reconstruction from the Grangers ''Cause they didn't have no money to pay their taxes 'Not only didn't have tax money, didn't have no money at all! That war left them plumb broke
...
Them Grangers didn't have
nothin' but they land left and they had to sell two thousand acres of it to get money to pay them taxes and rebuild the rest of it,
and that Yankee bought the whole two thousand 'Then he turned 'round and tried to sell it back to 'em, huh, Big Ma!'
'She' did
...
As I hears it, that Yankee
offered to sell all two thousand acres back to Harlan Granger's daddy for less'n the land was worth, but that old Filmore
Granger was just 'bout as tight with a penny as anybody ever lived and he wouldn't buy it back
...
Hollenback just let
other folks know he was sellin', and it didn't take long'fore he sold all of it 'cause it was some mighty fine land
...
Jamison bought the rest
...
Jamison, I supplied knowingly
...


'Charles Jamison was his name,' Big Ma said
...
He was a good neighbor and he always treated us
fair
...
The Jamison’s was what folks call "Old South" from up in Vicksburg, and as I understands it, before
the war they had as much money as anybody and even after the war they managed better than some other folks 'cause they
had made themselves some Northern money
...
Jamison got it into his mind that he wanted to farm and he
moved his family from Vicksburg down in here
...
Wade Jamison wasn't but 'bout eight years old then
...

'Oh, he liked it all right
...

'Is that how come he sold Grandpa them other two hundred acres ?'
'Sho' is
...
My Paul Edward had been eyein' that two hundred acres ever since
1910 when he done paid off the bank for them first two hundred, but ole Mr
...
'Bout that same time,
Harlan Granger 'come head of the Granger plantation - you know, him and Wade Jamison 'bout the same year's children - and
he wanted to buy back every inch of land that used to belong to the Grangers
...
Already had more'n four thousand acres, but he just itchin' to
have back them other two thousand his granddaddy sold
...
Hollenbeck 'But Grandpa and old Mr
...
Granger offered 'em
...

'That's the truth of it all right,' agreed Big Ma
...
Jamison died in I9I8 and Wade 'come head of the family, he sold
them two hundred acres to Paul Edward and the rest of his land to Harlan Granger, and moved his family into Strawberry
...
and till this day
Harlan Granger still hold it ‘gainst him'cause he didn't
...
Her lips curved into a tender smile
as she looked around thoughtfully
...
Jamison sold him
them two hundred acres
...
Said, "Pretty Caroline, how you like to work this fine piece of

earth with me ! " She' did… said the 'tact same thing
...
I gazed at the pond, glassy gray and
calm, until she was ready to go on
...

So long ago now,' she said eventually, in a voice that was almost a whisper
...
We had us a time
...
We was young and strong when we started out and we
liked to work
...
Had
ourselves six fine children
...
I s'pose that's one of the reasons I love your sweet
mama so much
...
They go away,
they always come back to it
...
'
She shook her head and sighed
...
' Her voice faded completely,
but when she spoke again it had hardened and there was a determined glint in her eyes
...
They blood's in this land, and here that
Harlan Granger always talkin' 'bout buyin' it
...
Humph!'
she grumped angrily
...

A cold wind rose, biting through my jacket, and I shivered
...
'You cold !'
'N-no, ma'am,' I stuttered, not ready to leave the forest
...
'It's time we was goin' back to the house any- ways
...

I took her hand, and together we left the Caroline
...
J
...
Morrison had stopped it
...
He said nothing of T
...
's cheating or that Christopher-John, Little Man, and I had been with him,
and when Mama asked him a question he could not answer honestly, he simply looked at his feet and refused to speak
...

Finally, seeing that she had gotten all the information she was going to get from Stacey, Mama turned to us
...

Although she scolded us severely, she did not whip us
...
How we had managed to escape a whipping we couldn't fathom until Saturday, when
Mama woke us before dawn and piled us into the wagon
...
But I don't want you to be afraid or uncomfortable
when you see him
...
'
We rode for almost two hours before turning onto a back- woods trail
...
As Mama pulled up
on the reins and ordered us down, the front door cracked warily open, but no one appeared
...
Berry
...
'
The door swung wide then and an elderly woman, frail and toothless, stepped out
...
'Land sakes, child, ain't you somethin'!' she exclaimed
...
I jus' set to Sam, I set, "Who you reckon comin' to see old folks like us!" These yo' babies, ain't they! Lord
a'mighty, ain't they fine ! She' is!' She hugged each of us and ushered us into the house
...
Stacey and I carried cans of
milk and butter, and Christopher-John and Little Man each had a jar of beef and a jar of crowder peas which Mama and Big
Ma had canned
...
Berry took the food, her thanks intermingled with questions about Big Ma, Papa, and others
...
But Mrs
...
'Miz
Logan and her babies
...
'Gots to cover him,' she explained
...
' When she was visible again, she picked up a candle stump and felt around a table for

matches
...
The fire burned him too bad
...
' Finding the matches, she lit the
candle and turned once more to the corner
...
The face had no nose, and the head no hair; the skin was scarred,
burned, and the lips were wizened black, like charcoal
...

Mama said, ‘Say good morning to Mrs
...
'
The boys and I stammered a greeting, then sat silently trying not to stare at Mr
...
But Mama talked softly to both Mr
...
Berry, telling them news of the community as if Mr
...

After we were on the main road again, having ridden in thoughtful silence over the wooded trail, Mama said quietly, 'The
Wallaces did that, children
...
Berry and his nephews and lit them afire
...
Berry
...
‘Everyone
knows they did it, and the Wallaces even laugh about it, but nothing was ever done
...
That's
why I don't want you to ever go to their store again - for any reason
...

On the way home we stopped at the homes of some of Mama's students, where families poured out of tenant shacks to greet
us
...

The people nodded and said she was right
...
But she did not speak directly of what the Wallaces had done to the Berrys for, as she explained later, that was
something that wavered between the known and the unknown and to mention it outright to anyone outside of those with
whom you were closest was not wise
...

The people only nodded, and Mama left
...


'Miz Logan,' he said, ‘you know I feels the same way you do 'bout them low-down Wallaces, but it ain't easy to jus' stop
shoppin' there
...
Montier signs for
me
...
Can't go no place else
...
There are a dumber of stores down there and we've found several that treat us well
...
Turner echoed, shaking his head
...
'
Mama thought on that a moment
...
Turner
...
Mr
...
When cotton-pickin' time comes, he sells my cotton, takes half of it, pays my debt up at that store and my interest for
they credit, then charges me ten to fifteen percent more as "risk" money for signin' for me in the first place
...
Montier took his half of the crop money, but I ain't seen a penny of it
...
Now, who way down in Vicksburg
gonna give a man like me credit !'
Mama was very quiet and did not answer
...
I'm gonna keep my younguns from up at that store, but I gets to live
...
But you gotta understand it
ain't easy for sharecroppin' folks to do what you askin'
...
Turner,' Mama said in a whisper, 'what if someone backed your signature! Would you shop up in Vicksburg then !'
Mr
...
'Now, who'd sign for me !'
'If someone would, would you do it !'

Mr
...
Without turning around he said, 'When I was a wee little boy, I got burnt real bad
...
It's an awful way to die
...
'Miz Logan, you
find someone to sign my credit, and I’ll consider it deeply
...
I
started to repeat the question, but Stacey shook his head and I settled back wondering, then fell asleep
...
J
...
J
...
I sat up front beside Big Ma, still sandy-eyed and not believing that I was
actually going
...
Stacey had actually gone once, but Christopher-John, Little Man, and I had always
been flatly denied the experience
...
But this morning, while the world lay black, Big Ma called: 'Cassie,
get up, child, if you gonna go to town with me, and be quiet 'bout it
...
I don't want them cryin' all over the place 'cause they can't go
...
J
...
'
'T
...
!' Stacey and I exclaimed together
...
When hers had prevailed and Jack had
settled into a moderate trot, she replied moodily, 'Mr
...
J
...
Lord, that's all I need with all the

trouble about is for that child to talk me to death for twenty-two miles
...
T
...
was far from her favorite person and it was quite obvious that Stacey
and I owed our good fortune entirely to T
...
's obnoxious personality
...
J
...
J
...
But by dawn, when the December sun was creeping warily upward shooting pale streams of buffcolored light through the forest, he was fully awake and chattering like a cockatoo
...
He talked the rest of the way into Strawberry, announcing as we arrived, 'Well, children, open
your eyes and take in Strawberry, Mississippi!'
'Is this it!' I cried, a gutting disappointment enveloping me as we entered the town
...
It was instead a sad, red place
...
Lining the
road were strips of red dirt splotched with patches of brown grass and drying mud puddles, and beyond the dirt and the mud
puddles, gloomy store buildings set behind raised wooden sidewalks and sagging verandas
...
'It sure ain't nothing to shout about
...
'You too, T
...
Y'all in town now and
I expects y'all to act like it
...

As the stores gave way to houses still sleeping, we turned onto a dirt road which led past more shops and beyond to a wide
field dotted with wooden stalls
...
Climbing from the wagon, she said, 'Don't seem
like too many folks ahead of us
...
' She
headed toward the back of the wagon
...
J
...
'
'Big Ma
...
Some of 'em gets meats and vegetables, quilts and sewing and such
...
'

I studied the wagons parked at the field entrance
...

'You watch your mouth, girl,' warned Big Ma
...
I got me some regular customers and they'll check to see if I'm here 'fore
they buy
...
Maybe Big Ma knew what she was doing, but it made absolutely no sense to me to be
so far from the entrance
...
'Why don't we move our wagon up there with them other wagons, Big Ma!
There's plenty of room, and we could sell more
...
'Now, hush up and help me get this
food out
...
' I mumbled, taking one of the buckets from Stacey, 'by the time a body walk way back here, they'll have bunions on
their soles and corns on their toes
...
After we had eaten our cold lunch of oil sausages and combread washed down with
clabber milk, we did the same
...
One of the shingles read: 'Wade W
...

'Mr
...
'I wanna see him
...
She pulled out a long manila envelope, checked inside, then
gingerly put it back again
...
You get on back in the wagon
...
'Can't I just go up and say "Hey" !' I persisted
...
' She glanced over at Stacey and T
...
'Y'all wait here for me and
soon's I get back
...
'

When she had gone inside, T
...
said, 'What you wanna see that ole white man for anyway, Cassie! What you and him got to
talk'bout!'
'I just wanted to see him, that's all,' I said, going to the raised sidewalk and taking a seat
...
Jamison and I didn't mind
admitting it
...

He was the only white man I had ever heard address Mama and Big Ma as 'Missus,' and I liked him for it
...
Ask him a question and he would give it to you straight with none of this pussyfooting- around
business
...

After several minutes of watching farmers in faded over- alls and their women in hour-sack-cut dresses promenading under
the verandas, 'T
...
said, 'Why don't we go on down to the mercantile and look around!'
Stacey hesitated
...
I think Big Ma wanted to go with us
...
We go on down to the mercantile now and order up our stuff, we'll save her some
time so when she come from seein' that lawyer, we can jus' go on home
...
'
Stacey pondered the suggestion for a long moment
...
' he said finally
...
Jamison would come out with Big Ma
...
J
...
I wasn't about to stay on that side walk by myself
...
Its shelves, counters, and floor space boasted items from ladies' ribbons to burlap
bags of seeds; from babies' bottles to brand-new potbellied stoves
...
J
...
The counter had a glass top, and beneath the
glass were handguns artfully displayed on a bolt of red velvet
...
J
...

'That pearl-handled one
...
One
of these days I'm gonna have it, too
...
'It's a nice-looking gun all right
...
A price tag of $5·95 sfa'ed back at me
...

'Just for an ole gun! What the devil you gonna use it for! Can't hunt with it
...
J
...
'Ain't s'pose to hunt with it
...
'
'Protection of what!' I asked, thinking of Papa's sturdy shotgun that hung over his and Mama's bed, and the sleek Winchester
rifle which Big Ma kept locked in the trunk beneath our own bed
...
'
There's other things a body needs protectin' from more than a rattlesnake,' he said haughtily
...
I wouldn't need no- body
...
He seemed nervous being in the store
...

'Ah, man, there's plenty of time,' said T
...
, looking longingly at the gun
...
'
'Come on, T
...
,' ordered Stacey, 'or me and Cassie's gonna go on back outside
...
' T
...
turned reluctantly away and went to a counter where a man was measuring nails onto a scale
...
J
...
'Mr
...
'
The storekeeper studied the list and without looking up asked, 'You one of Mr
...
J
...
Barnett walked to another counter and began filling the order, but before he finished a white woman called, 'Mr
...
Barnett turned around
...
'What can I do for you
...
J
...

'What's he doing !' I objected
...
T
...
's face was totally bland, as if nothing at all had
happened
...
Barnett again picked up T
...
's list, but before he had gotten the next item his
wife called, 'Jim Lee, these folks needing help over here and I got my hands full
...

'Where's hi going!' I cried
...
J
...

After waiting several minutes for his return, Stacey said 'Come on, Cassie, let's get out of here
...
But as we passed one of the counters, I spied Mr
...

Adults were one thing: I could almost under- stand that
...
But some kid who was no bigger than me was something else again
...
Barnett had simply forgotten about
T
...
's order
...

Barnett
...
'scuse me, Mr
...
'I think
you forgot, but you was waiting on us 'fore you was waiting on this girl here, and we been waiting a good while now for you
to get back
...
Barnett did not look up
...
I was near the end of the
counter so I merely went to the other side of it and tugged on his shirt sleeve to get his attention
...


'Y-you was helping us,' I said, backing to the front of the counter again
...

I was hot
...
'We been waiting on you for near an hour,'
I hissed, 'while you 'round here waiting on everybody else
...
You got no right 'Whose little nigger is this !' bellowed Mr
...
Everybody in the store turned and stared at me
...
'And you ought not be waiting on everybody 'fore you wait on us
...
I looked around
...
Mr
...

This gal yourn, Hazel !'
'No, suh,' answered the woman meekly, stepping hastily away to show she had nothing to do with me
...

'Come on, Cassie, let's get out of here
...
Tell him ! You know he ain't fair making us wait 'She your sister, boy!' Mr
...

Stacey bit his lower lip and gazed into Mr
...
Yessir
...
'And make sure she don't come back till yo' mammy teach her what
she is
...
'But I betcha you don't know what you are ! And I could sure tell you, too, you ole Stacey jerked me forward, crushing my hand in the effort, and whispered angrily, 'Shut up, Cassie!' His dark eyes flashed
malevolently as he pushed me in front of him through the crowd
...
'What's the matter with you! You know he was wrong !' 2Stacey

swallowed to flush his anger, then said gruffly, 'I know it and you know it, but he don't know it, and that's where the trouble
is
...
I'm going up to Mr
...
' 'What 'bout
T
...
!' I called as he stepped into the street
...
'Don't worry 'bout T
...
He knows exactly how to act
...

I watched him go, but did not follow
...
Barnett had acted
the way he had
...
I had a good mind to go back in and
find out what had made Mr
...
I actually turned once and headed toward the store, then remembering what Mr
...

It was then that I bumped into Lillian Jean Simms
...
Jeremy and her two younger brothers were with her
...

'Well
...

'What?' 'You bumped into me
...
'
I did not feel like messing with Lillian Jean
...
'Okay, I said, starting past,' I'm sorry
...
'That ain't enough
...
'
I looked up at her
...
May- be that way you won't be bumping into decent white folks with your
little nasty self
...
Only the thought of Big Ma up in Mr
...
'I ain't nasty, I said, properly holding my temper in check, 'and if you're so afraid of get- ting bumped, walk

down there yourself
...
'Ah, let her pass, Lillian Jean
...
'She ain't done nothin' to
you
...
' With that, she reached for my arm and attempted to push me off the
sidewalk
...
But someone caught it from behind,
painfully twisting it, and shoved me off the sidewalk into the road
...

Mr
...
'When my gal Lillian Jean says for youto get yo'self off the sidewalk, you get, you hear!'
Behind him were his sons R
...
and Melvin
...
'Ain't that the same little
nigger was cuttin' up back there at Jim Lee's!' some- one asked
...
Simms
...

I stared up at Mr
...
Jeremy appeared frightened too
...

Jeremy seemed relieved that I had spoken
...
Pa
...
Simms turned an angry gaze upon his son and Jeremy faltered, looking at me, and hung his head
...
Simms jumped into the street
...
He was a mean-looking man, red in the
face and bearded
...
I scrambled up and ran
blindly for the wagon
...
'Stop, Cassie!' Big Ma said
...
We're going home now
...
Simms
...
'She jus' a child Tell her, Aunty Big Ma looked at me again, her voice cracking as she spoke
...
apologize
...
'Do like I say
...

'Go on !'
'I'm sorry
...

'I'm sorry, Miz Lillian Jean,' demanded Mr
...
'Big Ma !' I balked
...
'
A painful tear slid down my cheek and my lips trembled
...
M-Miz
...

When the words had been spoken, I turned and fled crying into the back of the wagon
...

Six
The ride home was long and silent
...
J
...
He sulked for a while with a few
audible grumbles which no one paid any attention to, but finally he fell asleep and did not awaken until we had driven up the
Granger road and stopped in front of the Avery house
...
Big Ma
climbed wearily down from the wagon and went into the house without a word, I stayed with Stacey to help him put the
wagon inside the barn and unhitch and feed Jack
...
'Cassie,' he said, in a quiet, thoughtful voice, 'don't go blaming Big Ma for what
she done
...
'She made me apologize to that ole ugly Lillian Jean 'bout something wasn't even my fault
...
'

'Well, maybe she couldn't help it, Cassie
...
'
'Had to do it!' I practically screamed, ‘She didn't have to do nothin' ! She's grown just like that Mr
...
I wouldn't've done her that way
...
'There's things you don't understand
...
If that had been Papa, he wouldn't've made me apologize! He would've listened to
me!'
Stacey sighed and swung open the barn doors
...
Papa
...
Bur Big Ma ain't Papa and you can't expect
...
Suddenly he cried
...
he tore the flashlight from my hand and shone it into the barn
...
Granger's car doing in our barn !' I exclaimed as the silver Packard was unveiled by the light
...
I followed closely behind
...
Instead of Mr
...
For a moment we swayed with excitement, then as if by signal we
both cried, 'Uncle Hammer!' and dashed into his arms
...
Like Papa, he had dark, red-brown skin, a square-jawed face, and high cheekbones; yet there was a great difference
between them somehow
...
I sat down beside Christopher- John and
Little Man, who were silently gazing up at Uncle Hammer, but Stacey stammered, 'Wh-what's Mr
...
'Did you unhitch Jack!'
'Uncle Hammer's !' Stacey exclaimed, exchanging shocked glances with me
...
‘Well, not exactly like it, Mama
...
Last year when I
come down here, I was right impressed with that big ole Packard of Mr
...
It seems that me and Harlan Granger just got the same taste
...
'Don't it, Stacey !'
Stacey grinned
...
If it's all right with your mama
...

'You mean it, Uncle Hammer!' I asked
...
‘But in any case, not tonight
...
We've done the other chores
...
Christopher-John and
Little Man, who Big Ma had feared would be moping because they had not been allowed to go to town, seemed not at all
concerned that Stacey and I had gone
...

For a while Uncle Hammer talked only to Mama and Big Ma, laughing from deep down inside himself like Papa, but then to
my surprise he turned from them and addressed me
...

‘What did you think !'
Big Ma stiffened, but I was pleased to have this opportunity to air my side of the Strawberry affair
...

'Them ole Simmses 'Mary, I feel a bit hungry,' Big Ma interrupted abruptly
...
'I'll set it on the table for you
...
'Them ole Simmses - 'Let Cassie get it, Mary
...
‘You must be tired
...

'Oh, I don't mind,' said Mama, heading for the kitchen
...

'That ole Lillian Jean Simms made me so mad I could just spit
...
Barnett waiting on every- body else in his ole Store 'fore he waited on us - 'Jim Lee Barnett!' asked
Uncle Hammer, turning to- ward Big Ma
...
‘But I told him he
shouldn't've been 'round there waiting on everybody else 'fore he got to us 'Cassie!' Big Ma exclaimed, hearing this bit of news for the first time
...
‘You told him that i'
'Yessir,' I said softly, wondering why he was laughing
...
Barnett told me I couldn't come back no more and then I bumped into that confounded Lillian
Jean and she tried to make me get off the sidewalk and then her daddy come along and he Big Ma's eyes grew large and she whispered hoarsely, 'Cassie, I don't think - and he twisted my arm and knocked me off the side- walk!' I exclaimed, unwilling to muffle what Mr
...
I
glanced triumphantly at Big Ma, but she wasn't looking at me
...
I
turned and looked at him too
...
He said; 'He knocked you off the sidewalk, Cassie! A grown man knocked
you off the sidewalk?'
'Y-yessir
...
would it !'
'Y-yessir
...
'What else he do to you !'
'N-nothin'
...
"Cepting he wanted me to apologize to Lillian Jean 'cause I wouldn't get in the road
when she told me to
...
'
Uncle Hammer released me and sat very still
...
Then he stood slowly, his eyes icing into that cold distant
way they could, and he started toward the door, limping slightly on his left leg
...
Little Man, and I stared
after him wonderingly, but Big Ma jumped up from her chair, knocking it over in her haste, and dashed after him
...
‘Let it be, son!' she cried
...
‘What is it!' she asked, looking from Big Ma to Uncle Hammer
...

'Oh, Lord,' Mama groaned
...
Morrison
...
Uncle Hammer was watching her and he said quietly,
‘Don’t worry
...
I got my own
...
'Hammer, now you listen to me But Uncle Hammer gently but firmly pushed her to one side and, brushing Big Ma from his arm, opened the door and
bounded down the steps into the light rain
...
‘Get back inside,' Mama called
over her shoulder, but she was too busy trying to grab Uncle Hammer to see to it that we obeyed, and we did not move
...
‘Don’t go making unnecessary trouble !'

'Unnecessary trouble! You think my brother died and I got my leg half blown off in their German war to have some red-neck
knock Cassie around anytime it suits him! If I'd've knocked his girl down, you know what'd've happened to me! Yeah, you
know all right
...
Let go of me, Mary
...
But just as the Packard roared to life, a huge figure loomed
from the darkness and jumped into the other side, and the car zoomed angrily down the drive into the black- ness of the
Mississippi night
...
Her face under the glow of the lamp was tired, drained
...

'Mr
...

'If he don't,' said Little Man ominously, 'I betcha Uncle Hammer'll teach that ole Mr
...
'Round here
hitting on Cassie,'
'I hope he knocks his block off,' I said
...
'I think little mouths that have so much to say must be very tired
...
'
'Mama, it ain't but -' Mama's face hardened, and I knew that it would not be in my best interest to argue further; I turned and
did as I was told
...
When I got to my door, I asked, 'Ain't Stacey coming!'
Mama glanced down at Stacey sitting by the fire
...
After a few minutes Mama came in
...
Is that right?'
I thought over her question and answered, 'Not for all of it
...
She oughtn't've done that, Mama
...
'Or what Mr
...
'
'Well,' I muttered, 'maybe so, but
...
'
'Yes'm,' I said softly, deciding that it was better to study the patchwork pattern on the quilt until the anger left Mama's eyes
and I could talk to her again
...

‘Big Ma didn't want you to be hurt,' she said
...
making sure Mr
...
'
'Yes'm,' I murmured, then flared, ‘But, Mama, that Lillian Jean ain't got the brains of a flea! How come I gotta go 'round
calling her "Miz" like she grown or something!'
Mama's voice grew hard
...
'
The way of what things?' I asked warily
...
I wish
...
It happened and you have to accept the fact that
in the world outside this house, things are not always as we would have them to be
...
I didn't do nothin' to that con- founded Lillian Jean
...
Simms went and pushed me like
he did?'
Mama's eyes looked deeply into mine, locked into them, and she said in a tight, clear voice, ‘Because he thinks Lillian Jean is
better than you are, Cassie, and when you -

'That ole scrawny, chicken-legged, snaggle-toothed, cross 'Cassie
...
‘Now,' she said, folding my hand in hers,
‘I didn't say that Lillian Jean is better than you
...
Simms only thinks she is
...
Simms was a bit touched in the head
...
'
Mama's hold tightened on mine, but I exclaimed, 'Ah, shoot ! White ain't nothin' !'
Mama's grip did not lessen
...
White is something just like black is something
...
'
Then how come Mr
...
' I
stared questioningly at Mama, not really under- standing
...
'You see, Cassie,
many years ago when our people were first brought from Africa in chains to work as slaves in this country 'Like Big Ma's papa and mama !'
Mama nodded
...
But their
grandparents were born in Africa, and when they came there were some white people who thought that it was wrong for any
people to be slaves; so the people who needed slaves to work in their fields and the people who were making money bringing
slaves from Africa preached that black people weren't really people like white people were, so slavery was all right
...
' She sighed
deeply, her voice fading into a distant whisper
...
They were afraid of slave revolts and they wanted us to learn the Bible's teaching about slaves being loyal to their
masters
...
He had been

caught and punished for his disobedience, but his owners had not tried to break him, for he had had a knowledge of herbs and
cures
...

Mama nodded again
...
He was hiding in a cave when freedom came, so I understand
...
‘Well, after a while
...
And when the Civil War
was fought and Mama Rachel and Papa Luke and all the other slaves were freed, people continued to think that way
...
So now, even though seventy years have passed
since slavery, most white people still think of us as they did then - that we're not as good as they are - and people like Mr
...
For him to believe that
he is better than we are makes him think that he's important, simply because he's white
...
I knew that she was waiting for me to speak
...
Then I thought of Lillian Jean and a surging anger gurgled upward
and I retaliated, ‘Well, they ain't!' But I leaned closer to Mama, anxiously hoping that she would agree with me
...
‘White people may demand our respect, but what we give them is not respect but fear
...
Now you may have to call Lillian Jean
"Miss" because the white people say so, but you'll also call our own young ladies at church "Miss" be- cause you really do
respect them
...
What we do have is
some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here
...
‘And I pray to God you'll
make the best of yours
...

As she turned the lamp down low, I asked, ‘Mama
...
If Mr
...

Morrison will bring him back
...
Simms!'
A shadowy fear fleeted across her face, but disappeared with the dimming light
...
I think you've done enough
growing up for one day, Cassie,' she said without answering my question, ‘Uncle Hammer'll be all right
...
'

Mama had been right about Uncle Hammer
...
Morrison
...
Simms looked so good
...

'Hurry up,' she said
...
'
'In his car!'
Mama's brow furrowed
...
He did say something about hitching up Jack
...

After my bath I went into my room to dress
...
As I watched, she shaped the long thickness into a large chignon at the nape of her neck and stuck six
sturdy hairpins into it
...
She glanced down at me
...

'No'm, I want you to fix me my grown-up hairdo
...
I loved to help Mama dress
...
When the last
button had slipped into place, she buckled a dark-blue patent-leather belt around her tiny waist and stood ready except for her
shoes
...

'Where's your brush?'
'Right here,' I said, picking up the brush from where I had laid it on the chair
...
Mama divided my hair from ear to ear into two
sections and braided the front section to one side and the back section right in the center
...
My hair was too thick and long for me to do it well myself, but Mama could do it perfectly
...


When Mama finished, I ran to the mirror, then turned, facing her with a grin
...

'One day, Mama, you gonna fix my hair like yours!'
That'll be a few years yet,' she answered, readjusting the cardboard lining she had placed in her shoes to protect her feet from
the dirt and gravel which could easily seep through the large holes in the soles
...
Now, with the soles facing downward and Mama's feet in them, no one could tell what the shiny exteriors hid; yet I felt
uncomfortable for Mama and wished that we had enough money for her to have her shoes fixed or, better still, buy new ones
...
Uncle Hammer was dressing in the boys' room and Mama was in with Big Ma
...

Simms !'
'No
...

'No !' cried Little Man
...
Simms whipped Uncle Hammer!' stammered an unbelieving Christopher-John
...
' said Stacey in explanation as he tugged irritably at his collar
...

'Nothin'
...

'Mama said so
...

'Oh,' replied Little Man, resigned
...
‘I mean Uncle Hammer and Mr
...

How come they look like that if nothin' happened!'
'Mama said Mr
...
Talked him tired and wouldn't let him go up to the Simmses'
...
I propped my elbows on my
knees, then settled my head in my upraised hands and stared into the glowing embers
...

'It ain't fair
...

'She' aint,' agreed Little Man
...
' Stacey said softly
...
But when he
didn't, I turned toward him
...

'Y'all better be glad nothin' happened,' he said in a whisper
...
Morrison
didn't stop Uncle Hammer, Uncle Hammer might get killed
...
'Who'd do that!' I cried
...

When Uncle Hammer joined us, freshly shaven and in another suit, the boys and I put on our coats and headed for the door;
Uncle Hammer stopped us
...

Stacey looked down at his faded cotton jacket
...
The jacket was too small for him, that was obvious, and
compared to Little Man's and Christopher-John's and mine, it was admittedly in sadder shape
...
Stacey looked up at Mama, then back at Uncle Hammer
...

Uncle Hammer stared at him, then waving his hand ordered
...
' Before Stacey could question why, Uncle Hammer
disappeared into the boys' room
...
‘You’d better do like he says
...

Uncle Hammer returned with a long box, store wrapped in shiny red Christmas paper and a fancy green ribbon
...
‘It was supposed to be your Christmas present, but I think I'd better give it to you now
...
'

Gingerly, Stacey took the box and opened it
...

'Wool
...
‘Go ahead, Stacey
...

Stacey eagerly slipped on the coat; it was much too big for him, but Mama said that she could take up the sleeves and that he
would grow into it in another year
...
A year ago he would have
shot into Uncle Hammer's arms and hugged his thanks, but now at the manly age of twelve he held out his hand, and Uncle
Hammer shook it
...
' said Mama
...
We followed
the path of bedded rocks that led to the barn, careful not to slip into the mud, and got into the Packard
...
Morrison had given it after break- fast
...
The boys and I, in the back, ran our hands over the rich felt seats, tenderly fingered the fancy door
handles and window knobs, and peered down amazed at the pillow and carpet peeping out on either side of the rubber mats
...
Morrison, who was not a churchgoing man, waved good-bye from the barn and we sped away
...

Then Uncle Hammer stepped from the car and someone cried, 'Well, I'll be doggone! It's our Hammer! Hammer Logan !' And
in a body, the crowd engulfed us
...
J
...
'It's Uncle Hammer's,' said Stacey proudly
...
it was then
that T
...
noticed Stacey's new coat
...
'Ain't it something?'
T
...
ran his long fingers over the lapels, and shrugged
...
"
'All right!' I cried, indignant at his casual reaction to the coat
...
J
...
'Like I said, it's all right
...
' Then he and Little Willie and Moe laughed, and

went on ahead
...
His smile faded
...
' I said
...
'
'I know it
...

As we slid into the pew in front of T
...
, T
...
whispered, 'Here comes the preacher
...
’
How do you do, Reverend Logan!'
Stacey turned on T
...
but I poked him hard
...
' I whispered, and he turned back around
...
J
...
'Stacey, maybe T
...
wants to ride
...
'No, ma'am, Mama, he got something else he gotta do
...

That'll teach him
...

'Yeah
...

The sun was out now and Uncle Hammer suggested that we take a real ride before going home
...
But Mama and Big Ma
objected so much to going through Strawberry that he turned the big car around and headed back toward home, taking the old
Soldiers Road
...
After all, who in his right mind would want to
capture Strawberry
...
Little Man, Christopher-John, and I shrieked with delight each time the
car climbed a hill and dropped suddenly downward, fluttering our stomachs
...
Uncle Hammer stopped the car at the intersection and, leaning his right arm heavily over the
steering wheel, motioned languidly at the Wallace Store
...


'Hammer, hush that kind of talk!' ordered Big Ma, her eyes growing wide
...
And John Henry and me even fought in their war together
...
'
'I know that, son, but that kinda talk get you hung and you know it
...
‘There might be another way, Hammer
...
Now don't go do something
foolish
...

Uncle Hammer looked glassy-eyed at the store, then sighed and eased the Packard across the road toward Soldiers Bridge
...

Soldiers Bridge was built before the Civil War
...
Only one vehicle could cross at a time, and whoever was on the bridge first was supposed
to have the right of way, although it didn't always work that way
...

As the bridge came into view the other side of the river was clearly visible, and it was obvious to everyone that an old ModelT truck, overflowing with redheaded children, had reached the bridge first and was about to cross, but suddenly Uncle
Hammer gassed the Packard and sped onto the creaking structure
...

'Hammer!' Big Ma cried
...
Granger
...

As we came off the bridge, we could see the Wallaces, all three of them - Dewberry, Thurston, and Kaleb - touch their hats
respectfully, then immediately freeze as they saw who we were
...

Stacey, Christopher-John, Little Man, and I laughed, but Mama's cold glance made us stop
...


'The opportunity, dear sister, was too much to resist
...
Believe me,' she said, ‘one day
we'll pay
...
‘I’ve got time to take
up the sleeves now
...

Little Man cupped his hand and whispered to me, ‘Boy, now he's gonna get it i'
'Uh
...
'The ccoat's all right like it is
...
'It's not all right
...
'
Stacey stood up and started slowly toward his room
...
He· actually went into the room, but was gone only a moment before he reappeared and nervously
clutched the back of his chair
...

'Not got the coat!' cried Big Ma
...

'Stacey,' Mama said initably, 'bring me that coat, boy,
'But, Mama, I really ain't got it ! I gave it to T
...

T
...
!' Mama exclaimed
...
‘The coat was too
big for me and
...
J
...
like a preacher
...
he'd take
it off my hands till I grow into it, then that away all the guys would stop laughing at me and calling me preacher
...
Then, seeming
more afraid of the silence than putting his neck further into the noose, he added, 'But I didn't give it to him for good, Mama just lent it to him till I get big enough for it and then
...
I thought she was
headed for the wide leather strap hanging in the kitchen, but she did not rise
...
Now go bring me that coat
...
‘No,' he said, ‘leave the coat where it
is
...
‘Hammer, what're you saying! That's the best coat Stacey's ever had and
probably ever will have as long as he lives in this house
...

Uncle Hammer leaned back in his chair, his eyes cold on Stacey
...
As far as I'm concerned, T
...
can just keep that coat permanently
...
'
'Hammer,' Big Ma said, ‘let the boy go get the coat
...
J
...
J
...
J
...
J
...
‘I suppose if T
...
told you it was summer- time out there and
you should run buck naked down the road because everybody else was doing it, you'd do that too, huh !'
'N-no sir,' Stacey replied, looking at the floor
...
‘If you ain't got the brains of a flea to see that this T,J
...
It's tough out there, boy, and as long as there are people, there's gonna be somebody trying to take
what you got and trying to drag you down
...
Now it seems to me you wanted that
coat when I gave it to you, ain't that right!'
Stacey managed a shaky 'Yessir
...


Then if you want something and it's a good thing and you got it in the right way, you better hang on to it and don't let nobody
talk you out of it
...
You understand what I'm telling you!'
'Y-yessir, Uncle Hammer
...
Uncle Hammer turned then and went back to his paper without having laid a
hand on Stacey, but Stacey shook visibly from the encounter
...
I don't know what they were thinking
...
Papa's bottom-warming whippings were quite enough for me, thank you,
The last days of school before Christmas seemed interminable
...
But the days passed, prickly cold and windy, and he did not come
...
I had already decided that she had had two flounces too many, but since I hadn't yet decided how to handle
the matter, I postponed doing anything until after I had had a chance to talk with Papa about the whole Strawberry business
...
Simms as Uncle Hammer had done, for he always took
time to think through any move he made, but he would certainly advise me on how to handle Lillian Jean
...
J
...
Ever since the night Mr
...
J
...
He now praised the coat from the wide tips of its lapels to the very
edges of its deep hem
...

Stacey was restrained from plugging T
...
's mouth by Uncle Hammer's principle that a man did not blame others for his own
stupidity; he learned from his mistake and be- came stronger for it
...
J
...

The day before Christmas I awoke to the soft murmuring of quiet voices gathered in the midnight blackness of morning
...
Jumping from the bed, my feet barely
hitting the deerskin rug, I rushed into Mama's room
...
'I knew it was you !'
'Ah, there's my Cassie girl!' Papa laughed, standing to catch me as I leapt into his arms
...
By evening, it reeked
of Christmas
...
Morrison, Uncle Hammer, and Stacey had secured in a night's hunt baked in a sea of onions, garlic, and fat orangeyellow yams; and a choice sugar-cured ham brought from the smokehouse awaited its turn in the oven
...
And in the fireplace itself, in a black pan set on a high wire
rack, peanuts roasted over the hickory fire as the waning light of day swiftly deepened into a fine velvet night speckled with
white forerunners of a coming snow, and the warm sound of husky voices and rising laughter mingled in tales of sorrow and
happiness of days past but not forgotten
...
Them watermelons of old man Ellis' seemed like they just naturally tasted better than anybody else's,' said Papa, 'and ole
Hammer and me, we used to sneak up there when- ever it'd get so hot you couldn't hardly move and take a couple of them
melons on down to the pond and let them get real chilled
...

'Papa, you was stealing!' asked an astonished Little Man
...

'Well
...
What we'd do was ex- change one of the melons from our patch for his
...
Ellis was always right particular 'bout his melons,' interjected Papa
...
He shot one hand against and past the other
...
'I didn't know nobody's legs could move that fast
...
'And as I recalls, your Papa 'bout wore y'all out when Mr
...
Course,
you know all them Ellises was natural-born runners
...
Ellis' brother, Tom Lee? Well, one time he
...
Morrison and Mama lent us their memories, acting out
their tales with stage worthy skills, imitating the characters in voice, manner, and action so well that the listeners held their
sides with laughter
...
But as the night deepened and the peanuts in the pan grew shallow, the voices
grew hushed, and Mr
...
They come down like ghosts that Christmas of seventy-six
...
Reconstruction was just 'bout over then, and them Northern soldiers was tired of being
in the South and they didn't hardly care 'bout no black folks in shantytown
...
And the colored
folks
...
Warn't hardly no work, and during them years I s'pose it was jus' 'bout as hard being free as it
was being a slave
...
They was scairt, clean
out of their heads with fright
...
Some white woman done accused them of molestin'
her and they didn't know nowhere to run so they come up to my daddy's 'cause he had a good head and he was big, bigger
than me
...
So strong he could break a man's leg easy as if he was snapping a twig - I seen him do it that
night
...
But my daddy didn't hardly have time to finish hearing them boys' story when
them devilish night men swept down 'Night men!' I echoed in a shrill, dry whisper
...

'David
...

It's their history
...
But Mr
...
swept down like locusts
...
‘Burst in on us with their Rebel sabers, hacking and killing, burning us out
...
We warn't nothing to them
...
Kilt babies and old women
...

He gazed into the fire
...
' His voice faded and he touched the scars
on his neck
...
Them night men was all over her and she
threw me - just threw me like I was a ball - hard as she could, trying to get me away from them
...
Fought like
a wild thing right 'side my daddy
...
'What's that !'
'Cassie, don't interrupt Mr
...
Morrison turned from the fire and explained
...
Breeding slaves brought a lot of money
for them slave owners, ‘specially after the government said they couldn't bring no more slaves from Africa, and they
produced all kinds of slaves to sell on the block
...
My folks was bred for strength like they folks and they grand- folks 'fore 'em
...
Didn't nobody care
...
' He turned back toward the fire and grew very quiet; then he raised his head and
looked at us
...
Them night men kilt 'em, Some folks tell me I can't remember what happened that
Christmas - I warn't hardly six years old - but I remembers all right
...

He grew silent again and no one spoke
...

Finally Mr
...

Uncle Hammer stood also
...
It's near one o'clock
...
'Now you and David both home, I gotta talk to y'all - 'bout the land
...
Automatically, I rolled to- ward
the comforting presence of Big Ma, but she was not beside me
...
As I opened the door

and stepped into the shadowy room, lit now only by the flickering yellow of the low fire, Big Ma was saying,'
...
'
'Is it better to just sit back and complain about how they do us!' Mama snapped, her voice rising
...
The older children are drinking regularly there now,
even though they don't have any money to pay, and the Wallaces are simply adding the liquor charges to the family bill
...
As I see it the least we can do is stop shopping there
...
Mr
...
We
owe it to the Berrys 'Frankly
...

'Hammer, you go to burning and we'll have nothing,' Mama retorted
...
' replied Uncle
Hammer
...
You forgetting Harlan Granger backs that store!'
'Mary, child, Hammer's right,' Big Ma said
...
But we go backing folks' credit with our land, we'd lose it
sure; and we do that, I couldn't face Paul Edward 'I didn't say we should back it,' Mama said, 'but we're just about the only family with any collateral at all
...
That may be, honey, but we put up this land to back this thing and it'll be just like giving it
away
...
' He shook his head
...

we'll have to find another way
...
'Cassie! What is it, sugar?'
'Nothin', Papa,' I mumbled
...
Mama started to rise but Papa motioned her down and got up himself
...
Not tonight anyway
...
‘If you remember nothing else in your whole life, Cassie girl,
remember this: We ain't never gonna lose this land
...

'Then go to sleep
...

'Books !' cried Little Man on Christmas morning
...
The Three Musketeers: and for Christopher-John and Little Man,
two different volumes of Aesop's Fables
...
Mine read: 'This book is the property of Miss Cassie Deborah Logan
...
'
'Man sold me them books told me these two was written by a black man,' Papa said, opening my book and pointing to a
picture of a man in a long, fancy coat and a wigful of curly hair that fell to his shoulders
...
His daddy was a mulatto and his grand mama was a slave down on one of them islands - Martinique, it says
here
...
They can't read 'em now,
I said, they'll grow into 'em
...
But nothing compared to the books
...

After the church services, the Averys returned home with us for Christmas dinner
...
But only the eldest girls, who were helping Mama, Big Ma, and Mrs
...
The rest of us were continuously being shooed out by Big Ma
...

The meal lasted for over two hours through firsts, seconds, and thirds, talk and laughter, and finally dessert
...
J
...
Shortly afterward, there was a timid knock on the front door
...
Everyone
turned to stare at him
...

Jeremy nodded and stepped hesitantly inside
...
'
'I believe he is,' agreed Papa
...
' Papa said
...
'I - I brung them for y'all
...
As she opened it, I peeped over her shoulder: the bag was full of nuts
...
'Nuts ! Why we got more nuts now than we know what 'Cassie!' Mama scowled
...
'This is very
thoughtful of you, Jeremy, and we appreciate them
...
'
Jeremy nodded slightly as if he did not know how to accept her thanks, and stiffly handed a slender, paper- wrapped object to
Stacey
...

Stacey looked at Papa to see if he should take it
...
'It - it ain't much,'
stammered Jeremy as Stacey tore off the wrapping
...
' Stacey slid his fingers down the smooth, sanded back
of the wooden flute
...
'It blows real nice
...
'Thanks, Jeremy, it's real nice,' he
said finally
...


When Jeremy did not move, Papa asked, ‘You Charlie Simms's boy!'
Jeremy nodded
...

'Your daddy know you here!'
Jeremy bit his lower lip, and looked at his feet
...
'
'Then I expect you'd better be getting on home, son, ‘fore he come looking for you
...

As he reached the door, I cried after him, ‘Merry Christmas, Jeremy!'
Jeremy looked back and smiled shyly
...
'
T
...
made no comment on Jeremy's visit until both Papa and Uncle Hammer had left the room
...
Avery, he said, ‘You ain't gonna keep that thing, are you!'
Stacey looked malevolently at r
...
and I knew that he was thinking of the coat
...
I'm gonna keep it
...
J
...
'Nothin'
...

I watched Stacey closely to see if he was going to allow himself to be goaded to T
...
; he was not
...
J
...

'Ah
...
' said T
...
quickly
...
But for me, some- body give
me something, I want it to be something fine - like that pretty little pearl-handled pistol
...
Stacey asked, ‘Papa, how come Jeremy give me this flute! I mean, I didn't give him nothin'
...

'No sir, Papa
...
not really
...
he's a crazy kid and he likes to walk to school with us, but 'You like him !'
Stacey frowned, thinking
...
But he don't seem to let it bother him none
...
Is that wrong?'
'No
...
'That ain't wrong
...
J
...
'And I s'pose if I let him, he could be a better friend
than T
...

Papa took the pipe from his mouth, rubbed his moustache and spoke quietly
...
Right now you and Jeremy might get along fine, but in
a few years he'll think of himself as a man but you'll probably still be a boy to him
...
'
‘But Papa, I don't think Jeremy'd be that way
...
'We Logans don't have much to do with white folks
...
You see blacks hanging 'round with whites, they're headed for trouble
...
Now you could be
right'bout Jeremy making a much finer friend than T
...
ever will be
...
So I think you'd better not try
...

On my way to bed, I stopped by the boys' room to retrieve an orange Christopher-John had swiped from my stocking and

spied Stacey fingering the flute
...
I never saw the flute again
...
We had hoped against
hope that Mama would not tell him about our trip to the Wallace store or, if she did, that he would forget what he had
promised
...
Mama always told Papa everything, and Papa never forgot anything
...

Morrison climb into the Packard and speed away
...

They've got some business to attend to, she said shortly
...
We've got chores to do
...
Jamison arrived
...

Jamison and a bag of lemon drops for each of the boys and me
...
We
played for a while in the patches of snow that remained, but when that grew tiresome, I popped into the house to see what
was happening; Mama ordered me to pop back out again
...

'Looking at a whole bunch of papers,' I said
...

'What kind of papers !' asked Stacey
...
'I dunno
...
Jamison was saying something'bout selling the land
...
'You sure!'
I nodded
...
Can't sell it, can't sign on it
...
" '
'Both of who?'

I shrugged again
...
' After a while it grew chilly and we went inside
...
Jamison, sitting
next to Big Ma, was putting some papers into his briefcase
...

'Hammer and David, they been takin' care of things a long time now,' Big Ma said
...
I ain't wantin' a whole lot of problems after I'm gone 'bout who gots rights to this land
...

Mr
...
He was a long, thin man in his mid- fifties with a perfect laywer face, so placid that it was difficult to
guess what thoughts lay behind it
...
I figured that Mr
...
His business was evidently finished and despite the fact that the family thought well of him, he was not
considered a friend in the usual sense, and there seemed no reason for him to stay longer
...
Jamison put his
briefcase back on the floor, indicating that he was not leaving, and looked first at Big Ma and Mama, then across at Papa and
Uncle Hammer
...

Big Ma looked around at Papa and Uncle Hammer, but neither of them acknowledged her glance; their eyes were pinned on
Mr
...

There's talk too why folks are looking to shop there
...
'As you
know, my family has roots in Vicksburg - we've a number of friends there still
...

Said you were looking to find credit for about thirty families
...
‘You know as well as I do that credit doesn't come easy these
days
...
Jamison
...
'
'I reckon we know that,' said Uncle Hammer
...
Jamison glanced at Uncle Hammer and nodded
...
But as far as I can see, the only thing any of you got
to back that credit with is this land
...
'

'Why's that!' asked Uncle Hammer, wary of his interest
...
'
The fire popped and the room grew silent
...
'
Again, silence
...
Jamison allowed Papa and Uncle Hammer several moments to search for a motive behind his mask like
face
...
'
'If you and so many others feel that way
...

'Because,' answered Mr
...
It's as simple as that
...
Jamison
...
In the fall when the crops are in, those people who've bought the goods in
Vicksburg will have to pay for them
...
Of course, as a businessman
...
Still, it would lend me a
great deal of satisfaction to know that I was a part of all this
...
'
Mr
...
'But the offer still stands
...
'Well, then, I'd say it's up to those people
who'd be buying on your signature
...
We always pay cash
...
You thought about
that!'
'Yes,' said Mr
...
We realize what could happen
...
Besides the fact that a number of white folks around here resent this land you've got and your
independent attitude, there's Harlan Granger
...

I wanted to ask what Mr
...
But then Mr
...

'Ever since we were boys, Harlan's lived in the past
...
You know, back then the Grangers had one of the biggest plantations in the state and Spokane County
practically belonged to them
...
They were consulted about everything concerning this area and
they felt it was up to them to see that things worked smoothly, according to the law - a law basically for whites
...
He also feels strongly about this land and he resents the fact that you
won't sell it back to him
...
You can
count on it
...
'And if you
continue to encourage people not to shop at the Wallace store, you could still lose it
...
Before he let the Wallaces set up storekeeping, he was only
getting his sharecropper's money
...

'But even more important than all that, you're pointing a finger right at the Wallaces with this boycott business
...
That they should be punished just as if they had killed a white man, and
punishment of a white man for a wrong done to a black man would denote equality
...
'
Mr
...

'What John Henry Berry and his brother were accused of - making advances to a white woman - goes against the grain of
Harlan Granger and most other white folks in this community more than anything else, you know that
...
Believe me on that
...
Jamison picked up his briefcase, ran his fingers through his graying hair, and met Papa's eyes
...
'
Papa looked down at the boys and me awaiting his reply, then nodded slightly, as if he agreed
...
'
'I do hope that's so, David,' murmured Mr
...
'I truly hope that's so
...
Jamison's visit, Papa, Mama, and Uncle Hammer went to the houses of those families who were
considering shopping in Vicksburg
...
Morrison
...

'What's all that!' I asked Papa as he jumped from the wagon
...
It's things folks ordered from Vicksburg
...
Granger arrived
...
Granger stepped out
...

Hastily Christopher-John and I tugged on the well rope, pulled up the water tub, and poured the water into the bucket
...
Little Man and Stacey, just leaving the room under Mama's
orders, allowed the door to remain slightly cracked, and all four of us huddled against it stepladder fashion
...
Granger said in his folksy dialect as he sat
down with a grunt across from Papa
...
‘What they got you doing up
North! Bootlegging whiskey!' He laughed dryly
...

Uncle Hammer, leaning against the fireplace mantel, did not laugh
...
'Up there I got
me a man's job and they pay me a man's wages for it
...
Granger studied Uncle Hammer
...
‘You right citified, ain't you! Course you always did think
you was too good to work in the fields like other folks
...
' said Uncle Hammer
...
' Uncle Hammer said nothing else; he didn't need to
...

Mr
...
'Some folks tell me y'all running a regular traveling store up here
...
Granger's eyes, but did not speak,
Mr
...
‘Seems to me you folks are just stirring up something
...
Even
got yourselves that loan Paul Edward made from the First National Bank up in Strawberry for that eastern two hundred acres
...
that mortgage could come due anytime
...
'
'Ain't gonna lose it
...

Mr
...
He took a cigar from his pocket, then a knife to cut off the tip
...
Then he said : 'This is a fine community
...

Whatever's bothering you people, y'all just tell me
...

Uncle Hammer laughed outright
...
Granger looked up sharply, but Uncle Hammer eyed him insolently, a smile still on his
lips
...
Granger, watching him, cautioned sternly
...
This is a quiet and peaceful place
...
' Turning back to Papa, he continued
...
I ain't gonna hide
that I think y'all making a big mistake, both for the community and for yourselves, going all the way down to Vicksburg to do
your shopping
...
' said Uncle Hammer
...
Granger puffed deeply on his cigar and did not look at Uncle Hammer
...
His voice
was harsh, but he made no comment on what Uncle Hammer had said
...
How come you let your boys go do it !'
Big Ma smoothed the lap of her dress with her hands, They grown and it's they land
...
'
Mr
...
‘The price of cotton's
mighty low, y'all know that
...
‘Could be that I'll have to charge my people more of their crops next summer just
to make ends meet
...

There was a tense, waiting silence before his glance slid to Papa again
...
Joe Higgins up at First National told me that he couldn't hardly honor a loan to folks who go around stirring up a lot of
bad feelings in the community 'And especially stirring the colored folks out of their place
...

Mr
...
'Money's too scarce, he continued as if he had not heard, 'and folks like
that are a poor risk
...
He did not look up until the flame had caught in the tobacco and held there
...

Granger
...

We've been through bad times and good times but we ain't never lost none of it
...

Mr
...
'
'Slave land,' said Papa
...
Granger nodded
...
But
y'all keep on playing Santa Claus and I'm gonna get it back - real easy
...
'
Papa took the pipe from his mouth and stared into the fire
...
Granger again his voice was very quiet, very

distinct, very sure
...

Mr
...
'
Papa impaled Mr
...
Then you'd better make them good,' he said
...
Granger stood to go, a smile creeping smugly over his lips as if he knew a secret but refused to tell
...
Miz Lillian Jean, wouldja wait up a minute, please!'
'Cassie, you cracked!' cried Stacey
...
get back here ! Cassie !'
Stacey's words faded into the gray stillness of the January morning as I turned deaf ears to him and hurried after Lillian Jean
...

She stared down at me irritably
...
'
'Yeah!' commented Lillian Jean suspiciously
...
But my papa told me it don't do no good sitting around being
mad
...
I mean, I should've seen it all along
...
'
Lillian Jean looked at me with astonishment that I could see the matter so clearly
...
'
'Oh, I did
...
The way I see it - here, let me take them books for you, Miz Lillian Jean - the way I see it, we all

gotta do what we gotta do
...
Just what I gotta
...
'God'll bless you for it
...
'God wants all his children to do what's right
...
Miz Lillian Jean
...
I waved good-bye to Lillian Jean and waited for the others
...
'Owwww
...

'Ah, shoot,' laughed T
...
'Ole Cassie jus' learned she better do what's good for her if she don't want no more of Mr
...
'
I clinched my fists behind me, and narrowed my eyes in the Logan gaze, but managed to hold my tongue
...
'
As I followed, Jeremy touched my arm timidly
...
That - that ole Lillian Jean, she ain't
worth it
...
But he shied away from me and ran down the road after his sister
...
' said prideful Little Man, still fuming as we approached the school
...
'
'Naw you ain't,' said Stacey
...
This here thing's between Cassie and
Lillian Jean and ain't nobody telling nobody nothin' 'bout this
...
J
...

'Ah, man !' cried T
...
'It ain't none of my business
...
’
My temper almost flew out of my mouth, but I pressed my lips tightly together, forcing it to stay inside
...
J
...

Then you won't,' said Stacey
...
But your mama makes up the hardest examinations she knows how
...
J
...
‘After all that trouble I got in the last time 'count of you
...
' T
...
smiled in feigned apology
...

'I got a solution,' I said, unable to resist just one bit of friendly advice
...
'
After Uncle Hammer left on New Year's Day, Papa and I had gone into the forest, down the cow path, and to the misty
hollow where the trees lay fallen
...

When I had explained the whole Strawberry business to Papa, he said slowly, 'You know the Bible says you're s'pose to
forgive these things
...

'S'pose to turn the other cheek'

'Yessir
...
'But the way
I see it, the Bible didn't mean for you to be no fool
...
I figure forgiving is not letting something nag at you - rotting you out
...
'
I nodded gravely and he looked down at me
...
That temper can get you in trouble
...
and
maybe you should 'Papa !'
'Cassie, there'll be a whole lot of things you ain't gonna wanna do but you'll have to do in this life just so you can survive
...
If I'd've gone after Charlie Simms and given him a good
thrashing like I felt like doing, the hurt to all of us would've been a whole lot more than the hurt you received, so I let it be
...

'But there are other things, Cassie, that if I'd let be, they'd eat away at me and destroy me in the end
...
There are things you can't back down on, things you gotta take a stand on
...
You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you
...
But, little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own
...

Wow, there ain't no sense in going around being mad
...
Then I want you to
think real hard on whether or not Lillian Jean's worth taking a stand about, but keep in mind that Lillian Jean probably won't
be the last white person to treat you this way
...
He held my chin up with the wide flat of his hard hand
...
Now, you listen to me, and you listen good
...
if you make the wrong decision and Charlie Simms gets involved, then I get involved and there'll be trouble
...
'Like the trees !'
'Don't know,' said Papa
...
'
I pondered his words, then I promised, 'Mr
...
'
Papa studied me
...
I'll count real hard on that
...
She even took to waiting for me in the
morning with Jeremy so that I could carry her books
...
When we were alone, she
confided her secrets to me: the boy she had passionately loved for the past year and the things she had done to attract his
attention (with no success, I might add); the secrets of the girls she couldn't stand as well as those she could; and even a tidbit
or two about her elder brothers' romantic adventures
...
I almost hated to see the source dry up
...
I was eager to get to the
crossroads to meet Lillian Jean; I had promised myself to first take care of the examination and then
...
'There's Stacey !' The four of us dashed across the yard
trailing Stacey and T
...
to the road
...
J
...

'She did it on purpose !' T
...
accused, a nasty scowl twisting his face
...
'What you 'spect for her to do !'
'She could've give me a break
...
Didn't need 'em nohow
...
'I'm sick of all y'all
...

'T
...
! Hey, man, where you going!' Stacey yelled after him
...
J
...
The road swelled into a small hill and he
disappeared on the other side of it
...
'Down to that ole store, I reckon
...
'Come on then, we'd better get on home
...

'Y'all go on,' I said
...
'
'Cassie –‘
'I’ll catch up with ya,' I said before Stacey could lecture me
...

When Lillian Jean appeared, I sighed thankfully that only Jeremy was with her; it could be today for sure
...
That was fine, too; I knew he would
...
When I saw it, I interrupted Lillian Jean apologetically
...
found it just the other day down in the woods
...
Where you say it is!'
'Come on
...

I stepped into the dry gully and scrambled onto the bank
...
'It's all right,' I assured her, 'It ain't far
...
'
That did it
...
Following me up the over- grown
trail into the deep forest, she asked, 'You sure this is the way, little Cassie!'

'Just a bit further
...
Ah, here it is
...

'Well! Where's the surprise !'
'Right here,' I said, smashing Lillian Jean's books on the ground
...

'I got tired of carrying 'em,' I said
...
' Then, expecting
that her will would be done with no more than that from her, she turned to leave the glade
...
' I said quietly
...

'Said make me
...
Then, red with anger, she stepped daintily across the clearing and struck me hard across the face
...

I flailed into her, tackling her with such force that we both fell
...
T was calm and knew just where to strike
...
She tried to pull my hair but couldn't, for I had purposely asked Big
Ma to braid it into flat braids against my head
...
At first she tried to be cute - 'Ain't gonna 'pologize to
no nigger I' she sassed,
'You wanna be bald, girl?'

And she apologized
...
For her brothers and her mother
...
But
when I let her go and she had sped safely to the other side of the clearing with the trail in front of her, she threatened to tell
her father
...
You just do that and I'm gonna make sure all your fancy friends know how you keeps a secret
...
'
'Cassie ! You wouldn't do that
...
and you know I know
...
You here going on thirteen,
getting beat up by a nine-year-old
...

I stared at her astonished
...

'Cassie Logan !'
'Yes'm, Miz Crocker!' That's the third time I've caught you daydreaming this morning
...
We're in a new quarter and everyone's slate is clean
...
You understand that!'
'Yes'm,' I said, not bothering to add that she repeated herself so much that all a body had to do was listen to the first few
minutes of her lesson to be free to daydream to her heart's content
...
‘Then maybe you'll pay more attention
...
I slid onto the cold seat after its former occupant had eagerly left it for my warm quarters by the stove
...
I tried
to pay attention to Miss Crocker but the cold creeping under the windowsill made it impossible
...
I ripped out the paper, then turned to the window
...

The man was Kaleb Wallace
...
'Uh
...
well, you know
...
Kaleb Wallace was standing in front of the
seventh-grade-class building talking to Mr
...

When the men entered the building, I turned and sped to the rear and carefully climbed onto the woodpile stacked behind it
...
The men were just entering, Kaleb Wallace first,
followed by a man I didn't know and Mr
...
Granger said, 'Been hearing 'bout your teaching, Mary, so as members of
the school board we thought we'd come by and learn something
...
Mr
...

Mama was in the middle of history and I knew that was bad
...
But Mama did not flinch: she always started her history class the first thing in
the morning when the students were most alert, and I knew that the hour was not yet up
...
She spoke on the cruelty of it; of the rich economic cycle it generated as slaves produced the raw
products for the factories of the North and Europe; how the country profited and grew from the free labor of a people still not
free
...
Granger picked up a student's book, flipped it open to the pasted-over front cover, and pursed his
lips
...
' he said, interrupting her
...
Mr
...
‘I don't see all them things you're teaching in here
...
' Mama said
...
This book's approved by the Board of Education and you're expected
to teach what's in it
...
'
'And why not!'
Mama, her back straight and her eyes fixed on the men, answered, ‘Because ail that's in that book isn't true
...
Granger stood
...
The other board member and Kaleb
Wallace followed
...
Granger stopped and pointed at Mama
...
Smarter than the school board, too
...
'
Mama remained silent, and Mr
...

'In fact
...
Granger continued, putting on his hat, ‘you so smart I expect you'd best just forget about teaching altogether
...
' With that he turned his back on her, glanced at Mr
...

We waited for Mama after school was out
...
J
...
She smiled down at us, seemingly not surprised that we were there
...
I had never really thought much about Mama's teaching before; that was just a part of
her being Mama
...
Granger,
'You all know!' she asked
...
Stacey took one handle of her heavy black satchel
and I took the other
...

'M-Mama,' said Christopher-John when we reached the road, ‘can’t you ever teach no more?'
Mama did not answer immediately
...
‘Somewhere else maybe, but not here - at least not
for a while
...
‘How’s come?'

Mama bit into her lower lip and gazed at the road
...

When we reached home, Papa and Mr
...
As we entered, Papa
searched our faces
...

Mama sat down beside him
...
'I got fired
...
Papa reached out and touched Mama
...
Somebody had told them about those books I'd pasted
over
...
They're just getting at us any way they can because of shop ping in Vicksburg
...

Papa gently pushed the stray hair back over her ear
...
, Plant more cotton maybe
...
There was
quiet reassurance in his voice
...

'Outside
...
'
Christopher-John, Little Man, and I turned to follow her, but Papa called us back
...

As we watched her slowly cross the backyard to the barren garden and head toward the south pasture, Mr
...
Logan, you got no need of me
...
Maybe I could get
something
...
' Papa stared across at Mr
...
‘There’s no call for
you to do that
...
‘I’m not paying you anything as it
Mr
...
That's right good pay, I'd say
...
‘You’re a good man, Mr
...
' His eyes focused on Mama again, a tiny figure in the distance now
...
‘Son, your mama
...
And it's gonna be hard on her not teaching anymore
...

'And Grandpa wanted her to be one, too, didn't he, Papa!' said Christopher-John
...
‘Your mama was his baby child and every penny he'd get his hands on he'd put it -aside for her schooling
...
But he'd promised your
grandmamma 'fore she died to see that your mama got an education, and when your mama 'come high- school age, he sent her
up to Jackson to school, then on to teacher training school
...
'
'And y'all got married and she ain't gone back down there no more,' interjected Little Man
...
That's right, son
...
He stooped and
looked out the window again, then back at us
...

but it's hurt her bad
...

Papa left us then and went onto the back porch
...

T
...
! You sure!' Stacey asked Little Willie Wiggins at recess the next day
...
Clarence, too
...
Kaleb
...
Said she even was destroyin' school property - talkin''bout them books, you know
...

'Hush, Cassie,' said Stacey, ‘How come you just telling this now, Little Willie?'

Little Wiilie shrugged
...
J
...
J
...
Said he was going right back and tell them it wasn't nothin' but a joke, what he said
...
' He hesitated, then confessed, 'Didn't say nothin' 'bout it before
'cause me and Clarence wasn't s'pose to be up there ourselves
...
Granger yesterday and fires Miz
Logan
...
J
...

'He probably figured it too,' I said
...

Talking 'bout he sick,' said Christopher-John
...
' prophesied Little Man, his tiny fists balled for action
...
'
After school when Claude turned up the forest trail leading to the Avery house, we went with him
...
J
...
Stacey immediately charged toward him, and when T
...
saw him coming he
tried to swing his long right leg over the tube to escape
...
Stacey jumped up on the inner tube, giving them
both a jerky ride before they landed hard on Mr
...

'Man, what's the matter with you!' T
...
cried as he rolled from under Stacey to glance back at the flattened bush
...
'
Stacey jumped up and jerked at T
...
's collar
...
J
...
‘Do what! What you talkin' 'bout?'
'Didja tell it? You tell them Wallaces 'bout Mama!'
'Me?' asked T
...
'Me! Why, man, you oughta know me better'n that
...
'How come you think we up here !'
'Hey, now, wait a minute,' objected T
...
'I don't know what somebody been tellin' y'all, but I ain't told them Wallaces nothin'
...
The day Mama caught you cheating
...
'Well, that

don't mean nothin',' said T
...
, jerking away from Stacey's grip and hopping to his feet
...
Don't mean I told them ole folks nothin' though
...
like Mama didn't know nothin' and she wasn't even teaching what she s'pose to 'Didn't neither!' denied T
...
'Ain't never said that! All I said was that it was her that
...
'Hey, look, y'all, I don't know how come Miz Logan got fired, but I ain't
said nothin' to make nobody fire her
...
A fellow got a right to be mad 'bout somethin'
like that, ain't he!'
Stacey's eyes narrowed upon T
...
'Maybe,' he said
...
'
T
...
stepped backward and looked nervously over his shoulder to the south, where the fields lay fallow
...
T
...

seemed to take heart from the figure and grew cocky again
...
'
A moment's silence passed, and then Stacey, his eyes cold and condemning, said quietly, ‘It was you all right, T
...
It was
you
...

'Ain't you gonna beat him up!' cried a disappointed Little Man
...

'What could be worse than that?' asked Christopher- John
...
'And so will T
...

T
...
's first day back at school after almost a week's absence was less than successful
...
At first he pretended that the students' attitude didn't matter, but by afternoon
when school was out, he hurried after us, attempting to convince us that he was merely a victim of circumstances
...


'You still saying what Little Willie said ain't true!' questioned Stacey
...
'When I catch up with that little rascal, I'm gonna beat him to a pulp, 'round here tellin'
everybody I got Miz Logan fired
...
Little Willie probably told them Wallaces that
hisself, so he figures to get out of it by tellin' everybody it was 'Ah, stop lying, T
...
,' I said testily
...
'
‘Well, I should've known you wouldn't, Cassie
...

'Well, anyway, that's the truth,' I agreed
...
' said T
...
, grinning again and turning toward Little Man and Christopher-John, 'my little buddy Christopher- John
believes me, don't you, fellow! And you still my pal, ain't you, Little Man!'
An indignant Little Man looked up at T
...
, but before he could speak, easygoing Christopher-John said, 'You told on Mama,
T
...
Now she all unhappy 'cause she can't teach school no more and it's all your fault, and we don't like you no more!'
'Yeah i' added Little Man in agreement
...
J
...
Then he laughed uneasily
...
Everybody's gone crazy 'Look
...
Why don't you just admit it was you!'
'Hey, man!' T
...
But then, finding that the grin and the smooth words no longer worked, his
face dropped
...
All right
...
Anyways, I'm real sorry 'bout your mama
losin' her job and All of us, including Claude, stared distastefully at T
...
and walked away from him
...
I said I was sorry, didn't I!' he asked, following us
...
J
...
Y'all can't turn on me just 'cause 'You the one turned, T
...
'How leave us alone
...
'
T,J
...
Then, standing alone in the middle of the
road, he screamed after us, 'Who needs y'all anyway! I been tired of y'all always hangin' 'round for a long while now, but I
been too nice to tell ya
...
What I look like, havin' a bunch of little kids 'round all the time and me
here fourteen, near grown
...

‘Got me better friends than y'all! They give me things and treat me like I'm a man and
...

His voice faded into the wind as we left him and we heard no more
...
It seeped unseen into the waiting red earth in early March, softening the hard ground for the coming plow and
awakening life that had lain gently sleeping through the cold winter
...
Rain-drenched, fresh, vital, full of life, spring enveloped all of us
...
But although every living thing knew it was
spring, Miss Crocker and the other teachers evidently did not, for school lingered on indefinitely
...
Morrison began to plow the east field, I volunteered to sacrifice school and help them
...

'I guess I won't be seein' much of y'all after next Friday, said Jeremy one evening as we neared his forest trail
...


'Be nice if our schools ended at the same time
...

Jeremy stammered an apology
...
' He was silent a moment, then brightened
...

Stacey shook his head
...

'Well
...
' He shrugged
...
'
'Lonely !' I asked
...
The little ones, they too young to play with, and the older ones
...
W
...
'
'What you saying!' asked Stacey
...
'
'Well, I can understand that
...
'I sure don't like them
...
A fellow's gotta like his own kin
...
‘Well, Lillian Jean's all right, I guess
...
' He smiled a secret smile to himself
...
W, and Melvin, they ain't very nice
...
J
...

Stacey stopped
...
‘I don't know,' he said as if he was sorry he had mentioned it
...
'
'How?' asked Stacey
...
'

'Well
...
‘But I heard he was running 'round with R
...
and Melvin
...
Them
brothers of yours must be eighteen or nineteen
...
‘They brung T
...
by the house a
couple of times when Pa wasn't home
...
' He squinted again at the trail and said hurriedly, ‘I better go
...

'Mama
...
W
...
J
...

Mama frowned down into the flour barrel
...

'But, Mama, we always use two
...
Now put it back
...
I again asked, ‘What you think, Mama! How come them Simmses running
‘round with T
...
!'
Mama measured out the baking powder and gave it to me
...
It was running low too
...
‘They may just want him around
because it makes them feel good
...
J
...
' 'Well, you told me Jeremy said they were laughing at T
...
behind his
back
...
use them
...
J
...
J
...
He just wants attention, but he's going after it the wrong way
...
J
...

‘Mama!' he cried
...
Jamison just drove up!' He had been in the barn cleaning the chicken coop with Christopher-John and

stubby particles of straw still clung to his head
...

Mama looked at Big Ma, a question in her eyes, then followed Little Man outside
...

'Girl, get back in here and finish mixin' this cornbread!' ordered Big Ma
...
'I'll be right back
...

Mr
...
‘How you doing, Miz Logan !' he asked
...
Jamison
...
‘And yourself !'
'Fine
...
'Is David here?'
'He's over in the east field
...
Jamison
...
no
...

'Little Man,' Mama said, turning, ‘go get Papa
...
I'll just walk on over there if that's all right
...
' Mama nodded, and after he had
spoken to me Mr
...

Mr
...
A few minutes later he emerged from the held alone, got into his car, and left
...
Morrison, and Stacey from the fields
...
‘What did Mr
...

Papa took the towel Mama handed him, but did not reply immediately
...
I moved closer to the window so that I could hear his answer
...
If there's trouble, I want to know
...
Just seems that Thurston Wallace been in town talking 'bout how he's not gonna let a few smart colored folks ruin his
business
...
That's all
...
‘I’m feeling scared, David,' she said
...
‘Not yet, Mary
...
They're just talking
...
‘And when they stop talking !'
'Then
...
But right now, pretty lady,' he said, leading her by the hand toward the kitchen door, ‘right
now I've got better things to think about
...
As Mama and Papa
entered, I slid onto the bench beside Little Man and Christopher-John
...
'Well, look-a-here !' he
exclaimed
...
Mr
...
‘These
women folks done gone and fixed us a feast
...
He seemed to be waiting
for something, and I secretly hoped that whatever that something was, it would never come so that he would not leave
...
Morrison, and Stacey sat on the front porch while Christopher-John, Little Man, and I
dashed around the yard chasing fireflies, I overheard him say, ‘Sunday I'm gonna have to go
...
I got this
gut feeling it ain't over yet
...

I released the firefly imprisoned in my hand and sat beside Papa and Stacey on the steps
...
' Stacey looked out into the falling night, his face resigned, and said nothing
...
‘Got to, Cassie girl,' he said softly
...
Your mama's got no job come fall and there's the mortgage and next year's taxes to think of
...
Won't that pay the taxes !'

Papa shook his head
...
Morrison here we was able to plant more, but that cotton is for living on; the rail- road money
is for the taxes and the mortgage
...
She
had known he would leave, just as we all had known
...
May have lost my job already
...

I grew quiet and Papa put his arms around Stacey and me, his hands falling casually over our shoulders
...
Avery and Mr
...
Mama sent Stacey and
me to get more chairs for the porch, then we settled back beside Papa still sitting on the steps, his back propped against a
pillar facing the visitors
...
Avery asked after all the amenities had been said
...
Morrison had made one other trip to Vicksburg, but Papa had not gone with him
...
Morrison
...
Morrison and me going the day after tomorrow
...

Mr
...
'It's - it's that list I come 'bout, David
...
'
The porch grew silent
...
Avery glanced at Mr
...
Lanier shook his head and continued
...
Granger
making it hard on us, David
...
now that the
cotton's planted and it's too late to plant more
...
The way cotton sells these
days, seems the more we plant, the less money we gets anyways -

Mr
...
'I'm gonna
be hard put to pay that debt in Vickrburg, David, but I'm gonna
...
'
Papa nodded, looking toward the road
...

'Montier did,' replied Mr
...
Harrison ain't
...

'That does it,' Mama sighed wearily,
Papa kept looking out into the darkness
...
I expect a man used to living on fifty could live on forty
...
'
Mr
...
'Times too hard
...

Mr
...
'I know
...
J
...

Mr
...
‘But - but that ain't all Mr
...
Said, too, we don't give up this shoppin' in Vicksburg, we can jus' get off his land
...
Then them Wallaces, they come by my place, Brother Lanier's, and everybody's on this
thing that owes them money
...
put us on the chain gang
to work it off
...

Mr
...
'
Mr
...
But when the coughing
ceased, Mr
...
'
Papa nodded
...
' Mr
...
'
When the men had left, Stacey snapped, They got no right pulling out ! Just ‘cause them Wallaces threaten them one time
they go jumping all over themselves to get out like a bunch of scared jackrabbits Papa stood suddenly and grabbed Stacey upward
...
Them men, they doing what they've gotta do
...
They'll get kicked off that plot of land they tend
and there'll be no place for them to go
...
Papa released him and stared moodily into the night
...
If you hadn't been, you'd cry out for it while you try to survive
...
Lanier and Mr
...
It's hard on a man to give up, but sometimes it seems there just ain't nothing else he can do
...
, I'm sorry,
Papa,' Stacey muttered
...

'Papa,' I said, standing to join them, ‘we giving up too!'
Papa looked down at me and brought me closer, then waved his hand toward the drive
...
, that oak and walnut, they're a lot bigger and they take up more room and give so much
shade they almost overshadow that little ole fig
...
It keeps on blooming, bearing good fruit year after year, knowing all the time it'll never get as big as
them other trees
...
It don't give up
...
There's a lesson to be
learned from that little tree, Cassie girl, 'cause we're like it
...
We can't
...
Morrison had retired to his own house and Big Ma, the boys, and I had gone to bed, Papa and Mama remained on
the porch, talking in hushed whispers
...
After a few minutes they left the porch and their voices grew faint
...
They were walking slowly across the moon-soaked grass, their arms around
each other
...
‘I don't think you and Mr
...
Not with the
Wallaces threatening people like they are
...

Papa reached into the tree and broke off a twig
...

You know that
...

Papa leaned against the tree, ‘I think I'll take Stacey with me
...
I can't take him with me on the railroad, but I can take
him with me where I go 'round here
...
how to take care of it, how to take care of things
when I ain't around
...

'Baby, a boy get as big as Stacey down here and he's near a man
...
He gotta know how to
handle himself
...
not a fool like T
...

'He's got more brains and learning than that,' Mama snapped
...
' Papa said quietly
...
J· turning like he is
...
He doesn't seem to be doing anything about it
...


'I’m not bitter,' said Mama, folding her arms across her chest
...
'
'The other day Joe told me he couldn't do nothing with T
...
anymore
...
'
'He can still put a good strip of leather against his bottom, can't he!' It was clear that Mama was unsympathetic to Mr
...

'Said he tried
...
Got so sick from it, he had to go to bed
...
J
...
' Papa paused, then added, ‘He’s
gotten pretty sassy, too, I understand
...
'
Papa sighed heavily and left the tree
...
I've gotta get an early start if I'm gonna get 'round to everybody
...
'
Mama laughed lightly in exasperation
...
'
'Because, woman,' Papa said, putting his arm around her, 'you took one look at big, handsome me and no one else would do
...

Seven families, including ours, still refused to shop at the Wallace store even with the threat of the chain gang
...
Morrison to make the trip
...

On Thursday, when they were to return, it began to rain, a hard, swelling summer rain which brought a premature green
darkness to the land and forced us to leave our hoeing of the cotton field and return to the house
...
‘Wonder what's keeping them,' she said, more to herself than
anyone else
...
'Could've stopped to get out of this storm
...
‘You’re most likely right,' she agreed, picking up a pair of Christopher-John's pants to mend
...
My throat grew tight, and without knowing why I was afraid, I was
...
‘Course they're all right
...
'
'But, Mama, you s'pose maybe somebody done 'I think you children better go on to bed
...

'But I wanna wait up for Papa
...

'Me, too,' said sleepy Christopher-John
...
Now get to bed!'
Since there was nothing we could do but obey, we went to bed
...
A cold fear crept up my body, churning
my stomach and tightening its grip on my throat
...

Mama was standing with her back to me, her arms folded, and Big Ma was still patching
...
I started to speak, but Mama was talking and I decided not to interrupt her
...
' she said
...
‘You runnin' 'round out there on that mare by yo'self in this
darkness and rain !'

'But something's happened to them ! I can feel it
...
'Them men folks all right
...
no,' said Mama shaking her head
...

'Mary 'Thought I heard something
...
Pushing up the lock in a
mad haste, she swung the door open and cried into the storm, 'David ! David!'
Unable to stay put, I dashed across the room
...
But
Mama, staring into the wet night, said nothing when I reached her side
...

Out of the darkness a round light appeared, moving slowly across the drive, and Mr
...
'Go
on, Stacey,' he said, 'I got him
...
Morrison carrying
Papa
...

Big Ma standing behind me stepped back, pulling me with her
...
Morrison
...
Morrison climbed the stairs, we could see that Papa's left leg stuck straight out, immobilized by his shot- gun strapped
to it with a rope
...
Mr
...
Mama went immediately to the
bed and took Papa's hand
...
' Papa said faintly, 'I'm
...
Just got my leg broke, that's all
...
' said Mr
...
‘We better get that leg set
...
'

'But his head -' Mama said, her eyes questioning Mr
...
But Mr
...
'You all right, son?'
'Yes'm,' Stacey said, his face strangely ashen, his eyes on Papa
...
Don't want you catching pneumonia
...

'I'll get a fire started,' said Big Ma disappearing into the kitchen as Mama turned to the closet to find sheets for making a cast
...

'What's going on!' asked Little Man, frowning into the light
...
'Papa, you got back i'
Mr
...

'Wh-what's the matter!' asked Christopher-John
...
'Papa, what's the matter! How come you got that thing on
your head!'
'Your Papa's asleep,' said Mama as Mr
...
‘Stacey, take them back to bed
...
' None of us stirred
...

Stacey herded us into the boys' room
...
We huddled around him
...
‘I dunno
...
and he's shot
...

'Mr
...
Says he thinks it just hit his skin
...
' Stacey ran his forefinger

along his right temple
...
'
'But who'd shoot Papa!' asked Little Man, greatly agitated
...
‘I’ve said too much already
...
'
I continued to sit, my mind unable to move
...
'
'How the wagon roll over him! How he get shot!' I blurted out angrily, already plotting revenge against whoever had dared
hurt my father
...
you go on to bed !'
'Ain't moving till you tell me!'
'I'll call Mama,' he threatened
...

He went to the door and opened it
...

'What was they doing !' asked Little Man
...
'
'Well
...

Stacey sighed despairingly and sat down
...
‘It was already dark and it was raining too, and Papa and Mr
...
Then when I told them I'd seen two

boys near the wagon when we was in Vicksburg, Papa said we didn't have time to unhitch and unload the wagon like we
should to put them wheels back on
...

'So after we found the wheels and the bolts, Papa told me to hold the reins real tight on Jack to keep him still
...
Then Mr
...
And it was heavy too, but Mr
...
Then Papa slipped the first wheel on
...

'A truck come up the road and stopped behind us while we was trying to get that wheel on, but didn't none of us hear it
coming 'cause of the rain and the thunder and all, and they didn't put their lights on till the truck stopped
...
That's when they shot him and he fell back
with his left leg under the wagon
...
then Jack reared up, scared by the shot, and I - I couldn't hold him
...
and the
wagon rolled over Papa's leg
...
It's them men's
...
Finally, he cleared his throat and continued huskily
...
I tied Jack to a tree and run back to Papa, but Papa told me not to move him and to get down in the gully
...
Morrison, but he was too fast and strong for 'em
...
Morrison pick up one of
them like he wasn't nothing but a sack of chicken feathers and ding him down on the ground so hard it must've broke his
back
...
Then one of them other two that had a gun shot at Mr
...
Mr
...

'Couldn't see nothin' then,' he said, glancing toward the door where Papa lay
...
Heard somebody
cursing and crying
...
'Fraid they'd killed Mr
...
'
'But they didn't,' reminded Little Man, his eyes bright with excitement
...
‘Next thing I seen was a man coming real slow-like into the headlights and pick up the man lying in the
middle of the road - the one Mr
...
He got him into the truck, then come back and helped the other one
...
It was hanging all crazy-like at his side
...

Then what!' Little Man inquired
...
'Nothin'
...
'
'Who was it !' I rasped, holding my breath
...
'
There was a fearful moment's silence, then Christopher- John, tears in his dark eyes, asked, 'Stacey, is
...

'But he was so still 'I don't want Papa to die i' wailed Little Man
...
That's all
...
the tears escaping down his plump cheeks
...
' said Stacey, putting a comforting arm around both Christopher-John and Little Man
...
He'll be jus' fine come morning
...
All the questions had been answered,
yet we feared, and we sat silently listening to the rain, soft now upon the roof, and watching the door behind which Papa lay,
and wished for morning
...
Over a week had passed
since he had been injured, and this was his first morning up
...
His eyes were on Mama at her desk
...
She glanced at me absently and waited until I had

closed the screen door behind me, then she said, 'David, do you think we should go into this now? You're still not well 'I'm well enough to know there's not much left
...
'
I hopped down the steps and sat on the bottom one
...
'With Hammer's
half of the mortgage money, we've got enough to meet the June payment
...
'
They were both silent
...

Papa did not answer right away
...
' he said finally
...
If he knows I'm not on
the railroad, he'll wanna know why not, and I don't wanna risk that temper of his when he finds out what the Wallaces done
...
'I guess you're right
...
‘Things like they are, he come down here wild and angry, he'll get himself hung
...
We'll meet that June note with the money we got there
...
maybe
even that ole sow, But by the end of August we should have enough cotton to make that September payment
...

There was silence again, then Mama said, ‘David, Mama's been talking about going into Strawberry to the market next'No,' Papa said, not letting her finish
...
' 'I told her that
...
Anything we just gotta have before the first cotton come in!'
'Well
...
but what we're going to need more than anything is some
insecticide to spray the cotton
...


'What 'bout food?'
'Our flour and sugar and baking powder and such are low, but we'll make out - we don't have to have biscuits and cornbread
every day
...
And the coffee's all
gone
...
There's no worry there
...
'If only this leg wasn't busted !'
'Don't let Stacey hear you saying that, David,' Mama cautioned softly
...
'
'I told the boy it wasn't his fault
...
'
'I know that, but still he blames himself
...
'Ain't this something! Them Wallaces aim a gun at my head and I get my leg broke, and my boy's
blaming himself for it
...
I feel like taking a bull- whip to all three of them Wallaces and not stopping till my arm get so
tired I can't raise it one more time
...
'Am I! Well, a lot of times I feel like doing things Hammer's way
...
'
'Hammer's way would get you killed and you know it, so stop talking like that
...
Some folk even say that Dew- berry's back is
broken
...
Morrison must have hurt them pretty bad
...
‘Out looking for work again since dawn
...
I told him that
...
' agreed Mama
...
' Mama stopped, and when she spoke again her voice had grown
faint, as if she hesitated to say what was on her mind
...
don’t you think he ought to go! I don't want him to, but after

what he did to the Wallaces, I’m afraid for him
...
Don't pester him about it
...
Morrison coming west from Smellings Creek
...

'Hello, Mr
...

'Hello, Cassie,' Mr
...
‘Your papa awake !'
'Yessir
...

'Didn't I tell you nothin' could keep him down !'
'Yessir, you did
...

'Mr
...
I gotta talk to your papa then I'll be back
...
Morrison enter the side door
...
Instead I remained with Jack, thoughtfully digesting all I had heard, until Mr
...
He went into the barn, then reappeared with the planter, a plowlike tool with a small round container for
dropping seeds attached to its middle
...

'Where you going now, Mr
...
Wiggins' place, I seen Mr
...
He ain't got no wagon
so I told him I'd ask your Papa and if it was all right, I'd bring it to him
...
He thought he'd plant himself some summer corn
...

'Mr
...

'Well, I'd be right pleased for your company, Cassie
...
'
I ran back to the house
...
Morrison, Little Man and Christopher-John, of course, wanted to go too
...
Morrison said it'd be all right, Mama
...
don't you get in his way
...
‘Go on, son
...
‘There’s nothing to do
here
...
'
'You sure there ain't something I can do for you
...

Since it had been my idea to ask to go, I claimed the seat Beside Mr
...
Little Willie's
family lived on their own forty acres about two miles east of Great Faith
...
Morrison singing in his bassest of base voices and Christopher-John
...
Stacey being in one of
his moods did not sing and we let him be
...
We had just passed Great Faith and were
approaching the Jefferson Davis School Road when a ragged pickup came into view
...
Morrison said
...

get in back
...
Mor ‘Do quick
...
' His voice was barely above a friendly whisper, but there was an urgency in it and I obeyed,
scrambling over the seat to join the boys
...


The truck braked noisily with a grating shriek of steel
...
The boys and I peeped over the edge of the wagon
...
The truck door swung open and Kaleb Wallace stepped out, pointing a long
condemning finger at Mr
...
Downright sinful, that's what it is !
Why, I oughta gun you down right where you sit 'You gonna move your truck!'
Kaleb Wallace gazed up at Mr
...
That
truck in your way, boy !'
'You gonna move it !'
'I’ll move it all right
...
Morrison
climbed down from the wagon
...
Morrison's long shadow fell over him and for a breathless second, Mr
...
But as the fear grew white on Kaleb Wallace's face, Mr
...

'What's he looking for?' I whispered
...
Morrison circled the truck, studying it closely
...
Slowly, his muscles flexing tightly against his thin shirt
and the sweat popping off his skin like oil on water, he lifted the truck in one fluid, powerful motion until the front was
several inches off the ground and slowly walked it to the left of the road, where he set it down as gently as a sleeping child
...

Kaleb Wallace was mute
...
and I stared open-mouthed, and even Stacey, who had witnessed Mr
...

It took Kaleb Wallace several minutes to regain his voice
...
‘One of these nights, you watch, nigger ! I'm gonna come get you for what you done ! You
just watch ! One night real soon
...
Morrison, ‘I told you
before I was afraid for you
...
and the children
...
Morrison looked squarely into Mama's eyes
...
He got to have lots of other folks backing him up plus a loaded gun
...
I checked
...

Mama reached out, laying a slender hand on Mr
...
'Mr
...
I don't want -you hurt
because of us
...
Morrison lowered his eyes and looked around the room until his gaze rested on the boys and me
...
I think sometimes if I had, I'd've wanted a son and daughter just like you and Mr
...
and
grandbabies like these babies of yours
...
Morrison, the Wallaces 'Mary,' said Papa quietly, ‘let it be
...
Then she said no more; but the worry lines remained creased upon her
brow
...
The heat swooped low over the land clinging like an invisible shroud, and through it people
moved slowly, lethargically, as if under water
...

To escape the heat, the boys and I often ambled into the coolness of the forest after the chores were done
...
Sometimes
Jeremy joined us there, making his way through the deep forest land from his own farm over a mile away, but the meetings
were never planned; none of our parents would have liked that
...

'He's all right,' said Stacey,' 'cepting his leg's bothering him in this heat
...
But Mama says that's a sign it's getting
well
...
'
Stacey stirred uneasily, looked at Christopher-John, Little Man, and me, reminding us with his eyes that we were not to speak
about the Wallaces' part in Papa's injury, and said only
...

Jeremy was silent a moment, then stuttered, 'Ssome folks sayin' they glad he got hurt
...

'Who said that!' I cried, jumping up from the bank
...
Reluctantly, I did as I was told, wishing that this business about the Wallaces
and Papa's injuries Were not so complex
...
Morrison, the
simplest thing to do would be to tell the sheriff and have them put in jail, but Mama said things didn't work that way
...
Morrison, did not make an official
complaint about the incident, then we must remain silent also
...
Morrison could be charged with attacking
white men, which could possibly end in his being sentenced to the chain gang, or worse
...

'Well, whoever saying it ought not be,' I said huffily,
Jeremy nodded thoughtfully and changed the subject
...
J
...
There had been much talk concerning T
...
and the Simms
brothers, all of it bad
...
had stopped by with the Simmses once, and after they had

left he had discovered his watch missing: the Laniers had had the same experience with a locket
...
J
...
Lanier had said, ‘and I don't want nothin' to do with no thief
...
'
Finally Stacey said, ‘Don’t see him much no more
...
‘I see him all the time
...

Stacey glanced reproachfully at me, then lay flat upon the ground, his head resting in the cushion of his hands clasped under
his head
...
' he said, pointedly changing the subject again
...
Overhead, the branches of the walnut and hickory trees met like long green fans sheltering us
...
A stillness hovered in the high
air, soft, quiet, peaceful
...

'How you gonna do that !' asked Little Man
...
I figure I’ll have the trunk of one tree in the bedroom and the other in
the kitchen
...

'It's so peaceful up there
...
Cool, too,' answered
Jeremy
...

'How you know how cool it is at night!' I said
...
"Cause I got my bedroom up there
...


'I-I do - really
...
Come these hot nights
...
Why, I can see and hear things up there that I betcha only the squirrels and the birds can see and hear
...
'
'Ah, shoot, boy, you're a story,' I said
...
'
Jeremy's face dropped
...
,,maybe I can't see it, but that don't keep me from pretending I do
...
'Hey, why don't y'all come on over and see it! My pa's gonna be gone all day and
it'd be lots of fun and I could show y'all -'
'No,' said Stacey quietly, his eyes still on the trees overhead
...
'J-jus' wanted y'all to see it, that's all
...
'lf
y'all ever get a chance to build y'all-selves a tree house, just let me know and I'll help ya
...

Papa sat on a bench in the barn, his broken leg stretched awkwardly before him, mending one of Jack's harnesses
...
Mama told us not to bother him and we stayed away from the barn as long as we could, but by late afternoon we
drifted naturally to it and began our chores
...

When the chores were almost finished, Mr
...
He entered the barn slowly and handed Papa an envelope
...
As he read the letter, his jaw set tightly, and when he finished he smashed his fist so hard against the bench that the
boys and I stopped what we were doing, aware that something was terribly wrong
...
Morrison, his voice curt, angry
...
Morrison nodded
...
Them's they words
...
He reached for his cane and stood up
...
,
tonight!'

'I can make it, but r don't know if this ole mule can
...
He turned then and
went to the house
...
Papa entered the kitchen; we stayed on the
porch peering through the screen
...
I'm going to Strawberry
...
'
Mama stared at Papa, fear in her eyes
...

Mama's voice trailed him
...
The bank's closed by now
...

We could not hear Papa's reply, but Mama's voice rose sharply
...

'Don't you understand I don't want you dead !'
We could hear nothing else
...
Morrison to unhitch Lady
...

The next day Papa and Mr
...
When they returned in the late afternoon, Papa sat wearily
down at the kitchen table with Mr
...
Rubbing his hand over his thick hair, he said, 'I called Hammer
...

'Just that the note's been called
...

'How!'

'He didn't say and i didn't ask
...
'
'And Mr
...
'What he have to say !'
'Said bur credit's no good anymore
...
'Harlan Granger's got no need 'Baby, you know he's got a need,' Papa said, pulling her to him
...
He's got a powerful need to do that
...

'But son, that mortgage gives us four more years
...
'Mama, you want me to take it to court !'
Big Ma sighed and placed her hand on Papa's
...
Morrison instead
...
We ain't gonna lose the land
...

On the third Sunday of August the annual revival began
...
The revival ran for seven days and it was an occasion everyone looked forward to, for it was more than just
church services; it was the year's only planned social event, disrupting the humdrum of everyday country life
...

As far as I was concerned, the best part of the revival was the very first day
...

Then it was a feast to remember
...
No matter how low the pantry
supplies, each family always managed to contribute something, and as the churchgoers made the rounds from table to table,
hard times were forgotten at least for the day
...
‘What’s the matter!' I asked, stuffing my mouth with cornbread
...
‘That man walking up the road
...
'So?'
'He looks like ,
...
I hesitated, watching him, reluctant to leave my plate unless it
really was Uncle Hammer
...
Christopher-John, with his plate still in hand, and Little Man ran after me
...

'Sold it,' he said
...

'B-but why?' asked Stacey
...

As we neared the church, Papa met us and embraced Uncle Hammer
...
'
'You expecting me to send that much money by mail!'
'Could've wired it
...


'How'd you get it!'
'Borrowed some of it, sold a few things,' he said with a shrug
...
‘How’d you do that!'
Papa's eyes met Uncle Hammer's and he smiled faintly
...
'
'Uh-huh
...
' I said, 'Uncle Hammer sold the Packard
...
‘I didn't mean for that to happen, Hammer
...
‘What good's a car! It can't grow cotton
...
And you can't
raise four fine babies in it
...
2'Now, you gonna tell me 'bout that leg!'
Papa stared at the milling throng of people around the dinner tables
...
Maybe it'll set better with some of this good food in your stomach
...
the boys and I were allowed to stay up much later than usual to
be with him
...

'We'll go up to Strawberry and make the payment first thing tomorrow
...
‘I don't think I'd better go all the way to
Vicksburg with this leg, but Mr
...
'
'He don't have to do that,' replied Uncle Hammer
...

'But I'd rest easier if I knew you was on that train headed due north
...

Uncle Hammer grunted
...
Harlan Granger either
...
'What you plan to do for money!' Uncle Hammer asked after a

while
...
' said Papa
...
'
Uncle Hammer was quiet a moment before he observed, 'Just tightening the belt some mole, huh !'
When Papa did not answer, Uncle Hammer said, 'Maybe I better stay
...

'May do better but I worry a lot
...
'Come through Strawberry with a fellow from up in Vicksburg
...
It gets hot like this and folks get dissatisfied with life, they start looking 'round for
somebody to take it out on
...

'I don't think it will be
...
unless you stay
...

Big Ma nodded
...
Things like they is, it don't take but a little of nothin' to set things off, and Hammer with that temper
he got could do it
...

On the last night of the revival the sky took on a strange yellowish cast
...

'What do you think, David !' Mama asked as she and Papa stood on the front porch looking at the sky
...
‘It’s gonna storm all right
...
'
They decided we would go
...
‘Brother Logan,' one of the deacons called as Papa stepped awkwardly down from the wagon,
'Reverend Gabson wants us to get the meeting started soon as we can so we can dismiss early and get on home 'fore this
storm hits
...
But as we neared the building, we were stopped by the Laniers
...

Stacey wandered away to speak to them and Christopher-John, Little Man, and I went too
...
But before Stacey could venture a guess, Little Willie answered
his own question
...
J
...
'
'Where!' asked Stacey
...
'They parked by the classrooms
...
' All eyes followed the direction of
Little Willie's finger
...
J
...

'How come he bringin' them here!' asked Moe Turner angrily
...
'Dunno, but I guess we'll find out
...
' I remarked when I could see T
...
more distinctly
...

'I s'pose he do look different
...
'I'd look different too, if I'd been busy stealin' other folkses' stuff
...
I
...
'Y'all gonna welcome us to y'all's revival
services!'
'What you doing here, T
...
!' Stacey asked
...
J
...
'I got a right to come to my own church, ain't I! See all my old friends!' His eyes wandered over the group, but
no one showed signs of being glad to see him
...
'Hey, Cassie girl, how you doin' !'
I slapped his hand away
...
J
...

Again he laughed, then said soberly, 'Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do
...
W
...
Yeah, ole R
...
and Melvin,' he said,
rolling the Simmses' names slowly off his tongue to bring to our attention that he had not bothered to place a 'Mister' before
either, ‘they been mighty fine friends to me
...
Look, see here what they give me
...
‘Pretty nice stuff, eh! Everything I want they give me 'cause they really likes me
...
'
He turned to the Simmses
...
W
...
J
...
'Including that pearl-handled pistol in Barnett's Mercantile
...
W
...
J
...
'That's right, T
...
You name it and you've got it
...
J
...
Stacey turned away in disgust
...
'
'Hey, what's the matter with y'all!' T
...
yelled as the group turned en masse and headed for the church
...

Was he really such a fool!
'All right, T
...
,' said Melvin as we walked away, 'we come down here like you asked
...
'
'It - it didn't even make no difference,' muttered T
...

'What !' said R
...
'You comin', ain't you ! You still want that pearl-handled pistol, don't you !'
'Yeah, but Then come on
...

But T
...
did not follow immediately
...
I
had never seen him look more desolately alone, and for a fleeting second I felt almost sorry for him
...
T
...
was still there, an indistinct blur blending into the gathering dusk,

and I began to think that perhaps he would not go with the Simmses
...
J
...

Eleven
Roll of thunder
hear my cry
Over the water
bye and bye
Ole man comin'
down the line
Whip in hand t
o beat me down
But I oin't gonna
let him Turn me'round
The night whispered of distant thunder
...
Twice I had awakened hoping that
it was time to be up, but each time the night had been total blackness with no hint of a graying dawn
...

Morrison sat singing soft and low into the long night, chanting to the approaching thunder, He had been there since the house
had darkened after church, watching and waiting as he had done every night since Papa had been injured
...
It had to do with the Wallaces
...
Morrison's song faded and I guessed he was on his way to the rear of the house
...
Unable to sleep, I resigned myself to await
his return by counting states
...
I decided to count the states geo- graphically rather than alphabetically; that was
more of a challenge
...
I lay very still
...
Morrison never made sounds like that
...

Cautiously, I climbed from the bed, careful not to awaken Big Ma
...
I
pressed my ear against the door and listened, then slipped the latch furiously and darted outside, ‘Boy, what you doing here!' I
hissed
...
J
...
Then he tapped lightly on the boys' door again,
calling softly, 'Hey, Stacey, come on and wake up, will ya ? Let me in
...
J
...
I pulled my own door closed and followed him
...
'I mean I'm r-really in trouble
...
' I remarked
...
W
...
'
In the darkness there was a low sob and T
...
, hardly sounding like T,J
...
‘They the ones got me in it
...
'
In the darkness he groped for the bed, his feet dragging as if he could hardly lift them
...

There was a deep sigh
...
J
...

'What's the matter!' Stacey asked
...

'R
...
and Melvin,' whispered T
...
'they hurt me bad
...
But our faces, grim behind the light
Stacey held, showed no compassion
...
J
...


I grimaced and shook my head at the sight
...
J
...
‘What happened!'
T
...
did not answer at first, staring in horror at the deep blue-black swelling of his stomach and chest
...
' he gasped finally
...

'Why'd they do it !' asked Stacey
...
J
...
‘Help me, Stacey
...
I can't make it by myself
...

''Cause
...
'
Stacey and I looked at each other, then together leaned closer to T
...
'Tell what !' we asked
...
J
...
'I
...
I gotta get home 'fore my daddy wake up
...
he gonna put me out, and he mean it, too
...

You gotta help me
...
'
T
...
began to cry
...

T
...
searched Stacey's face in the rim of ghostly light cast by the flashlight
...

After he and the Simmses left Great Faith, they went directly into Strawberry to get the pearl-handled pistol, but when they
arrived the mercantile was already closed
...
T
...
was frightened at the thought, but the Simmses assured him that there was no danger
...

In the storage room at the back of the store was a small open window through which a child or a person as thin as T
...
would
wriggle
...
J
...
T
...
, now afraid that they had something else in mind, wanted to leave without the pistol, but R
...
had insisted that
he have it
...
W
...
J
...

Then R
...
After several unsuccessful minutes,
R
...
swung the axe sharply against the lock and it gave
...
Barnett
appeared on the stairs, a flashlight in his hand, his wife behind him
...
Barnett shone the light directly on T
...
, then on R
...
and Melvin,
their faces darkened by the stockings
...
Barnett saw the cabinet lock busted, he flew into frenzied action,
hopping madly down the stairs and trying to grab the metal box from Melvin
...
with Mr
...
W, whopped Mr
...
Barnett
slumped into a heap upon the floor as if dead
...
Barnett saw her husband fall, she dashed across the room and flailed into R
...
, crying 'You niggers done killed
Jim Lee!You done killed him!' R
...
, trying to escape her grasp, slapped at her and she fell back, hitting her head against one
of the stoves, and did not move
...
J
...
When T
...
objected and said that he was going to tell everybody it was R
...
and Melvin
who had hurt the Barnetts unless they took him home, the two of them lit into him, beating him with savage blows until he
could not stand, then flung him into the back of the truck and went down the street to the pool hall
...
J
...
About a mile outside of town, he got a ride
with a farmer headed for Smellings Creek by way of Soldiers Road
...
W
...

T
...
, was
...
J
...

TJ
...
‘I dunno
...
Stacey, anybody find out, you know what they'd do to me!' He stood up,
his face grimacing with pain
...
'I'm afraid to go there by myself
...
W
...


'You sure you ain't lying, T
...
!' I asked suspiciously
...
I
...
'Why don't you stay here to- night! Papa'll tell your daddy what happened and he won't put 'No!' cried T
...
, his eyes big with terror
...
holding his side
...

I studied T
...
closely under the light, sure that he was pulling another fast one
...
J
...

'You're bad hurt,' Stacey said
...
'
T
...
shook his head weakly
...
I'll just tell her them white boys beat me for no reason and she'll believe it
...
But you go wakin' your grand- mama and your daddy'll be in it
...
ain't
never really had no true friend but you
...
As far back as I could remember, Stacey had felt a responsibility for T
...
I
had never really understood why
...
J
...
J
...
J
...
‘Stacey, you ain't going, are you!'
Stacey wet his lips, thinking
...
‘You go on back to bed, Cassie
...
'
'Yeah, I know you gonna be all right 'cause I'm gonna tell Papa !' I cried, turning to dash for the other room
...
‘look, Cassie, it won't take me but twenty-five or thirty minutes to run down there
and back
...
'
'You as big a fool as he is then,' I accused frantically
...
'
Stacey released me
...
I gotta get him home
...

I stared after him; then I said, 'Well, you ain't going without me
...


'Cassie, you can't go 'Go where?' piped Little Man, sitting up
...
yawning sleepily
...
He blinked into the light and
rubbed his eyes
...
J
...
I'm just gonna walk T
...
home,' Stacey said
...

Little Man jumped out of bed and pulled his clothes from the hanger where he had neatly hung them
...
' he
squealed
...
' said Christopher-John, lying back down again
...
Morrison wasn't around, then slipped back to my own room to change
...
Stacey attempted to persuade both him and Little Man back inside, but Little Man would not budge and
Christopher- John, as much as he protested, would not be left behind, Finally Stacey gave up and with T
...
leaning heavily
against him hurried across the lawn
...

Once on the road, we became part of the night
...
J
...

The thunder was creeping closer now, rolling angrily over the forest depths and bringing the lightning with it, as we emerged
from the path into the deserted Avery yard
...
J
...
‘What you need us to wait for!'
'Go on T
...
,' said Stacey
...

Th-thanks, y'all,' T
...
said, then he limped to the side of the house and slipped awkwardly into his room through an open
window
...
' said Stacey
...
But as we neared the forest, Little Man turned
...
For a breathless second they
lingered there, then plunged suddenly downward toward the Averys'
...

'Wh-what's happening!' cried Christopher-John
...
Silently, we slipped into the brush and fell hat to the ground
...
Noisy, angry men leaped from the
cars and surrounded the house
...

'Y'all come on outa there!' called Kaleb
...
'
'St-Stacey,' I stammered, feeling the same nauseous fear I had felt when the night men had passed and when Papa had come
home shot and broken, 'wh-what they gonna do!'
'I - I dunno,' Stacey whispered as two more men joined the Wallaces at the door
...
ain't that R
...
'What the devil they doing Stacey quickly muffled me with the palm of his hand as Melvin thrust himself against the door in an attempt to bleak it open
and R
...
smashed a window with his gun
...
J
...
Soon, the front door was flung open from the inside and Mr
...
Avery
were dragged savagely by their feet from the house
...
The older girls,
attempting to gather the younger children to them, were slapped back and spat upon
...

'C-Claude !' whimpered Christopher-John
...
But Stacey hushed him and held him down
...
I watched the world from outside myself
...
J
...
His face was bloody and when he tried to speak he cried with pain,
mumbling his words as if his jaw was broken
...
Avery tried to rise to get to him, but was knocked back
...
'That pearl-handled pistol from Jim Lee's store
...
'Why didn't he get rid of that thing!'
T
...
mumbled something we could not hear and Kaleb Wallace thundered, 'Stop lyin', boy,'cause you in a whole lot of trouble
...
And R
...
and Melvin Simms seen you and them two other boys running from behind that store when they
come in to town to shoot some pool 'But it was R
...
and Melvin -' I started before Stacey clasped his hand over my mouth again
...
J
...
J
...
J
...

'Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!' cried Mrs
...

‘Don’t let 'em hurt my baby no more! Kill me, Lord, but not my child !' But before she could reach T
...
, she was caught by
the arm and flung so ferociously against the house that she fell, dazed, and Mr
...
J
...
'Cassie, Stacey whispered, 'you take Little Man and Christopher- John and y'all
-'
The headlights of two more cars appeared in the distance and Stacey immediately hushed
...
Jamison leaped out
...
Then Kaleb Wallace spoke up
...
Jamison, don't you come messin' in
this thing
...
'

An electric tenseness filled the air, but Mr
...
‘Jim Lee Barnett and his wife
are still alive
...
Let the law decide whether or not he's guilty
...
‘I don't see no law
...
Jamison said with a wave of his
hand over his shoulder, ‘He’ll be down in a minute
...
'
'For my money, I say let's do it now
...
'Ain't no need to waste good time and money tryin' no thievin' nigger!'
A crescendo of ugly hate rose from the men as the second car approached
...
The sheriff looked uneasily at the crowd as if he would rather not be here at all, then at Mr
...

'Where's Harian !' asked Mr
...

The sheriff turned from Mr
...
Then he spoke to the men : 'Mr
...
He say y'all touch one hair on that boy's head while he on
this land, he's gonna hold every man here responsible
...
Then Kaleb Wallace cried : 'Then why don't we go somewhere else! I say what we
oughta do is take him on down the road and take care of that big black giant of a nigger at the same time?'
'And why not that boy he working for too !' yelled Thurston
...

'Hush !'
A welling affirmation rose from the men
...

'New! How come you wanna waste a new rope on a nigger!' asked Melvin Simms
...
J
...


'No!' cried Mr
...
J
...

'Cassie,' Stacey whispered hoarsely, 'Cassie, you gotta get Papa now
...
I don't think Mr
...
’
'No
...
'
'I ain't going without you!' I declared, afraid that he would do something stupid like trying to rescue T
...
alone
...
Somebody's gotta stay here case they take T
...
off into the
woods somewhere
...
'
'Please
...
'Y-you promise you won't go down there by yourself!'
'Yeah, I promise
...
Morrison 'fore they - 'fore they hurt them some more
...
Clutching Little Man's hand, I told him to grab Christopher-John's, and together the three of us
picked our way along the black path, afraid to turn on the flashlight for fear of its light being seen
...
We
dared not
...

Twelve
When we neared the house, the dull glow of a kerosene lamp was shining faintly from the boys' room
...
'Dunno 'bout that,' 1 said,'but they know we ain't
where we s'pose to be
...
Mama and Big Ma, standing with Mr
...
‘What do you mean running around out there this time
of night !'
Before we could answer either question, Papa appeared in the doorway, dressed, his wide leather strap in hand
...

'Where's Stacey?'
'He-he down to T
...
's
...
'I'm gonna teach all of y'all 'bout traipsing off in the middle of the
night
...
He should know better
...
Morrison hadn't seen this door open, I suppose you would've
thought you was getting away with something - like T
...
Well, y'all gonna learn right here and now there ain't gonna be no
T
...
s in this house 'But, Papa, they h-hurt Claude! 'Christopher-John cried, tears streaming down his cheeks for his injured friend
...
J
...

'What!' Papa asked, his eyes narrowing
...
and,
...
Papa came to me and took my face in his hands
...

Everything
...
About T
...
's breaking into the mercantile with the Simmses, about his coming in the
night fleeing the Simmses, about the coming of the men and what they had done to the Averys
...
Jamison and the
threat of the men to come to the house to get him and Mr
...

'And Stacey's still down there!' Papa asked when I had finished
...
But he hid in the forest
...
'
Papa spun around suddenly
...


Mama followed him into their room, and the boys and I followed her
...

'David, not with the shotgun
...
'
'Got no other way,' he said, stuffing a box of shells into his shirt pocket
...
They'd like nothing better
...
J
...
J
...
But, fool or not, I can't just sit by and let them kill the boy
...
But there's got to be another way
...
'They come here, no telling what'll happen, and I'll use every bullet I
got 'fore I let them hurt anybody in this house
...
'Get Harlan Granger to stop it
...
'
Papa shook his head
...

'Then,' said Mama, ‘force him to stop it
...
'Hold a gun to his head!' He left her then, going back into the boys' room
...

Morrison!'
Mr
...
Like a cat Mama sprang after them and grabbed
Papa again
...
don't use the gun
...
The wind was blowing softly, gently toward the east
...
' he started, then was quiet
...
and so will you
...
Morrison disappeared into the night
...
Afterward both Mama
and Big Ma changed their clothes, then we sat, very quiet, as the heat crept sticky and wet through our clothing and the
thunder banged menacingly overhead
...
looked
down upon Christopher-John, Little Man, and me, our eyes wide awake with fear, ‘I don't suppose it would do any good to
put you to bed
...
We looked up at her
...

Then Mama stiffened
...

'What is it, child !' Big Ma asked
...
Little Man
...
and I followed, peeping
around her in the doorway
...
the cotton !' I cried
...
'That lightning done that !'
'If it reaches those trees, it'll burn everything from here to Strawberry,' Mama said
...
‘Stay here
...
'Mama, you'd better
get some water!' she yelled over her shoulder
...
and me at her heels, ‘What we gonna do, Big Ma!' I
asked
...
Stand back now out the way so y'all don't get wet
...
She quickly threw the sacks into the water and ran
back out again
...

'Mama, what you gonna do with all that!' asked Little Man
...
' she replied hastily
...
' said Little Man, grabbing for one o~ the shovels as I started to take the other
...
‘You’re going to stay here
...
‘Mary, child, you don't think it'd be better to
take them with us !'
Mama studied us closely and bit her lower lip
...
‘Can’t anyone
get to the house from the Grangers' without our seeing them
...
'
Then she charged each of us, a strange glint in her eyes
...
I don't
want you near that fire
...
do you hear me now!'
We nodded solemnly
...
Mama
...
That lightning's dangerous
...
Mama,' cried Christopher-John
...
' she said
...

Then she and Big Ma laid the shovels across the top of the tub and each took a handle of it
...
Mama looked back at us
...
'Y'all be sure to mind now
...
From the garden they would cut
through the south pasture and up to where the cotton blazed
...
There we gazed transfixed as
the flames gobbled the cotton and crept dangerously near the forest edge
...
' said Christopher-John
...
it's going the other way
...
'

Then it's gonna burn up the trees
...

Little Man tugged at my arm
...
Morrison, Cassie! They in them trees!' Then iron-willed Little Man
began to cry
...
And the three of us huddled together, all alone,
'Hey, y'ail all right!'
I gazed out into the night, seeing nothing but the gray smoke and the red rim of the fire in the east, ‘Who’s that!'
'It's me, I said Jeremy Simms, running up the lawn
...

'It ain't night no more, Cassie
...
'
'But what you doing here!' repeated Little Man with a sniffle
...
‘Boy, you are crazy !'
Jeremy looked rather shamefaced, and shrugged
...
I knew it was comin' from this
away and I was 'fraid it was y'all's place, so I run in and told my pa, and him and me we come on up here over an hour ago
...
‘My pa, and R,W
...

'R
...
and Melvin!
...
Christopher-John
...

'But they was -' I poked Christopher-John into silence
...
And there's a whole lot of men from the town out there too
...
'It get much of the cotton !'
Jeremy nodded absently
...
That fire come up from that lightning and struck one of them wooden fence posts, I
reckon, and sparked that cotton
...
Y'all lucky it ain't headed this way
...
'It gonna get the trees, ain't it!'
Jeremy looked out across the field, shielding his eyes against the brilliance of the fire
...

Your papa and Mr
...

Jeremy nodded, looking down at him strangely, 'Yeah, he's fine 'And Stacey, you seen him!' inquired Little Man
...
'Yeah, he out there too
...
and I glanced at each other, relieved just a bit, and Jeremy went on, though eyeing us
somewhat suspiciously
...
Granger, they got them men diggin' a deep trench 'cross that slope and they say
they gonna burn that pasture grass from the trench back to the cotton 'You think that'll stop it !' I asked
...
'Dunno,' he said finally
...
' There was a violent clap
of thunder, and lightning flooded the field
...
'
All four of us looked up at the sky and waited a minute for the rain to fall
...
‘I better be gettin' back now
...
' Then he ran down the
slope, waving back at us as he went
...

'It's rainin', y'all!' he cried
...
And we laughed, whooping joyously into the thundering night, forgetting for the moment that we still did not
know what had happened to T
...

When the dawn came peeping yellow-gray and sooted over the horizon, the fire was out and the thunderstorm had shifted
eastward after an hour of heavy rain
...
Near the slope where once cotton stalks had stood, their brown bells
popping with tiny puffs of cotton, the land was charred, desolate, black, still steaming from the night
...
‘No!' he repeated over and over
...
'
Christopher-john set his lips firmly together, folded his plump arms across his chest and was adamant
...
‘Okay, you stay here then
...
' Ignoring his protests, Little Man and I ran down to the wet road
...

'I guess not,' ! said, searching for signs of the fire in the cotton
...

When we reached the burnt-out section of the field, we surveyed the destruction
...
The old oak was untouched
...
They wore wide handkerchiefs over their faces and many wore hats, making it difficult to identify who was
who, but it was obvious that the ranks of the fire fighters had swelled from the two dozen townsmen to include nearby
farmers
...
Lanier by his floppy blue hat working side by side with Mr
...
Mr
...
Morrison and Mama were swatting the burning ground,
Nearer the fence a stocky man, masked like the others, searched the field in robot fashion for hidden fire under the charred

skeletons of broken stalks, When he reached the fence, he leaned tiredly against it, taking off his handkerchief to wipe the
sweat and soot from his face
...
His eyes fell on Little Man and me staring up at him
...

Then Little Man nudged me, ‘Look over there, Cassie, There go Mama and Big Ma !' I followed his pointing finger
...
' I said, sprinting back up the road, When we reached the house, we dragged our feet across the wet lawn to clean
them and rejoined Christopher-John on the porch
...

'Course we're all right,' I said, plopping on the porch and trying to catch my breath
...
We ran to them eagerly
...
'What 'bout T
...
!'
'And C-Claude!' stammered Christopher-John
...
Morrison, ain't they coming!'
Mama held up her hand wearily
...

And,' she said
...
Morrison, they'll be coming soon
...
J
...
'What 'bout T
...
!'
Mama sighed and sat down on the steps, laying the sacks on the ground
...

'I'm gonna go on in and change, Mary,' Big Ma said, climbing the steps and opening our bedroom door
...
'
Mama nodded
...
' Then she turned and
looked down at Little Man, Christopher-John
...
She smiled slightly, but there was
no happiness in it
...
J
...
The sheriff and Mr
...


'But why, Mama!' asked Little Man
...
They think he did
...

Stacey looked across at Mama to see if she intended to answer: then, his voice hollow and strained, he said, 'Mr
...

I sensed that there was more, but before I could ask what, Christopher-john piped, 'And - and Papa and Mr
...
' said Mama
...
'
The fire come up
...
Morrison come and got me and then them men come down here to fight the fire and
didn't nobody have to fight nobody
...
Morrison come get you alone!' I asked, puzzled
...
Then Stacey said
...

I looked at him suspiciously
...
He could have made the slope if he wanted to
...
' Mama said, rising
...

I reached for her arm
...
‘Since when did you start worrying about taxes?' I shrugged, then leaned closer toward her,
wanting an answer, yet afraid to hear it
...
‘Now, let's get
to bed
...
Morrison !' protested Little Man
...


'Inside !' !All of us went in but Stacey, and Mama did not make him
...
‘I thought you went to
bed,' he said
...
'
'I told you, Mr
...
Morrison like you asked
...
‘Now I wanna know everything happened after I
left
...
'Ain't much happened 'cepting Mr
...
J
...

But Mr
...
Granger's and swung his car smack
across the road so couldn't nobody get past him
...

'You go over there!'
He nodded
...
Granger was standing on his
porch and Mr
...
But Mr
...
That's what folks elected you for
...
Jamison's keys
...
Jamison threw them keys right into
Mrs
...
W
...
Jamison's car off the
road
...
Granger comes running off the porch hollering like he's lost his
mind
...
'Dry as that timber is, a fire catch hold it won't stop burning for
a week
...
'
'And that's when Mr
...
‘He found me when I followed them men back up to the woods
...
There was something which I still did
not understand
...
‘Here come Papa and Mr
...
' They were walking with slow, exhausted steps toward
the drive
...
Mr
...
Stacey and I stood curiously on the lawn, far enough away not to be noticed, but close enough to hear
...
I thought you should know
...
Jamison, 'I just come from Strawberry to see the Averys 'How bad is it?'
Mr
...
'Jim Lee Barnett
...

Papa hit the roof of the car hard with his clenched fist and turned toward the field, his head bowed
...
Morrison said softly, 'The boy, how is he !'
'Dec Crandon says he's got a couple of broken ribs and his jaw's broken
...
for now
...
Just thought I'd tell you first
...
'
Mr
...
Then, squinting, he looked
over his shoulder at the field
...
' he said slowly, as if he did not want to say what he was about to say, 'folks
thinking that lightning struck that fence of yours and started the fire
...
‘It’s better-, I think, that you stay
clear of this whole thing now, David, and don't give anybody cause to think about you at all, except that you got what was
coming to you by losing a quarter of your cotton
...
Morrison, their faces set in grim, tired lines
...
'
'Stacey
...
Cassie,' Stacey said, his eyes intent on the men
...
I knew why Mr
...
Why Mr
...
Papa had
found a way, as Mama had asked, to make Mr
...

And it came to me that this was one of those known and unknown things, something never to be spoken, not even to each
other
...
Jamison's going now
...
Jamison turned around in the driveway and headed back toward the Averys'
...
Morrison watched him leave,
then Mr
...
'I thought y'all would've been in bed by now
...

'Papa,' Stacey whispered hoarsely,’ what’s gonna happen to T
...
now !'
Papa looked out at the climbing sun, a round, red shadow behind the smoggish heat
...
Finally
...
first at me, then at Stacey
...

'And - and what then !' asked Stacey
...
'He could possibly go on the chain gang
...
could he die!' asked Stacey, hardly breathing
...
'I ain't never lied to y'all, y'all know that
...
’
He waited, his eyes on us
...
I wish I could lie to y'all now
...
Papa, no!' I cried
...
J
...
It was them Simmses ! Tell them that !'
Stacey, shaking his head, backed away, silent, not wanting to believe, but believing still
...

Papa stared after him, holding me tightly to him
...
‘All I can say, Cassie girl
...
' Then, glancing back
toward the forest, he took my hand and led me to the house
...
Big Ma had already gone to
the Averys' and climbed into bed alone
...
Their presence softened the hurt and I did not cry
...

In the afternoon when I awakened, or tomorrow or the next day, the boys and I would still be free to run the red road, to
wander through the old forest and sprawl lazily on the banks of the pond
...
But T
...
never would
again
...
J,, but he had always been there, a part of me, a part of my life, just like the mud and the rain, and I had
thought that he always would be
...
I knew and understood that
...
J
...
And cried for those things which had
happened in the night and would not pass
...
J
...
J
...


END OF BOOK



---