{"id":92,"date":"2021-10-29T11:16:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-21\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:01:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:01:18","slug":"1","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/1\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 1","rendered":"Chapter 1"},"content":{"raw":"

Ships<\/span> at a distance have every man\u2019s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.<\/p>\r\n

Now, women forget all those things they don\u2019t want to remember, and remember everything they don\u2019t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.<\/p>\r\n

So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead. Not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and the feet. She had come back from the sodden and the bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment.<\/p>\r\n

The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.<\/p>\r\n

Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat she doin\u2019 coming back here in dem overhalls? Can\u2019t she find no dress to put on?\u2014Where\u2019s dat blue satin dress she left here in?\u2014Where all dat money her husband took and died and left her?\u2014What dat ole forty year ole \u2019oman doin\u2019 wid her hair swingin\u2019 down her back lak some young gal?\u2014Where she left dat young lad of a boy she went off here wid?\u2014Thought she was going to marry?\u2014Where he left her<\/span>?\u2014What he done wid all her money?\u2014Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain\u2019t even got no hairs\u2014why she don\u2019t stay in her class?\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

When she got to where they were she turned her face on the bander log and spoke. They scrambled a noisy \u201cgood evenin\u2019\u202f\u201d and left their mouths setting open and their ears full of hope. Her speech was pleasant enough, but she kept walking straight on to her gate. The porch couldn\u2019t talk for looking.<\/p>\r\n

The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt. They, the men, were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye. The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day.<\/p>\r\n

But nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody even thought to swallow spit until after her gate slammed behind her.<\/p>\r\n

Pearl Stone opened her mouth and laughed real hard because she didn\u2019t know what else to do. She fell all over Mrs. Sumpkins while she laughed. Mrs. Sumpkins snorted violently and sucked her teeth.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHumph! Y\u2019all let her worry yuh. You ain\u2019t like me. Ah ain\u2019t got her to study \u2019bout. If she ain\u2019t got manners enough to stop and let folks know how she been makin\u2019 out, let her g\u2019wan!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe ain\u2019t even worth talkin\u2019 after,\u201d Lulu Moss drawled through her nose. \u201cShe sits high, but she looks low. Dat\u2019s what Ah say \u2019bout dese ole women runnin\u2019 after young boys.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Pheoby Watson hitched her rocking chair forward before she spoke. \u201cWell, nobody don\u2019t know if it\u2019s anything to tell or not. Me, Ah\u2019m her best friend, and Ah<\/span> don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMaybe us don\u2019t know into things lak you do, but we all know how she went \u2019way from here and us sho seen her come back. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in your tryin\u2019 to cloak no ole woman lak Janie Starks, Pheoby, friend or no friend.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAt dat she ain\u2019t so ole as some of y\u2019all dat\u2019s talking.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe\u2019s way past forty to my knowledge, Pheoby.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo more\u2019n forty at de outside.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe\u2019s \u2019way too old for a boy like Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTea Cake ain\u2019t been no boy for some time. He\u2019s round thirty his ownself.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDon\u2019t keer what it was, she could stop and say a few words with us. She act like we done done something to her,\u201d Pearl Stone complained. \u201cShe de one been doin\u2019 wrong.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou mean, you mad \u2019cause she didn\u2019t stop and tell us all her business. Anyhow, what you ever know her to do so bad as y\u2019all make out? The worst thing Ah ever knowed her to do was taking a few years offa her age and dat ain\u2019t never harmed nobody. Y\u2019all makes me tired. De way you talkin\u2019 you\u2019d think de folks in dis town didn\u2019t do nothin\u2019 in de bed \u2019cept praise de Lawd. You have to \u2019scuse me, \u2019cause Ah\u2019m bound to go take her some supper.\u201d Pheoby stood up sharply.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDon\u2019t mind us,\u201d Lulu smiled, \u201cjust go right ahead, us can mind yo\u2019 house for you till you git back. Mah supper is done. You bettah go see how she feel. You kin let de rest of us know.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLawd,\u201d Pearl agreed, \u201cAh done scorched-up dat lil meat and bread too long to talk about. Ah kin stay \u2019way from home long as Ah please. Mah husband ain\u2019t fussy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh, er, Pheoby, if youse ready to go, Ah could walk over dere wid you,\u201d Mrs. Sumpkins volunteered. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of duskin\u2019 down dark. De boogerman might ketch yuh.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, Ah thank yuh. Nothin\u2019 couldn\u2019t ketch me dese few steps Ah\u2019m goin\u2019. Anyhow mah husband tell me say no first class booger would have me. If she got anything to tell yuh, you\u2019ll hear it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Pheoby hurried on off with a covered bowl in her hands. She left the porch pelting her back with unasked questions. They hoped the answers were cruel and strange. When she arrived at the place, Pheoby Watson didn\u2019t go in by the front gate and down the palm walk to the front door. She walked around the fence corner and went in the intimate gate with her heaping plate of mulatto rice. Janie must be round that side.<\/p>\r\n

She found her sitting on the steps of the back porch with the lamps all filled and the chimneys cleaned.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHello, Janie, how you comin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAw, pretty good, Ah\u2019m tryin\u2019 to soak some uh de tiredness and de dirt outa mah feet.\u201d She laughed a little.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh see you is. Gal, you sho looks good<\/span>. You looks like youse yo\u2019 own daughter.\u201d They both laughed. \u201cEven wid dem overhalls on, you shows yo\u2019 womanhood.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cG\u2019wan! G\u2019wan! You must think Ah brought yuh somethin\u2019. When Ah ain\u2019t brought home a thing but mahself.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s a gracious plenty. Yo\u2019 friends wouldn\u2019t want nothin\u2019 better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh takes dat flattery offa you, Pheoby, \u2019cause Ah know it\u2019s from de heart.\u201d Janie extended her hand. \u201cGood Lawd, Pheoby! ain\u2019t you never goin\u2019 tuh gimme dat lil rations you brought me? Ah ain\u2019t had a thing on mah stomach today exceptin\u2019 mah hand.\u201d They both laughed easily. \u201cGive it here and have a seat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh knowed you\u2019d be hongry. No time to be huntin\u2019 stove wood after dark. Mah mulatto rice ain\u2019t so good dis time. Not enough bacon grease, but Ah reckon it\u2019ll kill hongry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019ll tell you in a minute,\u201d Janie said, lifting the cover. \u201cGal, it\u2019s too<\/span> good! you switches a mean fanny round in a kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAw, dat ain\u2019t much to eat, Janie. But Ah\u2019m liable to have something sho nuff good tomorrow, \u2019cause you done come.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie ate heartily and said nothing. The varicolored cloud dust that the sun had stirred up in the sky was settling by slow degrees.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHere, Pheoby, take yo\u2019 ole plate. Ah ain\u2019t got a bit of use for a empty dish. Dat grub sho come in handy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Pheoby laughed at her friend\u2019s rough joke. \u201cYouse just as crazy as you ever was.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHand me dat wash-rag on dat chair by you, honey. Lemme scrub mah feet.\u201d She took the cloth and rubbed vigorously. Laughter came to her from the big road.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, Ah see Mouth-Almighty is still sittin\u2019 in de same place. And Ah reckon they got me<\/span> up in they mouth now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYes indeed. You know if you pass some people and don\u2019t speak tuh suit \u2019em dey got tuh go way back in yo\u2019 life and see whut you ever done. They know mo\u2019 \u2019bout yuh than you do yo\u2019 self. An envious heart makes a treacherous ear. They done \u2018heard\u2019 \u2019bout you just what they hope done happened.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf God don\u2019t think no mo\u2019 \u2019bout \u2019em then Ah do, they\u2019s a lost ball in de high grass.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh hears what they say \u2019cause they just will collect round mah porch \u2019cause it\u2019s on de big road. Mah husband git so sick of \u2019em sometime he makes \u2019em all git for home.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSam is right too. They just wearin\u2019 out yo\u2019 sittin\u2019 chairs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, Sam say most of \u2019em goes to church so they\u2019ll be sure to rise in Judgment. Dat\u2019s de day dat every secret is s\u2019posed to be made known. They wants to be there and hear it all<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSam is too<\/span> crazy! You can\u2019t stop laughin\u2019 when youse round him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUuh hunh. He says he aims to be there hisself so he can find out who stole his corn-cob pipe.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cPheoby, dat Sam of yourn just won\u2019t quit! Crazy thing!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMost of dese ziggaboos is so het up over yo\u2019 business till they liable to hurry theyself to Judgment to find out about you if they don\u2019t soon know. You better make haste and tell \u2019em \u2019bout you and Tea Cake gittin\u2019 married, and if he taken all yo\u2019 money and went off wid some young gal, and where at he is now and where at is all yo\u2019 clothes dat you got to come back here in overhalls.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t mean to bother wid tellin\u2019 \u2019em nothin\u2019, Pheoby. \u2019Tain\u2019t worth de trouble. You can tell \u2019em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat\u2019s just de same as me \u2019cause mah tongue is in mah friend\u2019s mouf.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf you so desire Ah\u2019ll tell \u2019em what you tell me to tell \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTo start off wid, people like dem wastes up too much time puttin\u2019 they mouf on things they don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 about. Now they got to look into me loving Tea Cake and see whether it was done right or not! They don\u2019t know if life is a mess of cornmeal dumplings, and if love is a bed-quilt!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSo long as they get a name to gnaw on they don\u2019t care whose it is, and what about, \u2019specially if they can make it sound like evil.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf they wants to see and know, why they don\u2019t come kiss and be kissed? Ah could then sit down and tell \u2019em things. Ah been a delegate to de big \u2019ssociation of life. Yessuh! De Grand Lodge, de big convention of livin\u2019 is just where Ah been dis year and a half y\u2019all ain\u2019t seen me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

They sat there in the fresh young darkness close together. Pheoby eager to feel and do through Janie, but hating to show her zest for fear it might be thought mere curiosity. Janie full of that oldest human longing\u2014self revelation. Pheoby held her tongue for a long time, but she couldn\u2019t help moving her feet. So Janie spoke.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t need to worry about me and my overhalls long as Ah still got nine hundred dollars in de bank. Tea Cake got me into wearing \u2019em\u2014following behind him. Tea Cake ain\u2019t wasted up no money of mine, and he ain\u2019t left me for no young gal, neither. He give me every consolation in de world. He\u2019d tell \u2019em so too, if he was here. If he wasn\u2019t gone.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Pheoby dilated all over with eagerness, \u201cTea Cake gone?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, Pheoby, Tea Cake is gone. And dat\u2019s de only reason you see me back here\u2014cause Ah ain\u2019t got nothing to make me happy no more where Ah was at. Down in the Everglades there, down on the muck.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to understand what you mean, de way you tell it. And then again Ah\u2019m hard of understandin\u2019 at times.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, \u2019tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 lak you might think. So \u2019tain\u2019t no use in me telling you somethin\u2019 unless Ah give you de understandin\u2019 to go \u2019long wid it. Unless you see de fur, a mink skin ain\u2019t no different from a coon hide. Looka heah, Pheoby, is Sam waitin\u2019 on you for his supper?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all ready and waitin\u2019. If he ain\u2019t got sense enough to eat it, dat\u2019s his hard luck.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell then, we can set right where we is and talk. Ah got the house all opened up to let dis breeze get a little catchin\u2019.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cPheoby, we been kissin\u2019-friends for twenty years, so Ah depend on you for a good thought. And Ah\u2019m talking to you from dat standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a monstropolous old thing while Janie talked.<\/p>","rendered":"

Ships<\/span> at a distance have every man\u2019s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.<\/p>\n

Now, women forget all those things they don\u2019t want to remember, and remember everything they don\u2019t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.<\/p>\n

So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead. Not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and the feet. She had come back from the sodden and the bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment.<\/p>\n

The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.<\/p>\n

Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat she doin\u2019 coming back here in dem overhalls? Can\u2019t she find no dress to put on?\u2014Where\u2019s dat blue satin dress she left here in?\u2014Where all dat money her husband took and died and left her?\u2014What dat ole forty year ole \u2019oman doin\u2019 wid her hair swingin\u2019 down her back lak some young gal?\u2014Where she left dat young lad of a boy she went off here wid?\u2014Thought she was going to marry?\u2014Where he left her<\/span>?\u2014What he done wid all her money?\u2014Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain\u2019t even got no hairs\u2014why she don\u2019t stay in her class?\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

When she got to where they were she turned her face on the bander log and spoke. They scrambled a noisy \u201cgood evenin\u2019\u202f\u201d and left their mouths setting open and their ears full of hope. Her speech was pleasant enough, but she kept walking straight on to her gate. The porch couldn\u2019t talk for looking.<\/p>\n

The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt. They, the men, were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye. The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day.<\/p>\n

But nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody even thought to swallow spit until after her gate slammed behind her.<\/p>\n

Pearl Stone opened her mouth and laughed real hard because she didn\u2019t know what else to do. She fell all over Mrs. Sumpkins while she laughed. Mrs. Sumpkins snorted violently and sucked her teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumph! Y\u2019all let her worry yuh. You ain\u2019t like me. Ah ain\u2019t got her to study \u2019bout. If she ain\u2019t got manners enough to stop and let folks know how she been makin\u2019 out, let her g\u2019wan!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe ain\u2019t even worth talkin\u2019 after,\u201d Lulu Moss drawled through her nose. \u201cShe sits high, but she looks low. Dat\u2019s what Ah say \u2019bout dese ole women runnin\u2019 after young boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pheoby Watson hitched her rocking chair forward before she spoke. \u201cWell, nobody don\u2019t know if it\u2019s anything to tell or not. Me, Ah\u2019m her best friend, and Ah<\/span> don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe us don\u2019t know into things lak you do, but we all know how she went \u2019way from here and us sho seen her come back. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in your tryin\u2019 to cloak no ole woman lak Janie Starks, Pheoby, friend or no friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt dat she ain\u2019t so ole as some of y\u2019all dat\u2019s talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s way past forty to my knowledge, Pheoby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more\u2019n forty at de outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s \u2019way too old for a boy like Tea Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTea Cake ain\u2019t been no boy for some time. He\u2019s round thirty his ownself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t keer what it was, she could stop and say a few words with us. She act like we done done something to her,\u201d Pearl Stone complained. \u201cShe de one been doin\u2019 wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean, you mad \u2019cause she didn\u2019t stop and tell us all her business. Anyhow, what you ever know her to do so bad as y\u2019all make out? The worst thing Ah ever knowed her to do was taking a few years offa her age and dat ain\u2019t never harmed nobody. Y\u2019all makes me tired. De way you talkin\u2019 you\u2019d think de folks in dis town didn\u2019t do nothin\u2019 in de bed \u2019cept praise de Lawd. You have to \u2019scuse me, \u2019cause Ah\u2019m bound to go take her some supper.\u201d Pheoby stood up sharply.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t mind us,\u201d Lulu smiled, \u201cjust go right ahead, us can mind yo\u2019 house for you till you git back. Mah supper is done. You bettah go see how she feel. You kin let de rest of us know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLawd,\u201d Pearl agreed, \u201cAh done scorched-up dat lil meat and bread too long to talk about. Ah kin stay \u2019way from home long as Ah please. Mah husband ain\u2019t fussy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, er, Pheoby, if youse ready to go, Ah could walk over dere wid you,\u201d Mrs. Sumpkins volunteered. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of duskin\u2019 down dark. De boogerman might ketch yuh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, Ah thank yuh. Nothin\u2019 couldn\u2019t ketch me dese few steps Ah\u2019m goin\u2019. Anyhow mah husband tell me say no first class booger would have me. If she got anything to tell yuh, you\u2019ll hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pheoby hurried on off with a covered bowl in her hands. She left the porch pelting her back with unasked questions. They hoped the answers were cruel and strange. When she arrived at the place, Pheoby Watson didn\u2019t go in by the front gate and down the palm walk to the front door. She walked around the fence corner and went in the intimate gate with her heaping plate of mulatto rice. Janie must be round that side.<\/p>\n

She found her sitting on the steps of the back porch with the lamps all filled and the chimneys cleaned.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Janie, how you comin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAw, pretty good, Ah\u2019m tryin\u2019 to soak some uh de tiredness and de dirt outa mah feet.\u201d She laughed a little.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh see you is. Gal, you sho looks good<\/span>. You looks like youse yo\u2019 own daughter.\u201d They both laughed. \u201cEven wid dem overhalls on, you shows yo\u2019 womanhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cG\u2019wan! G\u2019wan! You must think Ah brought yuh somethin\u2019. When Ah ain\u2019t brought home a thing but mahself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s a gracious plenty. Yo\u2019 friends wouldn\u2019t want nothin\u2019 better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh takes dat flattery offa you, Pheoby, \u2019cause Ah know it\u2019s from de heart.\u201d Janie extended her hand. \u201cGood Lawd, Pheoby! ain\u2019t you never goin\u2019 tuh gimme dat lil rations you brought me? Ah ain\u2019t had a thing on mah stomach today exceptin\u2019 mah hand.\u201d They both laughed easily. \u201cGive it here and have a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh knowed you\u2019d be hongry. No time to be huntin\u2019 stove wood after dark. Mah mulatto rice ain\u2019t so good dis time. Not enough bacon grease, but Ah reckon it\u2019ll kill hongry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019ll tell you in a minute,\u201d Janie said, lifting the cover. \u201cGal, it\u2019s too<\/span> good! you switches a mean fanny round in a kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAw, dat ain\u2019t much to eat, Janie. But Ah\u2019m liable to have something sho nuff good tomorrow, \u2019cause you done come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie ate heartily and said nothing. The varicolored cloud dust that the sun had stirred up in the sky was settling by slow degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, Pheoby, take yo\u2019 ole plate. Ah ain\u2019t got a bit of use for a empty dish. Dat grub sho come in handy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pheoby laughed at her friend\u2019s rough joke. \u201cYouse just as crazy as you ever was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHand me dat wash-rag on dat chair by you, honey. Lemme scrub mah feet.\u201d She took the cloth and rubbed vigorously. Laughter came to her from the big road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Ah see Mouth-Almighty is still sittin\u2019 in de same place. And Ah reckon they got me<\/span> up in they mouth now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes indeed. You know if you pass some people and don\u2019t speak tuh suit \u2019em dey got tuh go way back in yo\u2019 life and see whut you ever done. They know mo\u2019 \u2019bout yuh than you do yo\u2019 self. An envious heart makes a treacherous ear. They done \u2018heard\u2019 \u2019bout you just what they hope done happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf God don\u2019t think no mo\u2019 \u2019bout \u2019em then Ah do, they\u2019s a lost ball in de high grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh hears what they say \u2019cause they just will collect round mah porch \u2019cause it\u2019s on de big road. Mah husband git so sick of \u2019em sometime he makes \u2019em all git for home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSam is right too. They just wearin\u2019 out yo\u2019 sittin\u2019 chairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Sam say most of \u2019em goes to church so they\u2019ll be sure to rise in Judgment. Dat\u2019s de day dat every secret is s\u2019posed to be made known. They wants to be there and hear it all<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSam is too<\/span> crazy! You can\u2019t stop laughin\u2019 when youse round him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUuh hunh. He says he aims to be there hisself so he can find out who stole his corn-cob pipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPheoby, dat Sam of yourn just won\u2019t quit! Crazy thing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of dese ziggaboos is so het up over yo\u2019 business till they liable to hurry theyself to Judgment to find out about you if they don\u2019t soon know. You better make haste and tell \u2019em \u2019bout you and Tea Cake gittin\u2019 married, and if he taken all yo\u2019 money and went off wid some young gal, and where at he is now and where at is all yo\u2019 clothes dat you got to come back here in overhalls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t mean to bother wid tellin\u2019 \u2019em nothin\u2019, Pheoby. \u2019Tain\u2019t worth de trouble. You can tell \u2019em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat\u2019s just de same as me \u2019cause mah tongue is in mah friend\u2019s mouf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you so desire Ah\u2019ll tell \u2019em what you tell me to tell \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo start off wid, people like dem wastes up too much time puttin\u2019 they mouf on things they don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 about. Now they got to look into me loving Tea Cake and see whether it was done right or not! They don\u2019t know if life is a mess of cornmeal dumplings, and if love is a bed-quilt!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo long as they get a name to gnaw on they don\u2019t care whose it is, and what about, \u2019specially if they can make it sound like evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they wants to see and know, why they don\u2019t come kiss and be kissed? Ah could then sit down and tell \u2019em things. Ah been a delegate to de big \u2019ssociation of life. Yessuh! De Grand Lodge, de big convention of livin\u2019 is just where Ah been dis year and a half y\u2019all ain\u2019t seen me.\u201d<\/p>\n

They sat there in the fresh young darkness close together. Pheoby eager to feel and do through Janie, but hating to show her zest for fear it might be thought mere curiosity. Janie full of that oldest human longing\u2014self revelation. Pheoby held her tongue for a long time, but she couldn\u2019t help moving her feet. So Janie spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t need to worry about me and my overhalls long as Ah still got nine hundred dollars in de bank. Tea Cake got me into wearing \u2019em\u2014following behind him. Tea Cake ain\u2019t wasted up no money of mine, and he ain\u2019t left me for no young gal, neither. He give me every consolation in de world. He\u2019d tell \u2019em so too, if he was here. If he wasn\u2019t gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pheoby dilated all over with eagerness, \u201cTea Cake gone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Pheoby, Tea Cake is gone. And dat\u2019s de only reason you see me back here\u2014cause Ah ain\u2019t got nothing to make me happy no more where Ah was at. Down in the Everglades there, down on the muck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to understand what you mean, de way you tell it. And then again Ah\u2019m hard of understandin\u2019 at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, \u2019tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 lak you might think. So \u2019tain\u2019t no use in me telling you somethin\u2019 unless Ah give you de understandin\u2019 to go \u2019long wid it. Unless you see de fur, a mink skin ain\u2019t no different from a coon hide. Looka heah, Pheoby, is Sam waitin\u2019 on you for his supper?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all ready and waitin\u2019. If he ain\u2019t got sense enough to eat it, dat\u2019s his hard luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell then, we can set right where we is and talk. Ah got the house all opened up to let dis breeze get a little catchin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPheoby, we been kissin\u2019-friends for twenty years, so Ah depend on you for a good thought. And Ah\u2019m talking to you from dat standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a monstropolous old thing while Janie talked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-92","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\/92","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":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/92\/revisions\/130"}],"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\/92\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}