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.
âOle Massa gwinter scrub floors tuhday,â she observed to her husband who sat just outside the door, reared back in a chair. âBetter call dem chaps in outa de cotton patch.â
ââTainât gwine rain,â he snorted, âyou always talkinâ moreân yuh know.â
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.
âAnd eben if hit do rain,â Ned Crittenden concluded grudgingly, âef dey ainât got sense ânough tuh come in let âem git wet.â
âYeah, but when us lefâ de field, you told âem not to come till you call âem. Go âhead and call âem âfoâ de rain ketch âem.â
Ned ignored Amy and shuffled thru the door with the chair, and somehow trod on Amyâs bare foot. ââOman, why donât you git outa de doorway? Jes contrary tuh dat. You needs uh good head stompinâ, dass whut. You sho is one aggervatinâ âoman.â
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.
âYou John Buddy! You Zeke! You Zachariah! Come in!â
From way down in the cotton patch, âYassum! Us cominâ!â
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 competitionâthe 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.
âShet dat door, John!â Ned bellowed, âyou ainât got the sense you wuz borned wid.â
Amy looked where her big son was looking. âWho dat cominâ heah, John?â she asked.
âSome white folks passinâ by, mama. Ahm jesâ lookinâ tuh see whar dey gwine.â
âCome out dat doâway and shet it tight, fool! Stand dere gazinâ dem white folks right in de face!â Ned gritted at him. âYoâ brazen ways wid dese white folks is gwinter git you lynched one uh dese days.â
âAw âtainât,â Amy differed impatiently, âwho canât look at ole Beasley? He ainât no quality no-how.â
âShet dat door, John!â screamed Ned.
âAh wuznât de last one inside,â John said sullenly.
âDonât you gimme no word for word,â Ned screamed at him. âYou jesâ do lak Ah say do and keep yoâ mouf shet or Ahâll take uh trace chain tuh yuh. Yoâ mammy mought think youse uh lump uh gold âcause you got uh liâlâ white folks color in yoâ face, but Ahâll stomp yoâ guts out and dat quick! Shet dat door!â
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.
âNed Crittenden, you raise dat wood at mah boy, and you gointer make uh bad nigger outa me.â
âDatâs right,â Ned sneered, âAh feeds âim and clothes âim but Ah ainât tuh do nothinâ tuh dat liâlâ yaller god cepân wash âim up.â
âDatâs 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 fightinâ dawg and mah hide is worth money. Hit me if you dare! Ahâll wash yoâ tub uh âgator guts and dat quick.â
âSee dat? Ah ainât fuh no fuss, but you tryinâ tuh start uh great big ole ruction âcause Ah tried tuh chesstize dat youngun.â
âNaw, you ainât tried tuh chesstize âim nothinâ uh de kind. Youse tryinâ tuh fight âim on de sly. He is jesâ ez obedient tuh you and jesâ ez humble under yuh, ez he kin be. Yet and still you always washinâ his face wid his color and tellinâ âim heâs uh bastard. He works harderân anybody on dis place. You ainât givinâ âim nothinâ. He moreân makes whut he gits. Ah donât mind when he needs chesstizinâ and you give it tuh âim, but anytime you tries tuh knock any dese chillun âbout dey head wid sticks and rocks, Ahâll be right dere tuh back dey fallinâ. Ahm dey mama.â
âAnd Ahm de pappy uh all but dat one.â
âYou knowed Ah had âm âfoâ yuh married me, and if you didnât want âim round, whut yuh marry me fuh? Dat ainât whut you said. You washed âim up jesâ lak he wuz gold den. You jes took tuh buckinâ âim since you been hanginâ round sich ez Beasley and Mimms.â
Ned sat down by the crude fireplace where the skillets and spiders (long-legged bread pans with iron cover) sprawled in the ashes.
âStrack uh light, dere, some uh yâall chaps. Hitâs dark in heah.â
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.
âPour me some water in dat wash-basin, you chaps, and some uh yâall git de washrag.â
There was a scurry and bustle to do his bidding, but the drinking-gourd dropped hollowly in the water bucket. Ned heard it.
ââTainât no water in dat air water-bucket, Ahâll bound yuh!â He accused the room and glowered all about him, âHouse full uh younguns fuh me to feed and close, and heah âtis dust dark and raininâ and not uh drop uh water in de house! Amy, whut kinda âoman is you nohow?â
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.
âJohn!â Ned thundered, âgit yoâ yaller behind up offa dat floor and go git me some water tuh wash mah foots.â
âYou been tuh de house longerân he is,â Amy said quietly. âYou coulda done been got dat water.â
âYou think Ahâm gwine take uh ânother manâs youngun and feed âim and close âim fuh twelve years and den he too good tuh fetch me uh bucket uh water?â Ned bellowed.
âIss raininâ out dere, anâ raininâ hard,â Amy said in the same level tones.
âDass right,â Ned sneered, âJohn is de house-nigger. Ole Marsa always kepâ de yaller niggers in de house and give âem uh job totinâ silver dishes and goblets tuh de table. Us black niggers is de ones sâposed tuh ketch de wind and de weather.â
âAh donât want none uh mah chilluns pullinâ tuh no spring in uh hard rain. Yoâ foots kin wait. Come hawg-killinâ time Ah been married tuh you twelve years and Ah done seen yuh let âem wait uh powerful long spell some time. Ah donât want mah chilluns all stove-up wid uh bad cold from proaginâ âround in de rain.â
âOle Marse didnât ast me of hit wuz raininâ uh snowinâ uh hot uh colâ. When he spoke Ah had tuh move and move quick too, uh git a hickâry tuh mah back. Dese younguns ainât uh bit betterân me. Let âem come lak Ah did.â
âNaw, Ned, Ah donât want mine tuh come lak yuh come nor neither lak me, and Ahm uh whole heap youngerân you. You growed up in slavery time. When Old Massa wuz drivinâ you in de rain and in de colââhe wasnât donâ it tuh heâp you âlong. He wuz lookinâ out for hisself. Course Ah wuz twelve years old when Lee made de big surrender, and dey didnât work me hard, butâbut dese heah chillun is diffunt from us.â
âHow come deyâs diffunt? Wese all niggers tuhgether, ainât us? White man donât keer no moâ âbout one dan he do de other.â
âCourse dey donât, but we ainât got tuh let de white folks love our chillun fuh us, is us? Dass jest de pint. We black folks donât love our chillun. We couldnât do it when we wuz in slavery. We borned âem but dat didnât make âem ourn. Dey bâlonged tuh old Massa. âTwanât no use in treasurinâ other folkses property. It wuz liable tuh be took uhway any day. But weâs free folks now. De big bell done rung! Us chillun is ourn. Ah doan know, mebbe hitâll take some of us generations, but us got tuh âgin tuh practise on treasurinâ our younguns. Ah loves dese heah already uh whole heap. Ah donât want âem knocked and âbuked.â
Ned raked his stubbly fingers thru his grisly beard in silent hostility. He spat in the fire and tamped his pipe.
âDey say spare de rod and spile de child, and Gawd knows Ah ainât gwine tuh spile nair one uh dese. Niggers wuz made tuh work and all of âem gwine work right long wid me. Is dat air supper ready yit?â
âNaw hit ainât. How you speck me tuh work in de field right long side uh you and den have supper ready jesâ ez soon ez Ah git tuh de house? Ah helt uh big-eye hoe in mah hand jesâ ez long ez you did, Ned.â
âDonât you change so many words wid me, âoman! Ahâll knock yuh dead ez Hector. Shet yoâ mouf!â
âAh change jesâ ez many words ez Ah durn please! Ahm three times seben and uh button. Ah knows whutâs de matter wid you. Youse mad cause Beaseley done took dem two bales uh cotton us made lasâ yeah.â
âYouse uh lie!â
âYouse uh nother one, Ned Crittenden! Donât you lak it, donât you take it, heah mah collar come and you shake it! Us wouldnât 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 couldnât lissen tuh me. Beasley told yuh tuh leave hit in his barn and being heâs uh white man you done whut he told yuh. Now he say he ainât 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 ainât even got uh cotton seed to show.â
âUs et hit up, Major Beasley say. Come to think of it âtis uh heap uh moufs in one meal barrel.â
âNo sich uh thing, Ned Crittenden. Fust place us ainât had nothing but meal and sow-belly tuh eat. You mealy-moufinâ 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 bâlongs on de other side de Big Creek anyhow. Never did lak it over heah. When us gather de crops dis yeah less move.â
âAw, Ah reckon we kin make it heah all right, when us donât have so many moufs in de meal barrel we kin come out ahead. âTainât goinâ be dat many dis time when Ah goes to de gin house.â
âHow come?â
âCause Ah done bound John over tuh Capân Mimms. Datâs uh great big ole boy, Amy, sixteen years old and look lak he twenty. He eats uh heap and den you wonât let me git de worth uh mah rations out of âim in work. He could be de finest plowhand in Alabama, but you wonât lemme do nothinâ wid âim.â
âHe donât do nothinâ? Heâs uh better hand wid uh wide sweep plow right now dan you is, and he kin chop moâ cotton dan you, and pick moâ dan Ah kin and you knows Ah kin beat you anytime.â Then, as if she had just fully heard Ned, âWhut dat you say âbout boundinâ John Buddy over tuh Capân Mimms? You ainât uh gonna do no sich uh thing.â
âAh done done it.â
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.
âNed Crittenden, you know jesâ ez good ez Ah do dat Capân Mimms ainât nothinâ but poâ 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.â
âYou call him poâ when he got uh thousand acres under de plow and moreân dat in wood lot? Fifty mules.â
âDonât keer if he is. How did he git it? When Massa Pinckney got kilt in de war and ole Miss Pinckney didnât had nobody tuh look atter de place she took and married âim. He wanât nothinâ but uh overseer, lived offa clay and black mâlasses. His folks is so poâ right now dey canât sit in dey house. Every time you pass dere dey settinâ in de yard jesâ ez barefooted ez uh yard dawg. You ainât gwine put no chile uh mine under no Mimms.â
âAh done done it, and you canât heâp yoâseff. He gwine come git âim tuhmorrer. Heâs gwine sleep âim and feed âim and effen John Buddyâs any account, he say heâll give uh suit uh close come Christmas time.â
âDis heah bindinâ over ainât nothinâ but uh ânother way uh puttinâ us folks back intuh slavery.â
âAmy, you better quit talkinâ âbout de buckra. Some of âem be outside and hear you and turn over you tuh de patter roller, and deyâll take you outa heah and put uh hunâed lashes uh raw hide on yoâ back. Ah done tole yuh but you wonât hear.â
The clash and frenzy in the air was almost visible. Something had to happen. Ned stood up and shuffled towards the door.
âReckon Ahm gwine swill dat sow and feed de mules. Mah vittles better be ready when Ah git back.â
He limped on out of the door and left it open.
âJohn Buddy,â Amy said, âyou and Zeke go fetch uh bucket full uh water and hurry back tuh yoâ supper. De rest uh yâall git yoâ plates and come git some uh dese cow-peas and pone bread. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd. Je-sus!â
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.
âJohn Buddy, Ah donât want you way from me. John Buddy,ââ he grew incoherent. So John Buddy carried him under his arm like a shock of corn and made him laugh. Finally John said, âSometime Ah jesâ ez soon be under Mimms ez pappy. One âbout ez bad as tother. âNother thing. Dis ainât slavery time and Ah got two good footses hung onto me.â 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 Amyâs 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. Amyâs strength was almost as great as Nedâs 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.
âHelp mama, John Buddy,â Zeke screamed. Johnâs 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.
âLawd, Ah speck ...