God was grumbling his thunder and playing the zig-zag lightning thru his fingers.
Amy Crittenden came to the door of her cabin to spit out a wad of snuff. She looked up at the clouds.
āOle Massa gwinter scrub floors tuhday,ā she observed to her husband who sat just outside the door, reared back in a chair. āBetter call dem chaps in outa de cotton patch.ā
āāTaināt gwine rain,ā he snorted, āyou always talkinā moreān yuh know.ā
Just then a few heavy drops spattered the hard clay yard. He arose slowly. He was an older middle-age than his years gave him a right to be.
āAnd eben if hit do rain,ā Ned Crittenden concluded grudgingly, āef dey aināt got sense ānough tuh come in let āem git wet.ā
āYeah, but when us lefā de field, you told āem not to come till you call āem. Go āhead and call āem āfoā de rain ketch āem.ā
Ned ignored Amy and shuffled thru the door with the chair, and somehow trod on Amyās bare foot. āāOman, why donāt you git outa de doorway? Jes contrary tuh dat. You needs uh good head stompinā, dass whut. You sho is one aggervatinā āoman.ā
Amy flashed an angry look, then turned her face again to the sea of wind-whipped cotton, turned hurriedly and took the cow-horn that hung on the wall and placed it to her lips.
āYou John Buddy! You Zeke! You Zachariah! Come in!ā
From way down in the cotton patch, āYassum! Us cominā!ā
Ned shuffled from one end of the cabin to the other, slamming to the wooden shutter of the window, growling between his gums and his throat the while.
The children came leaping in, racing and tumbling in tense, laughing competitionāthe three smaller ones getting under the feet of the three larger ones. The oldest boy led the rest, but once inside he stopped short and looked over the heads of the others, back over the way they had come.
āShet dat door, John!ā Ned bellowed, āyou aināt got the sense you wuz borned wid.ā
Amy looked where her big son was looking. āWho dat cominā heah, John?ā she asked.
āSome white folks passinā by, mama. Ahm jesā lookinā tuh see whar dey gwine.ā
āCome out dat doāway and shet it tight, fool! Stand dere gazinā dem white folks right in de face!ā Ned gritted at him. āYoā brazen ways wid dese white folks is gwinter git you lynched one uh dese days.ā
āAw ātaināt,ā Amy differed impatiently, āwho canāt look at ole Beasley? He aināt no quality no-how.ā
āShet dat door, John!ā screamed Ned.
āAh wuznāt de last one inside,ā John said sullenly.
āDonāt you gimme no word for word,ā Ned screamed at him. āYou jesā do lak Ah say do and keep yoā mouf shet or Ahāll take uh trace chain tuh yuh. Yoā mammy mought think youse uh lump uh gold ācause you got uh liālā white folks color in yoā face, but Ahāll stomp yoā guts out and dat quick! Shet dat door!ā
He seized a lidard knot from beside the fireplace and limped threateningly towards John.
Amy rose from beside the cook pots like a black lioness.
āNed Crittenden, you raise dat wood at mah boy, and you gointer make uh bad nigger outa me.ā
āDatās right,ā Ned sneered, āAh feeds āim and clothes āim but Ah aināt tuh do nothinā tuh dat liālā yaller god cepān wash āim up.ā
āDatās uh big ole resurrection lie, Ned. Uh slew-foot, drag-leg lie at dat, and Ah dare yuh tuh hit me too. You know Ahm uh fightinā dawg and mah hide is worth money. Hit me if you dare! Ahāll wash yoā tub uh āgator guts and dat quick.ā
āSee dat? Ah aināt fuh no fuss, but you tryinā tuh start uh great big ole ruction ācause Ah tried tuh chesstize dat youngun.ā
āNaw, you aināt tried tuh chesstize āim nothinā uh de kind. Youse tryinā tuh fight āim on de sly. He is jesā ez obedient tuh you and jesā ez humble under yuh, ez he kin be. Yet and still you always washinā his face wid his color and tellinā āim heās uh bastard. He works harderān anybody on dis place. You aināt givinā āim nothinā. He moreān makes whut he gits. Ah donāt mind when he needs chesstizinā and you give it tuh āim, but anytime you tries tuh knock any dese chillun ābout dey head wid sticks and rocks, Ahāll be right dere tuh back dey fallinā. Ahm dey mama.ā
āAnd Ahm de pappy uh all but dat one.ā
āYou knowed Ah had ām āfoā yuh married me, and if you didnāt want āim round, whut yuh marry me fuh? Dat aināt whut you said. You washed āim up jesā lak he wuz gold den. You jes took tuh buckinā āim since you been hanginā round sich ez Beasley and Mimms.ā
Ned sat down by the crude fireplace where the skillets and spiders (long-legged bread pans with iron cover) sprawled in the ashes.
āStrack uh light, dere, some uh yāall chaps. Hitās dark in heah.ā
John obediently thrust a piece of lightwood into the embers and the fire blazed up. He retreated as quickly as possible to the farther end of the cabin.
Ned smoked his strong home-grown tobacco twist for a few minutes. Then he thrust out his feet.
āPour me some water in dat wash-basin, you chaps, and some uh yāall git de washrag.ā
There was a scurry and bustle to do his bidding, but the drinking-gourd dropped hollowly in the water bucket. Ned heard it.
āāTaināt no water in dat air water-bucket, Ahāll bound yuh!ā He accused the room and glowered all about him, āHouse full uh younguns fuh me to feed and close, and heah ātis dust dark and raininā and not uh drop uh water in de house! Amy, whut kinda āoman is you nohow?ā
Amy said nothing. She sat on the other side of the fireplace and heaped fresh, red coals upon the lid of the spider in which the bread was cooking.
āJohn!ā Ned thundered, āgit yoā yaller behind up offa dat floor and go git me some water tuh wash mah foots.ā
āYou been tuh de house longerān he is,ā Amy said quietly. āYou coulda done been got dat water.ā
āYou think Ahām gwine take uh ānother manās youngun and feed āim and close āim fuh twelve years and den he too good tuh fetch me uh bucket uh water?ā Ned bellowed.
āIss raininā out dere, anā raininā hard,ā Amy said in the same level tones.
āDass right,ā Ned sneered, āJohn is de house-nigger. Ole Marsa always kepā de yaller niggers in de house and give āem uh job totinā silver dishes and goblets tuh de table. Us black niggers is de ones sāposed tuh ketch de wind and de weather.ā
āAh donāt want none uh mah chilluns pullinā tuh no spring in uh hard rain. Yoā foots kin wait. Come hawg-killinā time Ah been married tuh you twelve years and Ah done seen yuh let āem wait uh powerful long spell some time. Ah donāt want mah chilluns all stove-up wid uh bad cold from proaginā āround in de rain.ā
āOle Marse didnāt ast me of hit wuz raininā uh snowinā uh hot uh colā. When he spoke Ah had tuh move and move quick too, uh git a hickāry tuh mah back. Dese younguns aināt uh bit betterān me. Let āem come lak Ah did.ā
āNaw, Ned, Ah donāt want mine tuh come lak yuh come nor neither lak me, and Ahm uh whole heap youngerān you. You growed up in slavery time. When Old Massa wuz drivinā you in de rain and in de colāāhe wasnāt donā it tuh heāp you ālong. He wuz lookinā out for hisself. Course Ah wuz twelve years old when Lee made de big surrender, and dey didnāt work me hard, butābut dese heah chillun is diffunt from us.ā
āHow come deyās diffunt? Wese all niggers tuhgether, aināt us? White man donāt keer no moā ābout one dan he do de other.ā
āCourse dey donāt, but we aināt got tuh let de white folks love our chillun fuh us, is us? Dass jest de pint. We black folks donāt love our chillun. We couldnāt do it when we wuz in slavery. We borned āem but dat didnāt make āem ourn. Dey bālonged tuh old Massa. āTwanāt no use in treasurinā other folkses property. It wuz liable tuh be took uhway any day. But weās free folks now. De big bell done rung! Us chillun is ourn. Ah doan know, mebbe hitāll take some of us generations, but us got tuh āgin tuh practise on treasurinā our younguns. Ah loves dese heah already uh whole heap. Ah donāt want āem knocked and ābuked.ā
Ned raked his stubbly fingers thru his grisly beard in silent hostility. He spat in the fire and tamped his pipe.
āDey say spare de rod and spile de child, and Gawd knows Ah aināt gwine tuh spile nair one uh dese. Niggers wuz made tuh work and all of āem gwine work right long wid me. Is dat air supper ready yit?ā
āNaw hit aināt. How you speck me tuh work in de field right long side uh you and den have supper ready jesā ez soon ez Ah git tuh de house? Ah helt uh big-eye hoe in mah hand jesā ez long ez you did, Ned.ā
āDonāt you change so many words wid me, āoman! Ahāll knock yuh dead ez Hector. Shet yoā mouf!ā
āAh change jesā ez many words ez Ah durn please! Ahm three times seben and uh button. Ah knows whutās de matter wid you. Youse mad cause Beaseley done took dem two bales uh cotton us made lasā yeah.ā
āYouse uh lie!ā
āYouse uh nother one, Ned Crittenden! Donāt you lak it, donāt you take it, heah mah collar come and you shake it! Us wouldnāt be in dis fix ef you had uh lissened tuh me. Ah tole you when dey hauled de cotton tuh de gin dat soon ez everything wuz counted up and Beasley give us share for yuh tuh take and haul it straight tuh dis barn. But naw, yuh couldnāt lissen tuh me. Beasley told yuh tuh leave hit in his barn and being heās uh white man you done whut he told yuh. Now he say he aināt got no cotton uh ourn. Me and you and all de chillun done worked uh whole year. Us done made sixteen bales uh cotton and aināt even got uh cotton seed to show.ā
āUs et hit up, Major Beasley say. Come to think of it ātis uh heap uh moufs in one meal barrel.ā
āNo sich uh thing, Ned Crittenden. Fust place us aināt had nothing but meal and sow-belly tuh eat. You mealy-moufinā round cause you skeered tuh talk back tuh Rush Beasley. What us needs tuh do is git offa dis place. Us been heah too long. Ah bālongs on de other side de Big Creek anyhow. Never did lak it over heah. When us gather de crops dis yeah less move.ā
āAw, Ah reckon we kin make it heah all right, when us donāt have so many moufs in de meal barrel we kin come out ahead. āTaināt goinā be dat many dis time when Ah goes to de gin house.ā
āHow come?ā
āCause Ah done bound John over tuh Capān Mimms. Datās uh great big ole boy, Amy, sixteen years old and look lak he twenty. He eats uh heap and den you wonāt let me git de worth uh mah rations out of āim in work. He could be de finest plowhand in Alabama, but you wonāt lemme do nothinā wid āim.ā
āHe donāt do nothinā? Heās uh better hand wid uh wide sweep plow right now dan you is, and he kin chop moā cotton dan you, and pick moā dan Ah kin and you knows Ah kin beat you anytime.ā Then, as if she had just fully heard Ned, āWhut dat you say ābout boundinā John Buddy over tuh Capān Mimms? You aināt uh gonna do no sich uh thing.ā
āAh done done it.ā
In the frenzied silence, Amy noticed that the rain had ceased; that the iron kettle was boiling; that a coon dog struck a trail way down the Creek, and was coming nearer, singing his threat and challenge.
āNed Crittenden, you know jesā ez good ez Ah do dat Capān Mimms aināt nothinā but poā white trash, and he useter be de overseer on de plantation dat everybody knowed wuz de wust one in southern Alabama. He done whipped niggers nigh tuh death.ā
āYou call him poā when he got uh thousand acres under de plow and moreān dat in wood lot? Fifty mules.ā
āDonāt keer if he is. How did he git it? When Massa Pinckney got kilt in de war and ole Miss Pinckney didnāt had nobody tuh look atter de place she took and married āim. He wanāt nothinā but uh overseer, lived offa clay and black mālasses. His folks is so poā right now dey canāt sit in dey house. Every time you pass dere dey settinā in de yard jesā ez barefooted ez uh yard dawg. You aināt gwine put no chile uh mine under no Mimms.ā
āAh done done it, and you canāt heāp yoāseff. He gwine come git āim tuhmorrer. Heās gwine sleep āim and feed āim and effen John Buddyās any account, he say heāll give uh suit uh close come Christmas time.ā
āDis heah bindinā over aināt nothinā but uh ānother way uh puttinā us folks back intuh slavery.ā
āAmy, you better quit talkinā ābout de buckra. Some of āem be outside and hear you and turn over you tuh de patter roller, and deyāll take you outa heah and put uh hunāed lashes uh raw hide on yoā back. Ah done tole yuh but you wonāt hear.ā
The clash and frenzy in the air was almost visible. Something had to happen. Ned stood up and shuffled towards the door.
āReckon Ahm gwine swill dat sow and feed de mules. Mah vittles better be ready when Ah git back.ā
He limped on out of the door and left it open.
āJohn Buddy,ā Amy said, āyou and Zeke go fetch uh bucket full uh water and hurry back tuh yoā supper. De rest uh yāall git yoā plates and come git some uh dese cow-peas and pone bread. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd. Je-sus!ā
There was a lively clatter of tin plates and spoons. The largest two boys went after water, Zeke clinging in the darkness to his giant of a brother. Way down in the cotton Zeke gave way to his tears.
āJohn Buddy, Ah donāt want you way from me. John Buddy,āā he grew incoherent. So John Buddy carried him under his arm like a shock of corn and made him laugh. Finally John said, āSometime Ah jesā ez soon be under Mimms ez pappy. One ābout ez bad as tother. āNother thing. Dis aināt slavery time and Ah got two good footses hung onto me.ā He began to sing lightly.
They returned with the water and were eating supper when Ned got back from the barn. His face was sullen and he carried the raw hide whip in his hand.
Amy stooped over the pot, giving second-helpings to the smaller children. Ned looked about and seeing no plate fixed for him uncoiled the whip and standing tiptoe to give himself more force, brought the whip down across Amyās back.
The pain and anger killed the cry within her. She wheeled to fight. The raw hide again. This time across her head. She charged in with a stick of wood and the fight was on. This had happened many times before. Amyās strength was almost as great as Nedās and she had youth and agility with her. Forced back to the wall by her tigress onslaught, Ned saw that victory for him was possible only by choking Amy. He thrust his knee into her abdomen and exerted a merciless pressure on her throat.
The children screamed in terror and sympathy.
āHelp mama, John Buddy,ā Zeke screamed. Johnās fist shot out and Ned slid slowly down the wall as if both his legs and his insides were crumbling away.
Ned looked scarcely human on the floor. Almost like an alligator in jeans. His drooling blue lips and snaggled teeth were yellowed by tobacco.
āLawd, Ah speck ...