{"id":87,"date":"2021-10-29T11:15:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-16\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:32:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:32:02","slug":"the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-16","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-16\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 17","rendered":"Chapter 17"},"content":{"raw":"
<\/div>\r\n

A great<\/span> deal of the old crowd were back. But there were lots of new ones too. Some of these men made passes at Janie, and women who didn\u2019t know took out after Tea Cake. Didn\u2019t take them long to be put right, however. Still and all, jealousies arose now and then on both sides. When Mrs. Turner\u2019s brother came and she brought him over to be introduced, Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss. Everybody talked about it next day in the fields. It aroused a sort of envy in both men and women. The way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake, you sho is a lucky man,\u201d Sop-de-Bottom told him. \u201cUh person can see every place you hit her. Ah bet she never raised her hand tuh hit yuh back, neither. Take some uh dese ol\u2019 rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn\u2019t tell you ever hit \u2019em. Dat\u2019s de reason Ah done quit beatin\u2019 mah woman. You can\u2019t make no mark on \u2019em at all. Lawd! wouldn\u2019t Ah love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie! All bet she don\u2019t even holler. She jus\u2019 cries, eh Tea Cake?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSee dat! Mah woman would spread her lungs all over Palm Beach County, let alone knock out mah jaw teeth. You don\u2019t know dat woman uh mine. She got ninety-nine rows uh jaw teeth and git her good and mad, she\u2019ll wade through solid rock up to her hip pockets.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMah Janie is uh high time woman and useter things. Ah didn\u2019t git her outa de middle uh de road. Ah got her outa uh big fine house. Right now she got money enough in de bank tuh buy up dese ziggaboos and give \u2019em away.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHush yo\u2019 mouf! And she down heah on de muck lak anybody else!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJanie is wherever Ah<\/span> wants tuh be. Dat\u2019s de kind uh wife she is and Ah love her for it. Ah wouldn\u2019t be knockin\u2019 her around. Ah didn\u2019t wants whup her last night, but ol\u2019 Mis\u2019 Turner done sent for her brother tuh come tuh bait Janie in and take her way from me. Ah didn\u2019t whup Janie \u2019cause she<\/span> done nothin\u2019. Ah beat her tuh show dem Turners who is boss. Ah set in de kitchen one day and heard dat woman tell mah wife Ah\u2019m too black fuh her. She don\u2019t see how Janie can stand me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTell her husband on her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShucks! Ah b\u2019lieve he\u2019s skeered of her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cKnock her teeth down her throat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat would look like she had some influence when she ain\u2019t. Ah jus\u2019 let her see dat Ah got control.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSo she live offa our money and don\u2019t lak black folks, huh? O.K. we\u2019ll have her gone from here befo\u2019 two weeks is up. Ah\u2019m goin\u2019 right off tuh all de men and drop rocks aginst her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t mad wid her for whut she done, \u2019cause she ain\u2019t done me nothin\u2019 yet. Ah\u2019m mad at her for thinkin\u2019. Her and her gang got tuh go.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUs is wid yuh, Tea Cake. You know dat already. Dat Turner woman is real smart, accordin\u2019 tuh her notions. Reckon she done heard \u2019bout dat money yo\u2019 wife got in de bank and she\u2019s bound tuh rope her intuh her family one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSop, Ah don\u2019t think it\u2019s half de money as it is de looks. She\u2019s color-struck. She ain\u2019t got de kind of uh mind you meet every day. She ain\u2019t a fact and neither do she make a good story when you tell about her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh yeah, she\u2019s too smart tuh stay round heah. She figgers we\u2019se jus\u2019 uh bunch uh dumb niggers so she think she\u2019ll grow horns. But dat\u2019s uh lie. She\u2019ll die butt-headed.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Saturday afternoon when the work tickets were turned into cash everybody began to buy coon-dick and get drunk. By dusk dark Belle Glade was full of loud-talking, staggering men. Plenty women had gotten their knots charged too. The police chief in his speedy Ford was rushing from jook to jook and eating house trying to keep order, but making few arrests. Not enough jail-space for all the drunks so why bother with a few? All he could do to keep down fights and get the white men out of colored town by nine o\u2019clock. Dick Sterrett and Coodemay seemed to be the worst off. Their likker told them to go from place to place pushing and shoving and loud-talking and they were doing it.<\/p>\r\n

Way after a while they arrived at Mrs. Turner\u2019s eating house and found the place full to the limit. Tea Cake, Stew Beef, Sop-de-Bottom, Bootyny, Motor Boat and all the familiar crowd was there. Coodemay straightened up as if in surprise and asked, \u201cSay, whut y\u2019all doin\u2019 in heah?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cEatin\u2019,\u201d Stew Beef told him, \u201cDey got beef stew, so you know<\/span> Ah\u2019d be heah.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe all laks tuh take uh rest from our women folks\u2019 cookin\u2019 once in uh while, so us all eatin\u2019 way from home tuhnight. Anyhow Mis\u2019 Turner got de best ole grub in town.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Mrs. Turner back and forth in the dining room heard Sop when he said this and beamed.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh speck you two last ones tuh come in is gointuh have tuh wait for uh seat. Ah\u2019m all full up now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s all right,\u201d Sterrett objected. \u201cYou fry me some fish. Ah kin eat dat standin\u2019 up. Cuppa coffee on de side.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSling me up uh plate uh dat stew beef wid some coffee too, please ma\u2019am. Sterrett is jus\u2019 ez drunk ez Ah is; and if he kin eat standin\u2019 up, Ah kin do de same.\u201d Coodemay leaned drunkenly against the wall and everybody laughed.<\/p>\r\n

Pretty soon the girl that was waiting table for Mrs. Turner brought in the order and Sterrett took his fish and coffee in his hands and stood there. Coodemay wouldn\u2019t take his off the tray like he should have.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, you hold it fuh me, baby, and lemme eat,\u201d he told the waitress. He took the fork and started to eat off the tray.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNobody ain\u2019t got no time tuh hold yo\u2019 grub up in front uh yo\u2019 face,\u201d she told Coodemay. \u201cHeah, take it yo\u2019self.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou\u2019se right,\u201d Coodemay told her. \u201cGimme it heah. Sop kin gimme his chear.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou\u2019se uh lie,\u201d Sop retorted. \u201cAh ain\u2019t through and Ah ain\u2019t ready tuh git up.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Coodemay tried to shove Sop out of the chair and Sop resisted. That brought on a whole lot of shoving and scrambling and coffee got spilt on Sop. So he aimed at Coodemay with a saucer and hit Bootyny. Bootyny threw his thick coffee cup at Coodemay and just missed Stew Beef. So it got to be a big fight. Mrs. Turner came running in out of the kitchen. Then Tea Cake got up and caught hold of Coodemay by the collar.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLooka heah, y\u2019all, don\u2019t come in heah and raise no disturbance in de place. Mis\u2019 Turner is too nice uh woman fuh dat. In fact, she\u2019s more nicer than anybody else on de muck.\u201d Mrs. Turner beamed on Tea Cake.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh knows dat. All of us knows it. But Ah don\u2019t give uh damn how nice she is, Ah got tuh have some place tuh set down and eat. Sop ain\u2019t gointuh bluff me, neither. Let \u2019im fight lak a man. Take yo\u2019 hands off me, Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, Ah won\u2019t neither. You comin\u2019 on outa de place.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWho gointuh make me come out?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMe, dat\u2019s who. Ah\u2019m in heah, ain\u2019t Ah? If you don\u2019t want tuh respect nice people lak Mrs. Turner, God knows you gointuh respect me! Come on outa heah, Coodemay.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTurn him loose, Tea Cake!\u201d Sterrett shouted. \u201cDat\u2019s mah<\/span> buddy. Us come in heah together and he ain\u2019t goin\u2019 nowhere until Ah go mahself.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, both of yuh is goin\u2019!\u201d Tea Cake shouted and fastened down on Coodemay. Dockery grabbed Sterrett and they wrassled all over the place. Some more joined in and dishes and tables began to crash.<\/p>\r\n

Mrs. Turner saw with dismay that Tea Cake\u2019s taking them out was worse than letting them stay in. She ran out in the back somewhere and got her husband to put a stop to things. He came in, took a look and squinched down into a chair in an off corner and didn\u2019t open his mouth. So Mrs. Turner struggled into the mass and caught Tea Cake by the arm.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s all right, Tea Cake, Ah \u2019preciate yo\u2019 help, but leave \u2019em alone.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw suh, Mis\u2019 Turner, Ah\u2019m gointuh show \u2019em dey can\u2019t come runnin\u2019 over nice people and loud-talk no place whilst Ah\u2019m around. Dey goin\u2019 outa heah!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

By that time everybody in and around the place was taking sides. Somehow or other Mrs. Turner fell down and nobody knew she was down there under all the fighting, and broken dishes and crippled up tables and broken-off chair legs and window panes and such things. It got so that the floor was knee-deep with something no matter where you put your foot down. But Tea Cake kept right on until Coodemay told him, \u201cAh\u2019m wrong. Ah\u2019m wrong! Y\u2019all tried tuh tell me right and Ah wouldn\u2019t lissen. Ah ain\u2019t mad wid nobody. Just tuh show y\u2019all Ah ain\u2019t mad, me and Sterrett gointuh buy everybody somethin\u2019 tuh drink. Ole man Vickers got some good coon-dick over round Pahokee. Come on everybody. Let\u2019s go git our knots charged.\u201d Everybody got in a good humor and left.<\/p>\r\n

Mrs. Turner got up off the floor hollering for the police. Look at her place! How come nobody didn\u2019t call the police? Then she found out that one of her hands was all stepped on and her fingers were bleeding pretty peart. Two or three people who were not there during the fracas poked their heads in at the door to sympathize but that made Mrs. Turner madder. She told them where to go in a hurry. Then she saw her husband sitting over there in the corner with his long bony legs all crossed up smoking his pipe.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat kinda man is you<\/span>, Turner? You see dese no-count niggers come in heah and break up mah place! How kin you set and see yo\u2019 wife all trompled on? You ain\u2019t no kinda man at all. You seen dat Tea Cake shove me down! Yes you did! You ain\u2019t raised yo\u2019 hand tuh do nothin\u2019 about it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Turner removed his pipe and answered: \u201cYeah, and you see how Ah did swell up too, didn\u2019t yuh? You tell Tea Cake he better be keerful Ah don\u2019t swell up again.\u201d At that Turner crossed his legs the other way and kept right on smoking his pipe.<\/p>\r\n

Mrs. Turner hit at him the best she could with her hurt hand and then spoke her mind for half an hour.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing mah brother wuzn\u2019t round heah when it happened do he would uh kilt somebody. Mah son too. Dey got some manhood about \u2019em. We\u2019se goin\u2019 back tuh Miami where folks is civilised.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Nobody told her right away that her son and brother were already on their way after pointed warnings outside the caf\u00e9. No time for fooling around. They were hurrying into Palm Beach. She\u2019d find out about that later on.<\/p>\r\n

Monday morning Coodemay and Sterrett stopped by and begged her pardon profusely and gave her five dollars apiece. Then Coodemay said, \u201cDey tell me Ah wuz drunk Sat\u2019day night and clownin\u2019 down. Ah don\u2019t \u2019member uh thing \u2019bout it. But when Ah git tuh peepin\u2019 through mah likker, dey tell me Ah\u2019m uh mess.\u201d<\/p>","rendered":"

<\/div>\n

A great<\/span> deal of the old crowd were back. But there were lots of new ones too. Some of these men made passes at Janie, and women who didn\u2019t know took out after Tea Cake. Didn\u2019t take them long to be put right, however. Still and all, jealousies arose now and then on both sides. When Mrs. Turner\u2019s brother came and she brought him over to be introduced, Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss. Everybody talked about it next day in the fields. It aroused a sort of envy in both men and women. The way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake, you sho is a lucky man,\u201d Sop-de-Bottom told him. \u201cUh person can see every place you hit her. Ah bet she never raised her hand tuh hit yuh back, neither. Take some uh dese ol\u2019 rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn\u2019t tell you ever hit \u2019em. Dat\u2019s de reason Ah done quit beatin\u2019 mah woman. You can\u2019t make no mark on \u2019em at all. Lawd! wouldn\u2019t Ah love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie! All bet she don\u2019t even holler. She jus\u2019 cries, eh Tea Cake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee dat! Mah woman would spread her lungs all over Palm Beach County, let alone knock out mah jaw teeth. You don\u2019t know dat woman uh mine. She got ninety-nine rows uh jaw teeth and git her good and mad, she\u2019ll wade through solid rock up to her hip pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMah Janie is uh high time woman and useter things. Ah didn\u2019t git her outa de middle uh de road. Ah got her outa uh big fine house. Right now she got money enough in de bank tuh buy up dese ziggaboos and give \u2019em away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHush yo\u2019 mouf! And she down heah on de muck lak anybody else!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJanie is wherever Ah<\/span> wants tuh be. Dat\u2019s de kind uh wife she is and Ah love her for it. Ah wouldn\u2019t be knockin\u2019 her around. Ah didn\u2019t wants whup her last night, but ol\u2019 Mis\u2019 Turner done sent for her brother tuh come tuh bait Janie in and take her way from me. Ah didn\u2019t whup Janie \u2019cause she<\/span> done nothin\u2019. Ah beat her tuh show dem Turners who is boss. Ah set in de kitchen one day and heard dat woman tell mah wife Ah\u2019m too black fuh her. She don\u2019t see how Janie can stand me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell her husband on her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShucks! Ah b\u2019lieve he\u2019s skeered of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnock her teeth down her throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat would look like she had some influence when she ain\u2019t. Ah jus\u2019 let her see dat Ah got control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo she live offa our money and don\u2019t lak black folks, huh? O.K. we\u2019ll have her gone from here befo\u2019 two weeks is up. Ah\u2019m goin\u2019 right off tuh all de men and drop rocks aginst her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh ain\u2019t mad wid her for whut she done, \u2019cause she ain\u2019t done me nothin\u2019 yet. Ah\u2019m mad at her for thinkin\u2019. Her and her gang got tuh go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUs is wid yuh, Tea Cake. You know dat already. Dat Turner woman is real smart, accordin\u2019 tuh her notions. Reckon she done heard \u2019bout dat money yo\u2019 wife got in de bank and she\u2019s bound tuh rope her intuh her family one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSop, Ah don\u2019t think it\u2019s half de money as it is de looks. She\u2019s color-struck. She ain\u2019t got de kind of uh mind you meet every day. She ain\u2019t a fact and neither do she make a good story when you tell about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh yeah, she\u2019s too smart tuh stay round heah. She figgers we\u2019se jus\u2019 uh bunch uh dumb niggers so she think she\u2019ll grow horns. But dat\u2019s uh lie. She\u2019ll die butt-headed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday afternoon when the work tickets were turned into cash everybody began to buy coon-dick and get drunk. By dusk dark Belle Glade was full of loud-talking, staggering men. Plenty women had gotten their knots charged too. The police chief in his speedy Ford was rushing from jook to jook and eating house trying to keep order, but making few arrests. Not enough jail-space for all the drunks so why bother with a few? All he could do to keep down fights and get the white men out of colored town by nine o\u2019clock. Dick Sterrett and Coodemay seemed to be the worst off. Their likker told them to go from place to place pushing and shoving and loud-talking and they were doing it.<\/p>\n

Way after a while they arrived at Mrs. Turner\u2019s eating house and found the place full to the limit. Tea Cake, Stew Beef, Sop-de-Bottom, Bootyny, Motor Boat and all the familiar crowd was there. Coodemay straightened up as if in surprise and asked, \u201cSay, whut y\u2019all doin\u2019 in heah?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEatin\u2019,\u201d Stew Beef told him, \u201cDey got beef stew, so you know<\/span> Ah\u2019d be heah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all laks tuh take uh rest from our women folks\u2019 cookin\u2019 once in uh while, so us all eatin\u2019 way from home tuhnight. Anyhow Mis\u2019 Turner got de best ole grub in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Turner back and forth in the dining room heard Sop when he said this and beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh speck you two last ones tuh come in is gointuh have tuh wait for uh seat. Ah\u2019m all full up now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s all right,\u201d Sterrett objected. \u201cYou fry me some fish. Ah kin eat dat standin\u2019 up. Cuppa coffee on de side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSling me up uh plate uh dat stew beef wid some coffee too, please ma\u2019am. Sterrett is jus\u2019 ez drunk ez Ah is; and if he kin eat standin\u2019 up, Ah kin do de same.\u201d Coodemay leaned drunkenly against the wall and everybody laughed.<\/p>\n

Pretty soon the girl that was waiting table for Mrs. Turner brought in the order and Sterrett took his fish and coffee in his hands and stood there. Coodemay wouldn\u2019t take his off the tray like he should have.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, you hold it fuh me, baby, and lemme eat,\u201d he told the waitress. He took the fork and started to eat off the tray.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody ain\u2019t got no time tuh hold yo\u2019 grub up in front uh yo\u2019 face,\u201d she told Coodemay. \u201cHeah, take it yo\u2019self.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019se right,\u201d Coodemay told her. \u201cGimme it heah. Sop kin gimme his chear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019se uh lie,\u201d Sop retorted. \u201cAh ain\u2019t through and Ah ain\u2019t ready tuh git up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coodemay tried to shove Sop out of the chair and Sop resisted. That brought on a whole lot of shoving and scrambling and coffee got spilt on Sop. So he aimed at Coodemay with a saucer and hit Bootyny. Bootyny threw his thick coffee cup at Coodemay and just missed Stew Beef. So it got to be a big fight. Mrs. Turner came running in out of the kitchen. Then Tea Cake got up and caught hold of Coodemay by the collar.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooka heah, y\u2019all, don\u2019t come in heah and raise no disturbance in de place. Mis\u2019 Turner is too nice uh woman fuh dat. In fact, she\u2019s more nicer than anybody else on de muck.\u201d Mrs. Turner beamed on Tea Cake.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh knows dat. All of us knows it. But Ah don\u2019t give uh damn how nice she is, Ah got tuh have some place tuh set down and eat. Sop ain\u2019t gointuh bluff me, neither. Let \u2019im fight lak a man. Take yo\u2019 hands off me, Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, Ah won\u2019t neither. You comin\u2019 on outa de place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho gointuh make me come out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe, dat\u2019s who. Ah\u2019m in heah, ain\u2019t Ah? If you don\u2019t want tuh respect nice people lak Mrs. Turner, God knows you gointuh respect me! Come on outa heah, Coodemay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTurn him loose, Tea Cake!\u201d Sterrett shouted. \u201cDat\u2019s mah<\/span> buddy. Us come in heah together and he ain\u2019t goin\u2019 nowhere until Ah go mahself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, both of yuh is goin\u2019!\u201d Tea Cake shouted and fastened down on Coodemay. Dockery grabbed Sterrett and they wrassled all over the place. Some more joined in and dishes and tables began to crash.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Turner saw with dismay that Tea Cake\u2019s taking them out was worse than letting them stay in. She ran out in the back somewhere and got her husband to put a stop to things. He came in, took a look and squinched down into a chair in an off corner and didn\u2019t open his mouth. So Mrs. Turner struggled into the mass and caught Tea Cake by the arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s all right, Tea Cake, Ah \u2019preciate yo\u2019 help, but leave \u2019em alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw suh, Mis\u2019 Turner, Ah\u2019m gointuh show \u2019em dey can\u2019t come runnin\u2019 over nice people and loud-talk no place whilst Ah\u2019m around. Dey goin\u2019 outa heah!\u201d<\/p>\n

By that time everybody in and around the place was taking sides. Somehow or other Mrs. Turner fell down and nobody knew she was down there under all the fighting, and broken dishes and crippled up tables and broken-off chair legs and window panes and such things. It got so that the floor was knee-deep with something no matter where you put your foot down. But Tea Cake kept right on until Coodemay told him, \u201cAh\u2019m wrong. Ah\u2019m wrong! Y\u2019all tried tuh tell me right and Ah wouldn\u2019t lissen. Ah ain\u2019t mad wid nobody. Just tuh show y\u2019all Ah ain\u2019t mad, me and Sterrett gointuh buy everybody somethin\u2019 tuh drink. Ole man Vickers got some good coon-dick over round Pahokee. Come on everybody. Let\u2019s go git our knots charged.\u201d Everybody got in a good humor and left.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Turner got up off the floor hollering for the police. Look at her place! How come nobody didn\u2019t call the police? Then she found out that one of her hands was all stepped on and her fingers were bleeding pretty peart. Two or three people who were not there during the fracas poked their heads in at the door to sympathize but that made Mrs. Turner madder. She told them where to go in a hurry. Then she saw her husband sitting over there in the corner with his long bony legs all crossed up smoking his pipe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kinda man is you<\/span>, Turner? You see dese no-count niggers come in heah and break up mah place! How kin you set and see yo\u2019 wife all trompled on? You ain\u2019t no kinda man at all. You seen dat Tea Cake shove me down! Yes you did! You ain\u2019t raised yo\u2019 hand tuh do nothin\u2019 about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner removed his pipe and answered: \u201cYeah, and you see how Ah did swell up too, didn\u2019t yuh? You tell Tea Cake he better be keerful Ah don\u2019t swell up again.\u201d At that Turner crossed his legs the other way and kept right on smoking his pipe.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Turner hit at him the best she could with her hurt hand and then spoke her mind for half an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing mah brother wuzn\u2019t round heah when it happened do he would uh kilt somebody. Mah son too. Dey got some manhood about \u2019em. We\u2019se goin\u2019 back tuh Miami where folks is civilised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody told her right away that her son and brother were already on their way after pointed warnings outside the caf\u00e9. No time for fooling around. They were hurrying into Palm Beach. She\u2019d find out about that later on.<\/p>\n

Monday morning Coodemay and Sterrett stopped by and begged her pardon profusely and gave her five dollars apiece. Then Coodemay said, \u201cDey tell me Ah wuz drunk Sat\u2019day night and clownin\u2019 down. Ah don\u2019t \u2019member uh thing \u2019bout it. But when Ah git tuh peepin\u2019 through mah likker, dey tell me Ah\u2019m uh mess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":17,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-87","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\/87","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\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/87\/revisions\/146"}],"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\/87\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}