{"id":74,"date":"2021-10-29T11:15:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-3\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:02:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:02:22","slug":"4","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/4\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 4","rendered":"Chapter 4"},"content":{"raw":"

Long<\/span> before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it. Six months back he had told her, \u201cIf Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me \u2019bout choppin\u2019 no wood nohow. She\u2019d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

So Janie had told him, \u201cAh\u2019m just as stiff as you is stout. If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner. \u2019Scuse mah freezolity, Mist\u2019 Killicks, but Ah don\u2019t mean to chop de first chip.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAw you know Ah\u2019m gwine chop de wood fuh yuh. Even if you is stingy as you can be wid me. Yo\u2019 Grandma and me myself done spoilt yuh now, and Ah reckon Ah have tuh keep on wid it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

One morning soon he called her out of the kitchen to the barn. He had the mule all saddled at the gate.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLooka heah, LilBit, help me out some. Cut up dese seed taters fuh me. Ah got tuh go step off a piece.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere you goin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOver tuh Lake City tuh see uh man about uh mule.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhut you need two mules fuh? Lessen you aims to swap off dis one.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, Ah needs two mules dis yeah. Taters is goin\u2019 tuh be taters in de fall. Bringin\u2019 big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis man Ah\u2019m talkin\u2019 \u2019bout is got uh mule all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle \u2019im.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Logan held his wad of tobacco real still in his jaw like a thermometer of his feelings while he studied Janie\u2019s face and waited for her to say something.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSo Ah thought Ah mout as well go see.\u201d He tagged on and swallowed to kill time but Janie said nothing except, \u201cAh\u2019ll cut de p\u2019taters fuh yuh. When yuh comin\u2019 back?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know exactly. Round dust dark Ah reckon. It\u2019s uh sorta long trip\u2014specially if Ah hafter lead one on de way back.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

When Janie had finished indoors she sat down in the barn with the potatoes. But springtime reached her in there so she moved everything to a place in the yard where she could see the road. The noon sun filtered through the leaves of the fine oak tree where she sat and made lacy patterns on the ground. She had been there a long time when she heard whistling coming down the road.<\/p>\r\n

It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn\u2019t belong in these parts. His coat was over his arm, but he didn\u2019t need it to represent his clothes. The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world. He whistled, mopped his face and walked like he knew where he was going. He was a seal-brown color but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie. Where would such a man be coming from and where was he going? He didn\u2019t look her way nor no other way except straight ahead, so Janie ran to the pump and jerked the handle hard while she pumped. It made a loud noise and also made her heavy hair fall down. So he stopped and looked hard, and then he asked her for a cool drink of water.<\/p>\r\n

Janie pumped it off until she got a good look at the man. He talked friendly while he drank.<\/p>\r\n

Joe Starks was the name, yeah Joe Starks from in and through Georgy. Been workin\u2019 for white folks all his life. Saved up some money\u2014round three hundred dollars, yes indeed, right here in his pocket. Kept hearin\u2019 \u2019bout them buildin\u2019 a new state down heah in Floridy and sort of wanted to come. But he was makin\u2019 money where he was. But when he heard all about \u2019em makin\u2019 a town all outa colored folks, he knowed dat was de place he wanted to be. He had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all de sayso where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin\u2019 dis place dat colored folks was buildin\u2019 theirselves. Dat was right too. De man dat built things oughta boss it. Let colored folks build things too if dey wants to crow over somethin\u2019. He was glad he had his money all saved up. He meant to git dere whilst de town wuz yet a baby. He meant to buy in big. It had always been his wish and desire to be a big voice and he had to live nearly thirty years to find a chance. Where was Janie\u2019s papa and mama?<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDey dead, Ah reckon. Ah wouldn\u2019t know \u2019bout \u2019em \u2019cause mah Grandma raised me. She dead too.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe dead too! Well, who\u2019s lookin\u2019 after a lil girl-chile lak you?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019m married.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou married? You ain\u2019t hardly old enough to be weaned. Ah betcha you still craves sugar-tits, doncher?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, and Ah makes and sucks \u2019em when de notion strikes me. Drinks sweeten\u2019 water too.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh loves dat mahself. Never specks to get too old to enjoy syrup sweeten\u2019 water when it\u2019s cools and nice.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUs got plenty syrup in de barn. Ribbon-cane syrup. If you so desires\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere yo\u2019 husband at, Mis\u2019 er-er.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMah name is Janie Mae Killicks since Ah got married. Useter be name Janie Mae Crawford. Mah husband is gone tuh buy a mule fuh me tuh plow. He left me cuttin\u2019 up seed p\u2019taters.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou behind a plow! You ain\u2019t got no mo\u2019 business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain\u2019t got no business cuttin\u2019 up no seed p\u2019taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo\u2019self and eat p\u2019taters dat other folks plant just special for you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie laughed and drew two quarts of syrup from the barrel and Joe Starks pumped the water bucket full of cool water. They sat under the tree and talked. He was going on down to the new part of Florida, but no harm to stop and chat. He later decided he needed a rest anyway. It would do him good to rest a week or two.<\/p>\r\n

Every day after that they managed to meet in the scrub oaks across the road and talk about when he would be a big ruler of things with her reaping the benefits. Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance. Still she hung back. The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJanie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah wants to make a wife outa you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou mean dat, Joe?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDe day you puts yo\u2019 hand in mine, Ah wouldn\u2019t let de sun go down on us single. Ah\u2019m uh man wid principles. You ain\u2019t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh. Call me Jody lak you do sometime.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJody,\u201d she smiled up at him, \u201cbut s\u2019posin\u2019\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLeave de s\u2019posin\u2019 and everything else to me. Ah\u2019ll be down dis road uh little after sun-up tomorrow mornin\u2019 to wait for you. You come go wid me. Den all de rest of yo\u2019 natural life you kin live lak you oughta. Kiss me and shake yo\u2019 head. When you do dat, yo\u2019 plentiful hair breaks lak day.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie debated the matter that night in bed.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLogan, you \u2019sleep?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf Ah wuz, you\u2019d be done woke me up callin\u2019 me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh wuz thinkin\u2019 real hard about us; about you and me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time. Youse powerful independent around here sometime considerin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cConsiderin\u2019 whut for instance?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cConsiderin\u2019 youse born in a carriage \u2019thout no top to it, and yo\u2019 mama and you bein\u2019 born and raised in de white folks back-yard.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t say all dat when you wuz begging Nanny for me to marry you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh thought you would \u2019preciate good treatment. Thought Ah\u2019d take and make somethin\u2019 outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cS\u2019posin\u2019 Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

There! Janie had put words in his held-in fears. She might run off sure enough. The thought put a terrible ache in Logan\u2019s body, but he thought it best to put on scorn.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019m gettin\u2019 sleepy, Janie. Let\u2019s don\u2019t talk no mo\u2019. \u2019Tain\u2019t too many mens would trust yuh, knowin\u2019 yo\u2019 folks lak dey do.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh might take and find somebody dat did trust me and leave yuh.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShucks! \u2019Tain\u2019t no mo\u2019 fools lak me. A whole lot of mens will grin in yo\u2019 face, but dey ain\u2019t gwine tuh work and feed yuh. You won\u2019t git far and you won\u2019t be long, when dat big gut reach over and grab dat little one, you\u2019ll be too glad to come back here.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t take nothin\u2019 to count but sow-belly and cornbread.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019m sleepy. Ah don\u2019t aim to worry mah gut into a fiddle-string wid no s\u2019posin\u2019.\u201d He flopped over resentful in his agony and pretended sleep. He hoped that he had hurt her as she had hurt him.<\/p>\r\n

Janie got up with him the next morning and had the breakfast halfway done when he bellowed from the barn.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJanie!\u201d Logan called harshly. \u201cCome help me move dis manure pile befo\u2019 de sun gits hot. You don\u2019t take a bit of interest in dis place. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in foolin\u2019 round in dat kitchen all day long.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie walked to the door with the pan in her hand still stirring the cornmeal dough and looked towards the barn. The sun from ambush was threatening the world with red daggers, but the shadows were gray and solid-looking around the barn. Logan with his shovel looked like a black bear doing some clumsy dance on his hind legs.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo\u2019 place and Ah\u2019m in mine.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t got no particular place. It\u2019s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMah mamma didn\u2019t tell me Ah wuz born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin\u2019 now? Anyhow dat ain\u2019t whut youse mad about. Youse mad \u2019cause Ah don\u2019t fall down and wash-up dese sixty acres uh ground yuh got. You ain\u2019t done me no favor by marryin\u2019 me. And if dat\u2019s what you call yo\u2019self doin\u2019, Ah don\u2019t thank yuh for it. Youse mad \u2019cause Ah\u2019m tellin\u2019 yuh whut you already knowed.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Logan dropped his shovel and made two or three clumsy steps towards the house, then stopped abruptly.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you change too many words wid me dis mawnin\u2019, Janie, do Ah\u2019ll take and change ends wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks\u2019 kitchen and set you down on yo\u2019 royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me! Ah\u2019ll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh! You better dry up in dere! Ah\u2019m too honest and hard-workin\u2019 for anybody in yo\u2019 family, dat\u2019s de reason you don\u2019t want me!\u201d The last sentence was half a sob and half a cry. \u201cAh guess some low-lifed nigger is grinnin\u2019 in yo\u2019 face and lyin\u2019 tuh yuh. God damn yo\u2019 hide!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie turned from the door without answering, and stood still in the middle of the floor without knowing it. She turned wrongside out just standing there and feeling. When the throbbing calmed a little she gave Logan\u2019s speech a hard thought and placed it beside other things she had seen and heard. When she had finished with that she dumped the dough on the skillet and smoothed it over with her hand. She wasn\u2019t even angry. Logan was accusing her of her mamma, her grandmama and her feelings, and she couldn\u2019t do a thing about any of it. The sow-belly in the pan needed turning. She flipped it over and shoved it back. A little cold water in the coffee pot to settle it. Turned the hoe-cake with a plate and then made a little laugh. What was she losing so much time for? A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her. Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south. Even if Joe was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good.<\/p>\r\n

The morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet. After that she came to where Joe Starks was waiting for her with a hired rig. He was very solemn and helped her to the seat beside him. With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom. Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cGreen Cove Springs,\u201d he told the driver. So they were married there before sundown, just like Joe had said. With new clothes of silk and wool.<\/p>\r\n

They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.<\/p>","rendered":"

Long<\/span> before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it. Six months back he had told her, \u201cIf Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me \u2019bout choppin\u2019 no wood nohow. She\u2019d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Janie had told him, \u201cAh\u2019m just as stiff as you is stout. If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner. \u2019Scuse mah freezolity, Mist\u2019 Killicks, but Ah don\u2019t mean to chop de first chip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAw you know Ah\u2019m gwine chop de wood fuh yuh. Even if you is stingy as you can be wid me. Yo\u2019 Grandma and me myself done spoilt yuh now, and Ah reckon Ah have tuh keep on wid it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One morning soon he called her out of the kitchen to the barn. He had the mule all saddled at the gate.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooka heah, LilBit, help me out some. Cut up dese seed taters fuh me. Ah got tuh go step off a piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere you goin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver tuh Lake City tuh see uh man about uh mule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhut you need two mules fuh? Lessen you aims to swap off dis one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, Ah needs two mules dis yeah. Taters is goin\u2019 tuh be taters in de fall. Bringin\u2019 big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis man Ah\u2019m talkin\u2019 \u2019bout is got uh mule all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle \u2019im.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan held his wad of tobacco real still in his jaw like a thermometer of his feelings while he studied Janie\u2019s face and waited for her to say something.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Ah thought Ah mout as well go see.\u201d He tagged on and swallowed to kill time but Janie said nothing except, \u201cAh\u2019ll cut de p\u2019taters fuh yuh. When yuh comin\u2019 back?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know exactly. Round dust dark Ah reckon. It\u2019s uh sorta long trip\u2014specially if Ah hafter lead one on de way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Janie had finished indoors she sat down in the barn with the potatoes. But springtime reached her in there so she moved everything to a place in the yard where she could see the road. The noon sun filtered through the leaves of the fine oak tree where she sat and made lacy patterns on the ground. She had been there a long time when she heard whistling coming down the road.<\/p>\n

It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn\u2019t belong in these parts. His coat was over his arm, but he didn\u2019t need it to represent his clothes. The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world. He whistled, mopped his face and walked like he knew where he was going. He was a seal-brown color but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie. Where would such a man be coming from and where was he going? He didn\u2019t look her way nor no other way except straight ahead, so Janie ran to the pump and jerked the handle hard while she pumped. It made a loud noise and also made her heavy hair fall down. So he stopped and looked hard, and then he asked her for a cool drink of water.<\/p>\n

Janie pumped it off until she got a good look at the man. He talked friendly while he drank.<\/p>\n

Joe Starks was the name, yeah Joe Starks from in and through Georgy. Been workin\u2019 for white folks all his life. Saved up some money\u2014round three hundred dollars, yes indeed, right here in his pocket. Kept hearin\u2019 \u2019bout them buildin\u2019 a new state down heah in Floridy and sort of wanted to come. But he was makin\u2019 money where he was. But when he heard all about \u2019em makin\u2019 a town all outa colored folks, he knowed dat was de place he wanted to be. He had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all de sayso where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin\u2019 dis place dat colored folks was buildin\u2019 theirselves. Dat was right too. De man dat built things oughta boss it. Let colored folks build things too if dey wants to crow over somethin\u2019. He was glad he had his money all saved up. He meant to git dere whilst de town wuz yet a baby. He meant to buy in big. It had always been his wish and desire to be a big voice and he had to live nearly thirty years to find a chance. Where was Janie\u2019s papa and mama?<\/p>\n

\u201cDey dead, Ah reckon. Ah wouldn\u2019t know \u2019bout \u2019em \u2019cause mah Grandma raised me. She dead too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe dead too! Well, who\u2019s lookin\u2019 after a lil girl-chile lak you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m married.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou married? You ain\u2019t hardly old enough to be weaned. Ah betcha you still craves sugar-tits, doncher?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, and Ah makes and sucks \u2019em when de notion strikes me. Drinks sweeten\u2019 water too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh loves dat mahself. Never specks to get too old to enjoy syrup sweeten\u2019 water when it\u2019s cools and nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUs got plenty syrup in de barn. Ribbon-cane syrup. If you so desires\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere yo\u2019 husband at, Mis\u2019 er-er.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMah name is Janie Mae Killicks since Ah got married. Useter be name Janie Mae Crawford. Mah husband is gone tuh buy a mule fuh me tuh plow. He left me cuttin\u2019 up seed p\u2019taters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou behind a plow! You ain\u2019t got no mo\u2019 business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain\u2019t got no business cuttin\u2019 up no seed p\u2019taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo\u2019self and eat p\u2019taters dat other folks plant just special for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie laughed and drew two quarts of syrup from the barrel and Joe Starks pumped the water bucket full of cool water. They sat under the tree and talked. He was going on down to the new part of Florida, but no harm to stop and chat. He later decided he needed a rest anyway. It would do him good to rest a week or two.<\/p>\n

Every day after that they managed to meet in the scrub oaks across the road and talk about when he would be a big ruler of things with her reaping the benefits. Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance. Still she hung back. The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cJanie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah wants to make a wife outa you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean dat, Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDe day you puts yo\u2019 hand in mine, Ah wouldn\u2019t let de sun go down on us single. Ah\u2019m uh man wid principles. You ain\u2019t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh. Call me Jody lak you do sometime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJody,\u201d she smiled up at him, \u201cbut s\u2019posin\u2019\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave de s\u2019posin\u2019 and everything else to me. Ah\u2019ll be down dis road uh little after sun-up tomorrow mornin\u2019 to wait for you. You come go wid me. Den all de rest of yo\u2019 natural life you kin live lak you oughta. Kiss me and shake yo\u2019 head. When you do dat, yo\u2019 plentiful hair breaks lak day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie debated the matter that night in bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cLogan, you \u2019sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Ah wuz, you\u2019d be done woke me up callin\u2019 me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh wuz thinkin\u2019 real hard about us; about you and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time. Youse powerful independent around here sometime considerin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConsiderin\u2019 whut for instance?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConsiderin\u2019 youse born in a carriage \u2019thout no top to it, and yo\u2019 mama and you bein\u2019 born and raised in de white folks back-yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t say all dat when you wuz begging Nanny for me to marry you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh thought you would \u2019preciate good treatment. Thought Ah\u2019d take and make somethin\u2019 outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cS\u2019posin\u2019 Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime.\u201d<\/p>\n

There! Janie had put words in his held-in fears. She might run off sure enough. The thought put a terrible ache in Logan\u2019s body, but he thought it best to put on scorn.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m gettin\u2019 sleepy, Janie. Let\u2019s don\u2019t talk no mo\u2019. \u2019Tain\u2019t too many mens would trust yuh, knowin\u2019 yo\u2019 folks lak dey do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh might take and find somebody dat did trust me and leave yuh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShucks! \u2019Tain\u2019t no mo\u2019 fools lak me. A whole lot of mens will grin in yo\u2019 face, but dey ain\u2019t gwine tuh work and feed yuh. You won\u2019t git far and you won\u2019t be long, when dat big gut reach over and grab dat little one, you\u2019ll be too glad to come back here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t take nothin\u2019 to count but sow-belly and cornbread.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m sleepy. Ah don\u2019t aim to worry mah gut into a fiddle-string wid no s\u2019posin\u2019.\u201d He flopped over resentful in his agony and pretended sleep. He hoped that he had hurt her as she had hurt him.<\/p>\n

Janie got up with him the next morning and had the breakfast halfway done when he bellowed from the barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cJanie!\u201d Logan called harshly. \u201cCome help me move dis manure pile befo\u2019 de sun gits hot. You don\u2019t take a bit of interest in dis place. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in foolin\u2019 round in dat kitchen all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie walked to the door with the pan in her hand still stirring the cornmeal dough and looked towards the barn. The sun from ambush was threatening the world with red daggers, but the shadows were gray and solid-looking around the barn. Logan with his shovel looked like a black bear doing some clumsy dance on his hind legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo\u2019 place and Ah\u2019m in mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t got no particular place. It\u2019s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMah mamma didn\u2019t tell me Ah wuz born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin\u2019 now? Anyhow dat ain\u2019t whut youse mad about. Youse mad \u2019cause Ah don\u2019t fall down and wash-up dese sixty acres uh ground yuh got. You ain\u2019t done me no favor by marryin\u2019 me. And if dat\u2019s what you call yo\u2019self doin\u2019, Ah don\u2019t thank yuh for it. Youse mad \u2019cause Ah\u2019m tellin\u2019 yuh whut you already knowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan dropped his shovel and made two or three clumsy steps towards the house, then stopped abruptly.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you change too many words wid me dis mawnin\u2019, Janie, do Ah\u2019ll take and change ends wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks\u2019 kitchen and set you down on yo\u2019 royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me! Ah\u2019ll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh! You better dry up in dere! Ah\u2019m too honest and hard-workin\u2019 for anybody in yo\u2019 family, dat\u2019s de reason you don\u2019t want me!\u201d The last sentence was half a sob and half a cry. \u201cAh guess some low-lifed nigger is grinnin\u2019 in yo\u2019 face and lyin\u2019 tuh yuh. God damn yo\u2019 hide!\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie turned from the door without answering, and stood still in the middle of the floor without knowing it. She turned wrongside out just standing there and feeling. When the throbbing calmed a little she gave Logan\u2019s speech a hard thought and placed it beside other things she had seen and heard. When she had finished with that she dumped the dough on the skillet and smoothed it over with her hand. She wasn\u2019t even angry. Logan was accusing her of her mamma, her grandmama and her feelings, and she couldn\u2019t do a thing about any of it. The sow-belly in the pan needed turning. She flipped it over and shoved it back. A little cold water in the coffee pot to settle it. Turned the hoe-cake with a plate and then made a little laugh. What was she losing so much time for? A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her. Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south. Even if Joe was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good.<\/p>\n

The morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet. After that she came to where Joe Starks was waiting for her with a hired rig. He was very solemn and helped her to the seat beside him. With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom. Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreen Cove Springs,\u201d he told the driver. So they were married there before sundown, just like Joe had said. With new clothes of silk and wool.<\/p>\n

They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-74","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions\/133"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}