{"id":81,"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-10\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:24:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:24:08","slug":"11","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/11\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 11","rendered":"Chapter 11"},"content":{"raw":"
<\/div>\r\n

Janie<\/span> wanted to ask Hezekiah about Tea Cake, but she was afraid he might misunderstand her and think she was interested. In the first place he looked too young for her. Must be around twenty-five and here she<\/span> was around forty. Then again he didn\u2019t look like he had too much. Maybe he was hanging around to get in with her and strip her of all that she had. Just as well if she never saw him again. He was probably the kind of man who lived with various women but never married. Fact is, she decided to treat him so cold if he ever did foot the place that he\u2019d be sure not to come hanging around there again.<\/p>\r\n

He waited a week exactly to come back for Janie\u2019s snub. It was early in the afternoon and she and Hezekiah were alone. She heard somebody humming like they were feeling for pitch and looked towards the door. Tea Cake stood there mimicking the tuning of a guitar. He frowned and struggled with the pegs of his imaginary instrument watching her out of the corner of his eye with that secret joke playing over his face. Finally she smiled and he sung middle C, put his guitar under his arm and walked on back to where she was.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cEvenin\u2019, folks. Thought y\u2019all might lak uh lil music this evenin\u2019 so Ah brought long mah box.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cCrazy thing!\u201d Janie commented, beaming out with light.<\/p>\r\n

He acknowledged the compliment with a smile and sat down on a box. \u201cAnybody have uh Coca-Cola wid me?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh just had one,\u201d Janie temporized with her conscience.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll hafter be done all over agin, Mis\u2019 Starks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow come?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Cause it wasn\u2019t done right dat time. \u2019Kiah bring us two bottles from de bottom uh de box.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow you been makin\u2019 out since Ah seen yuh last, Tea Cake?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cCan\u2019t kick. Could be worse. Made four days dis week and got de pay in mah pocket.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe got a rich man round here, then. Buyin\u2019 passenger trains uh battleships this week?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhich one do you<\/span> want? It all depends on you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh, if you\u2019se treatin\u2019 me tuh it, Ah b\u2019lieve Ah\u2019ll take de passenger train. If it blow up Ah\u2019ll still be on land.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cChoose de battleship if dat\u2019s whut you really want. Ah know where one is right now. Seen one round Key West de other day.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow you gointuh git it?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh shucks, dem Admirals is always ole folks. Can\u2019t no ole man stop me from gittin\u2019 no ship for yuh if dat\u2019s whut you want. Ah\u2019d git dat ship out from under him so slick till he\u2019d be walkin\u2019 de water lak ole Peter befo\u2019 he knowed it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

They played away the evening again. Everybody was surprised at Janie playing checkers but they liked it. Three or four stood behind her and coached her moves and generally made merry with her in a restrained way. Finally everybody went home but Tea Cake.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou kin close up, \u2019Kiah,\u201d Janie said. \u201cThink Ah\u2019ll g\u2019wan home.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Tea Cake fell in beside her and mounted the porch this time. So she offered him a seat and they made a lot of laughter out of nothing. Near eleven o\u2019clock she remembered a piece of pound cake she had put away. Tea Cake went out to the lemon tree at the corner of the kitchen and picked some lemons and squeezed them for her. So they had lemonade too.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMoon\u2019s too pretty fuh anybody tuh be sleepin\u2019 it away,\u201d Tea Cake said after they had washed up the plates and glasses. \u201cLess us go fishin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFishin\u2019? Dis time uh night?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUnhhunh, fishin\u2019. Ah know where de bream is beddin\u2019. Seen \u2019em when Ah come round de lake dis evenin\u2019. Where\u2019s yo\u2019 fishin\u2019 poles? Less go set on de lake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

It was so crazy digging worms by lamp light and setting out for Lake Sabelia after midnight that she felt like a child breaking rules. That\u2019s what made Janie like it. They caught two or three and got home just before day. Then she had to smuggle Tea Cake out by the back gate and that made it seem like some great secret she was keeping from the town.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMis\u2019 Janie,\u201d Hezekiah began sullenly next day, \u201cyou oughtn\u2019t \u2019low dat Tea Cake tuh be walkin\u2019 tuh de house wid yuh. Ah\u2019ll go wid yuh mahself after dis, if you\u2019se skeered.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s de matter wid Tea Cake, \u2019Kiah? Is he uh thief uh somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t never heard nobody say he stole nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIs he bad \u2019bout totin\u2019 pistols and knives tuh hurt people wid?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDey don\u2019t say he ever cut nobody or shot nobody neither.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, is he\u2014he\u2014is he got uh wife or something lak dat? Not dat it\u2019s any uh mah business.\u201d She held her breath for the answer.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo\u2019m. And nobody wouldn\u2019t marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it\u2019s somebody jes lak him\u2014ain\u2019t used to nothin\u2019. \u2019Course he always keep hisself in changin\u2019 clothes. Dat long-legged Tea Cake ain\u2019t got doodly squat. He ain\u2019t got no business makin\u2019 hisself familiar wid nobody lak you. Ah said Ah wuz goin\u2019 to tell yuh so yuh could know.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh dat\u2019s all right, Hezekiah. Thank yuh mighty much.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The next night when she mounted her steps Tea Cake was there before her, sitting on the porch in the dark. He had a string of fresh-caught trout for a present.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019ll clean \u2019em, you fry \u2019em and let\u2019s eat,\u201d he said with the assurance of not being refused. They went out into the kitchen and fixed up the hot fish and corn muffins and ate. Then Tea Cake went to the piano without so much as asking and began playing blues and singing, and throwing grins over his shoulder. The sounds lulled Janie to soft slumber and she woke up with Tea Cake combing her hair and scratching the dandruff from her scalp. It made her more comfortable and drowsy.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake, where you git uh comb from tuh be combin\u2019 mah hair wid?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh brought it wid me. Come prepared tuh lay mah hands on it tuhnight.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin\u2019 mah hair do you<\/span>? It\u2019s mah<\/span> comfortable, not yourn.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mine too. Ah ain\u2019t been sleepin\u2019 so good for more\u2019n uh week cause Ah been wishin\u2019 so bad tuh git mah hands in yo\u2019 hair. It\u2019s so pretty. It feels jus\u2019 lak underneath uh dove\u2019s wing next to mah face.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph! You\u2019se mighty easy satisfied. Ah been had dis same hair next tuh mah face ever since Ah cried de fust time, and \u2019tain\u2019t never gimme me no thrill.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh tell you lak you told me\u2014you\u2019se mighty hard tuh satisfy. Ah betcha dem lips don\u2019t satisfy yuh neither.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right, Tea Cake. They\u2019s dere and Ah make use of \u2019em whenever it\u2019s necessary, but nothin\u2019 special tuh me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph! umph! umph! Ah betcha you don\u2019t never go tuh de lookin\u2019 glass and enjoy yo\u2019 eyes yo\u2019self. You lets other folks git all de enjoyment out of \u2019em \u2019thout takin\u2019 in any of it yo\u2019self.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, Ah never gazes at \u2019em in de lookin\u2019 glass. If anybody else gits any pleasure out of \u2019em Ah ain\u2019t been told about it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSee dat? You\u2019se got de world in uh jug and make out you don\u2019t know it. But Ah\u2019m glad tuh be de one tuh tell yuh.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh guess you done told plenty women all about it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019m de Apostle Paul tuh de Gentiles. Ah tells \u2019em and then agin Ah shows \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh thought so.\u201d She yawned and made to get up from the sofa, \u201cYou done got me so sleepy wid yo\u2019 head-scratchin\u2019 Ah kin hardly make it tuh de bed.\u201d She stood up at once, collecting her hair. He sat still.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, you ain\u2019t sleepy, Mis\u2019 Janie. You jus\u2019 want me tuh go. You figger Ah\u2019m uh rounder and uh pimp and you done wasted too much time talkin\u2019 wid me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy, Tea Cake! Whut ever put dat notion in yo\u2019 head?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDe way you looked at me when Ah said whut Ah did. Yo\u2019 face skeered me so bad till mah whiskers drawed up.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t got no business bein\u2019 mad at nothin\u2019 you do and say. You got it all wrong. Ah ain\u2019t mad atall.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh know it and dat\u2019s what puts de shamery on me. You\u2019se jus\u2019 disgusted wid me. Yo\u2019 face jus\u2019 left here and went off somewhere else. Naw, you ain\u2019t mad wid me. Ah be glad if you was, \u2019cause then Ah might do somethin\u2019 tuh please yuh. But lak it is\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMah likes and dislikes ought not tuh make no difference wid you, Tea Cake. Dat\u2019s fuh yo\u2019 lady friend. Ah\u2019m jus\u2019 uh sometime friend uh yourn.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie walked towards the stairway slowly, and Tea Cake sat where he was, as if he had frozen to his seat, in fear that once he got up, he\u2019d never get back in it again. He swallowed hard and looked at her walk away.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh didn\u2019t aim tuh let on tuh yuh \u2019bout it, leastways not right away, but Ah ruther be shot wid tacks than fuh you tuh act wid me lak you is right now. You got me in de go-long.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

At the newel post Janie whirled around and for the space of a thought she was lit up like a transfiguration. Her next thought brought her crashing down. He\u2019s just saying anything for the time being, feeling he\u2019s got me so I\u2019ll b\u2019lieve him. The next thought buried her under tons of cold futility. He\u2019s trading on being younger than me. Getting ready to laugh at me for an old fool. But oh, what wouldn\u2019t I give to be twelve years younger so I could b\u2019lieve him!<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAw, Tea Cake, you just say dat tuhnight because de fish and cornbread tasted sort of good. Tomorrow yo\u2019 mind would change.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, it wouldn\u2019t neither. Ah know better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnyhow from what you told me when we wuz back dere in de kitchen Ah\u2019m nearly twelve years older than you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh done thought all about dat and tried tuh struggle aginst it, but it don\u2019t do me no good. De thought uh mah youngness don\u2019t satisfy me lak yo\u2019 presence do.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt makes uh whole heap uh difference wid most folks, Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThings lak dat got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain\u2019t got nothin\u2019 tuh do wid love.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, Ah love tuh find out whut you think after sun-up tomorrow. Dis is jus\u2019 yo\u2019 night thought.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou got yo\u2019 ideas and Ah got mine. Ah got uh dollar dat says you\u2019se wrong. But Ah reckon you don\u2019t bet money, neither.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh never have done it so fur. But as de old folks always say, Ah\u2019m born but Ah ain\u2019t dead. No tellin\u2019 whut Ah\u2019m liable tuh do yet.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

He got up suddenly and took his hat. \u201cGood night, Mis\u2019 Janie. Look lak we done run our conversation from grass roots tuh pine trees. G\u2019bye.\u201d He almost ran out of the door.<\/p>\r\n

Janie hung over the newel post thinking so long that she all but went to sleep there. However, before she went to bed she took a good look at her mouth, eyes and hair.<\/p>\r\n

All next day in the house and store she thought resisting thoughts about Tea Cake. She even ridiculed him in her mind and was a little ashamed of the association. But every hour or two the battle had to be fought all over again. She couldn\u2019t make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom\u2014a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.<\/p>\r\n

So he didn\u2019t come that night and she laid in bed and pretended to think scornfully of him. \u201cBet he\u2019s hangin\u2019 round some jook or \u2019nother. Glad Ah treated him cold. Whut do Ah want wid some trashy nigger out de streets? Bet he\u2019s livin\u2019 wid some woman or \u2019nother and takin\u2019 me for uh fool. Glad Ah caught mahself in time.\u201d She tried to console herself that way.<\/p>\r\n

The next morning she awoke hearing a knocking on the front door and found Tea Cake there.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHello, Mis\u2019 Janie, Ah hope Ah woke you up.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou sho did, Tea Cake. Come in and rest yo\u2019 hat. Whut you doin\u2019 out so soon dis mornin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThought Ah\u2019d try tuh git heah soon enough tuh tell yuh mah daytime thoughts. Ah see yuh needs tuh know mah daytime feelings. Ah can\u2019t sense yuh intuh it at night.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou crazy thing! Is dat whut you come here for at daybreak?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSho is. You needs tellin\u2019 and showin\u2019, and dat\u2019s whut Ah\u2019m doin\u2019. Ah picked some strawberries too, Ah figgered you might like.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake, Ah \u2019clare Ah don\u2019t know whut tuh make outa you. You\u2019se so crazy. You better lemme fix you some breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAin\u2019t got time. Ah got uh job uh work. Gottuh be back in Orlandah at eight o\u2019clock. See yuh later, tell you straighter.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

He bolted down the walk and was gone. But that night when she left the store, he was stretched out in the hammock on the porch with his hat over his face pretending to sleep. She called him. He pretended not to hear. He snored louder. She went to the hammock to shake him and he seized and pulled her in with him. After a little, she let him adjust her in his arms and laid there for a while.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake, Ah don\u2019t know \u2019bout you, but Ah\u2019m hongry, come on let\u2019s eat some supper.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

They went inside and their laughter rang out first from the kitchen and all over the house.<\/p>\r\n

Janie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away. Then he must dress hurriedly and get to his job on time. He wouldn\u2019t let her get him any breakfast at all. He wanted her to get her rest. He made her stay where she was. In her heart she wanted to get his breakfast for him. But she stayed in bed long after he was gone.<\/p>\r\n

So much had been breathed out by the pores that Tea Cake still was there. She could feel him and almost see him bucking around the room in the upper air. After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind. That was the beginning of things.<\/p>\r\n

In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie\u2019s ear. Doubt. All the fears that circumstance could provide and the heart feel, attacked her on every side. This was a new sensation for her, but no less excruciating. If only Tea Cake would make her certain! He did not return that night nor the next and so she plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth darkness where light has never been.<\/p>\r\n

But the fourth day after he came in the afternoon driving a battered car. Jumped out like a deer and made the gesture of tying it to a post on the store porch. Ready with his grin! She adored him and hated him at the same time. How could he make her suffer so and then come grinning like that with that darling way he had? He pinched her arm as he walked inside the door.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBrought me somethin\u2019 tuh haul you off in,\u201d he told her with that secret chuckle. \u201cGit yo\u2019 hat if you gointuh wear one. We got tuh go buy groceries.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh sells groceries right here in dis store, Tea Cake, if you don\u2019t happen tuh know.\u201d She tried to look cold but she was smiling in spite of herself.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNot de kind we want fuh de occasion. You sells groceries for ordinary people. We\u2019se gointuh buy for you<\/span>. De big Sunday School picnic is tomorrow\u2014bet you done forget it\u2014and we got tuh be dere wid uh swell basket and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t know \u2019bout dat, Tea Cake. Tell yuh whut you do. G\u2019wan down tuh de house and wait for me. Be dere in uh minute.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

As soon as she thought it looked right she slipped out of the back and joined Tea Cake. No need of fooling herself. Maybe he was just being polite.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake, you sure you want me tuh go tuh dis picnic wid yuh?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMe scramble \u2019round tuh git de money tuh take yuh\u2014been workin\u2019 lak uh dawg for two whole weeks\u2014and she come astin\u2019 me if Ah want her tuh go! Puttin\u2019 mahself tuh uh whole heap uh trouble tuh git dis car so you kin go over tuh Winter Park or Orlandah tuh buy de things you might need and dis woman set dere and ast me if Ah want her tuh go!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDon\u2019t git mad, Tea Cake, Ah just didn\u2019t want you doin\u2019 nothin\u2019 outa politeness. If dere\u2019s somebody else you\u2019d ruther take, it\u2019s all right wid me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, it ain\u2019t all right wid you. If it was you wouldn\u2019t be sayin\u2019 dat. Have de nerve tuh say whut you mean.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, all right, Tea Cake, Ah wants tuh go wid you real bad, but,\u2014oh, Tea Cake, don\u2019t make no false pretense wid me!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJanie, Ah hope God may kill me, if Ah\u2019m lyin\u2019. Nobody else on earth kin hold uh candle tuh you, baby. You got de keys to de kingdom.\u201d<\/p>","rendered":"

<\/div>\n

Janie<\/span> wanted to ask Hezekiah about Tea Cake, but she was afraid he might misunderstand her and think she was interested. In the first place he looked too young for her. Must be around twenty-five and here she<\/span> was around forty. Then again he didn\u2019t look like he had too much. Maybe he was hanging around to get in with her and strip her of all that she had. Just as well if she never saw him again. He was probably the kind of man who lived with various women but never married. Fact is, she decided to treat him so cold if he ever did foot the place that he\u2019d be sure not to come hanging around there again.<\/p>\n

He waited a week exactly to come back for Janie\u2019s snub. It was early in the afternoon and she and Hezekiah were alone. She heard somebody humming like they were feeling for pitch and looked towards the door. Tea Cake stood there mimicking the tuning of a guitar. He frowned and struggled with the pegs of his imaginary instrument watching her out of the corner of his eye with that secret joke playing over his face. Finally she smiled and he sung middle C, put his guitar under his arm and walked on back to where she was.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvenin\u2019, folks. Thought y\u2019all might lak uh lil music this evenin\u2019 so Ah brought long mah box.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCrazy thing!\u201d Janie commented, beaming out with light.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged the compliment with a smile and sat down on a box. \u201cAnybody have uh Coca-Cola wid me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh just had one,\u201d Janie temporized with her conscience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll hafter be done all over agin, Mis\u2019 Starks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Cause it wasn\u2019t done right dat time. \u2019Kiah bring us two bottles from de bottom uh de box.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow you been makin\u2019 out since Ah seen yuh last, Tea Cake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t kick. Could be worse. Made four days dis week and got de pay in mah pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a rich man round here, then. Buyin\u2019 passenger trains uh battleships this week?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich one do you<\/span> want? It all depends on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, if you\u2019se treatin\u2019 me tuh it, Ah b\u2019lieve Ah\u2019ll take de passenger train. If it blow up Ah\u2019ll still be on land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChoose de battleship if dat\u2019s whut you really want. Ah know where one is right now. Seen one round Key West de other day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow you gointuh git it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh shucks, dem Admirals is always ole folks. Can\u2019t no ole man stop me from gittin\u2019 no ship for yuh if dat\u2019s whut you want. Ah\u2019d git dat ship out from under him so slick till he\u2019d be walkin\u2019 de water lak ole Peter befo\u2019 he knowed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They played away the evening again. Everybody was surprised at Janie playing checkers but they liked it. Three or four stood behind her and coached her moves and generally made merry with her in a restrained way. Finally everybody went home but Tea Cake.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kin close up, \u2019Kiah,\u201d Janie said. \u201cThink Ah\u2019ll g\u2019wan home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tea Cake fell in beside her and mounted the porch this time. So she offered him a seat and they made a lot of laughter out of nothing. Near eleven o\u2019clock she remembered a piece of pound cake she had put away. Tea Cake went out to the lemon tree at the corner of the kitchen and picked some lemons and squeezed them for her. So they had lemonade too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoon\u2019s too pretty fuh anybody tuh be sleepin\u2019 it away,\u201d Tea Cake said after they had washed up the plates and glasses. \u201cLess us go fishin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFishin\u2019? Dis time uh night?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnhhunh, fishin\u2019. Ah know where de bream is beddin\u2019. Seen \u2019em when Ah come round de lake dis evenin\u2019. Where\u2019s yo\u2019 fishin\u2019 poles? Less go set on de lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was so crazy digging worms by lamp light and setting out for Lake Sabelia after midnight that she felt like a child breaking rules. That\u2019s what made Janie like it. They caught two or three and got home just before day. Then she had to smuggle Tea Cake out by the back gate and that made it seem like some great secret she was keeping from the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cMis\u2019 Janie,\u201d Hezekiah began sullenly next day, \u201cyou oughtn\u2019t \u2019low dat Tea Cake tuh be walkin\u2019 tuh de house wid yuh. Ah\u2019ll go wid yuh mahself after dis, if you\u2019se skeered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s de matter wid Tea Cake, \u2019Kiah? Is he uh thief uh somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t never heard nobody say he stole nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he bad \u2019bout totin\u2019 pistols and knives tuh hurt people wid?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDey don\u2019t say he ever cut nobody or shot nobody neither.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, is he\u2014he\u2014is he got uh wife or something lak dat? Not dat it\u2019s any uh mah business.\u201d She held her breath for the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u2019m. And nobody wouldn\u2019t marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it\u2019s somebody jes lak him\u2014ain\u2019t used to nothin\u2019. \u2019Course he always keep hisself in changin\u2019 clothes. Dat long-legged Tea Cake ain\u2019t got doodly squat. He ain\u2019t got no business makin\u2019 hisself familiar wid nobody lak you. Ah said Ah wuz goin\u2019 to tell yuh so yuh could know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh dat\u2019s all right, Hezekiah. Thank yuh mighty much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next night when she mounted her steps Tea Cake was there before her, sitting on the porch in the dark. He had a string of fresh-caught trout for a present.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019ll clean \u2019em, you fry \u2019em and let\u2019s eat,\u201d he said with the assurance of not being refused. They went out into the kitchen and fixed up the hot fish and corn muffins and ate. Then Tea Cake went to the piano without so much as asking and began playing blues and singing, and throwing grins over his shoulder. The sounds lulled Janie to soft slumber and she woke up with Tea Cake combing her hair and scratching the dandruff from her scalp. It made her more comfortable and drowsy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake, where you git uh comb from tuh be combin\u2019 mah hair wid?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh brought it wid me. Come prepared tuh lay mah hands on it tuhnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin\u2019 mah hair do you<\/span>? It\u2019s mah<\/span> comfortable, not yourn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mine too. Ah ain\u2019t been sleepin\u2019 so good for more\u2019n uh week cause Ah been wishin\u2019 so bad tuh git mah hands in yo\u2019 hair. It\u2019s so pretty. It feels jus\u2019 lak underneath uh dove\u2019s wing next to mah face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph! You\u2019se mighty easy satisfied. Ah been had dis same hair next tuh mah face ever since Ah cried de fust time, and \u2019tain\u2019t never gimme me no thrill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh tell you lak you told me\u2014you\u2019se mighty hard tuh satisfy. Ah betcha dem lips don\u2019t satisfy yuh neither.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right, Tea Cake. They\u2019s dere and Ah make use of \u2019em whenever it\u2019s necessary, but nothin\u2019 special tuh me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph! umph! umph! Ah betcha you don\u2019t never go tuh de lookin\u2019 glass and enjoy yo\u2019 eyes yo\u2019self. You lets other folks git all de enjoyment out of \u2019em \u2019thout takin\u2019 in any of it yo\u2019self.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, Ah never gazes at \u2019em in de lookin\u2019 glass. If anybody else gits any pleasure out of \u2019em Ah ain\u2019t been told about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee dat? You\u2019se got de world in uh jug and make out you don\u2019t know it. But Ah\u2019m glad tuh be de one tuh tell yuh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh guess you done told plenty women all about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m de Apostle Paul tuh de Gentiles. Ah tells \u2019em and then agin Ah shows \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh thought so.\u201d She yawned and made to get up from the sofa, \u201cYou done got me so sleepy wid yo\u2019 head-scratchin\u2019 Ah kin hardly make it tuh de bed.\u201d She stood up at once, collecting her hair. He sat still.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, you ain\u2019t sleepy, Mis\u2019 Janie. You jus\u2019 want me tuh go. You figger Ah\u2019m uh rounder and uh pimp and you done wasted too much time talkin\u2019 wid me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, Tea Cake! Whut ever put dat notion in yo\u2019 head?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDe way you looked at me when Ah said whut Ah did. Yo\u2019 face skeered me so bad till mah whiskers drawed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t got no business bein\u2019 mad at nothin\u2019 you do and say. You got it all wrong. Ah ain\u2019t mad atall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh know it and dat\u2019s what puts de shamery on me. You\u2019se jus\u2019 disgusted wid me. Yo\u2019 face jus\u2019 left here and went off somewhere else. Naw, you ain\u2019t mad wid me. Ah be glad if you was, \u2019cause then Ah might do somethin\u2019 tuh please yuh. But lak it is\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMah likes and dislikes ought not tuh make no difference wid you, Tea Cake. Dat\u2019s fuh yo\u2019 lady friend. Ah\u2019m jus\u2019 uh sometime friend uh yourn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie walked towards the stairway slowly, and Tea Cake sat where he was, as if he had frozen to his seat, in fear that once he got up, he\u2019d never get back in it again. He swallowed hard and looked at her walk away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh didn\u2019t aim tuh let on tuh yuh \u2019bout it, leastways not right away, but Ah ruther be shot wid tacks than fuh you tuh act wid me lak you is right now. You got me in de go-long.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the newel post Janie whirled around and for the space of a thought she was lit up like a transfiguration. Her next thought brought her crashing down. He\u2019s just saying anything for the time being, feeling he\u2019s got me so I\u2019ll b\u2019lieve him. The next thought buried her under tons of cold futility. He\u2019s trading on being younger than me. Getting ready to laugh at me for an old fool. But oh, what wouldn\u2019t I give to be twelve years younger so I could b\u2019lieve him!<\/p>\n

\u201cAw, Tea Cake, you just say dat tuhnight because de fish and cornbread tasted sort of good. Tomorrow yo\u2019 mind would change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, it wouldn\u2019t neither. Ah know better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyhow from what you told me when we wuz back dere in de kitchen Ah\u2019m nearly twelve years older than you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh done thought all about dat and tried tuh struggle aginst it, but it don\u2019t do me no good. De thought uh mah youngness don\u2019t satisfy me lak yo\u2019 presence do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes uh whole heap uh difference wid most folks, Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThings lak dat got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain\u2019t got nothin\u2019 tuh do wid love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Ah love tuh find out whut you think after sun-up tomorrow. Dis is jus\u2019 yo\u2019 night thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got yo\u2019 ideas and Ah got mine. Ah got uh dollar dat says you\u2019se wrong. But Ah reckon you don\u2019t bet money, neither.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh never have done it so fur. But as de old folks always say, Ah\u2019m born but Ah ain\u2019t dead. No tellin\u2019 whut Ah\u2019m liable tuh do yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He got up suddenly and took his hat. \u201cGood night, Mis\u2019 Janie. Look lak we done run our conversation from grass roots tuh pine trees. G\u2019bye.\u201d He almost ran out of the door.<\/p>\n

Janie hung over the newel post thinking so long that she all but went to sleep there. However, before she went to bed she took a good look at her mouth, eyes and hair.<\/p>\n

All next day in the house and store she thought resisting thoughts about Tea Cake. She even ridiculed him in her mind and was a little ashamed of the association. But every hour or two the battle had to be fought all over again. She couldn\u2019t make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom\u2014a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.<\/p>\n

So he didn\u2019t come that night and she laid in bed and pretended to think scornfully of him. \u201cBet he\u2019s hangin\u2019 round some jook or \u2019nother. Glad Ah treated him cold. Whut do Ah want wid some trashy nigger out de streets? Bet he\u2019s livin\u2019 wid some woman or \u2019nother and takin\u2019 me for uh fool. Glad Ah caught mahself in time.\u201d She tried to console herself that way.<\/p>\n

The next morning she awoke hearing a knocking on the front door and found Tea Cake there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Mis\u2019 Janie, Ah hope Ah woke you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sho did, Tea Cake. Come in and rest yo\u2019 hat. Whut you doin\u2019 out so soon dis mornin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThought Ah\u2019d try tuh git heah soon enough tuh tell yuh mah daytime thoughts. Ah see yuh needs tuh know mah daytime feelings. Ah can\u2019t sense yuh intuh it at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou crazy thing! Is dat whut you come here for at daybreak?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSho is. You needs tellin\u2019 and showin\u2019, and dat\u2019s whut Ah\u2019m doin\u2019. Ah picked some strawberries too, Ah figgered you might like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake, Ah \u2019clare Ah don\u2019t know whut tuh make outa you. You\u2019se so crazy. You better lemme fix you some breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAin\u2019t got time. Ah got uh job uh work. Gottuh be back in Orlandah at eight o\u2019clock. See yuh later, tell you straighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

He bolted down the walk and was gone. But that night when she left the store, he was stretched out in the hammock on the porch with his hat over his face pretending to sleep. She called him. He pretended not to hear. He snored louder. She went to the hammock to shake him and he seized and pulled her in with him. After a little, she let him adjust her in his arms and laid there for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake, Ah don\u2019t know \u2019bout you, but Ah\u2019m hongry, come on let\u2019s eat some supper.\u201d<\/p>\n

They went inside and their laughter rang out first from the kitchen and all over the house.<\/p>\n

Janie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away. Then he must dress hurriedly and get to his job on time. He wouldn\u2019t let her get him any breakfast at all. He wanted her to get her rest. He made her stay where she was. In her heart she wanted to get his breakfast for him. But she stayed in bed long after he was gone.<\/p>\n

So much had been breathed out by the pores that Tea Cake still was there. She could feel him and almost see him bucking around the room in the upper air. After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind. That was the beginning of things.<\/p>\n

In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie\u2019s ear. Doubt. All the fears that circumstance could provide and the heart feel, attacked her on every side. This was a new sensation for her, but no less excruciating. If only Tea Cake would make her certain! He did not return that night nor the next and so she plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth darkness where light has never been.<\/p>\n

But the fourth day after he came in the afternoon driving a battered car. Jumped out like a deer and made the gesture of tying it to a post on the store porch. Ready with his grin! She adored him and hated him at the same time. How could he make her suffer so and then come grinning like that with that darling way he had? He pinched her arm as he walked inside the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrought me somethin\u2019 tuh haul you off in,\u201d he told her with that secret chuckle. \u201cGit yo\u2019 hat if you gointuh wear one. We got tuh go buy groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh sells groceries right here in dis store, Tea Cake, if you don\u2019t happen tuh know.\u201d She tried to look cold but she was smiling in spite of herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot de kind we want fuh de occasion. You sells groceries for ordinary people. We\u2019se gointuh buy for you<\/span>. De big Sunday School picnic is tomorrow\u2014bet you done forget it\u2014and we got tuh be dere wid uh swell basket and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t know \u2019bout dat, Tea Cake. Tell yuh whut you do. G\u2019wan down tuh de house and wait for me. Be dere in uh minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

As soon as she thought it looked right she slipped out of the back and joined Tea Cake. No need of fooling herself. Maybe he was just being polite.<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake, you sure you want me tuh go tuh dis picnic wid yuh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe scramble \u2019round tuh git de money tuh take yuh\u2014been workin\u2019 lak uh dawg for two whole weeks\u2014and she come astin\u2019 me if Ah want her tuh go! Puttin\u2019 mahself tuh uh whole heap uh trouble tuh git dis car so you kin go over tuh Winter Park or Orlandah tuh buy de things you might need and dis woman set dere and ast me if Ah want her tuh go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t git mad, Tea Cake, Ah just didn\u2019t want you doin\u2019 nothin\u2019 outa politeness. If dere\u2019s somebody else you\u2019d ruther take, it\u2019s all right wid me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, it ain\u2019t all right wid you. If it was you wouldn\u2019t be sayin\u2019 dat. Have de nerve tuh say whut you mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, all right, Tea Cake, Ah wants tuh go wid you real bad, but,\u2014oh, Tea Cake, don\u2019t make no false pretense wid me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJanie, Ah hope God may kill me, if Ah\u2019m lyin\u2019. Nobody else on earth kin hold uh candle tuh you, baby. You got de keys to de kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-81","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\/81","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/81\/revisions\/140"}],"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\/81\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}