The Land(61)

The day was crisp and sunny, and I took my first food of the day in the outdoors. I had bought some cheese and bread from Luke Sawyer’s store, and I ate on the bench that set next to the door of the shed. I ate my fill, wrapped the remainder of the cheese and bread, which I figured to save for my supper, then went to stretch my legs.

Now, Luke Sawyer’s store was set on a large triangular piece of land, with roads on every side. It was a good location. Folks came from every direction to the store. There was no way a body could have missed it. I walked midway down the stretch of the store’s side yard and stood looking out at the surroundings. The greenery of Vicksburg was all around, and I breathed it in, feeling good in the sunshine of that springtime day. But then I heard a commotion rising near the front of the store, and I walked a bit farther to see what it was. Before I got to the road, I stopped beside a big oak tree that bathed me in shadow.

On the road were five boys about the ages of eight or nine, four of them white, one a boy of color. The white boys were circling the colored boy and yelling obscenities. The colored boy stood with his head bowed, crying and wordless. Though I chose to stay out of other folks’ business, it bothered me to see those four boys taunting that one, and I started from the shadows to stop it. But then I heard someone yelling at the boys, and I stayed put. Turning, I saw that the yelling was from two young women coming up the road. “Y’all leave him be! Y’all leave him be right now!” cried one of the young women, and the white boys grew silent. At first they seemed startled by the order; then when they saw from whom it came, they began to laugh.

The young women kept their stride. One wore a light-blue dress. The other wore a similar dress, but in gray. They were no more than girls, actually, looking to be in their mid teens or so. I couldn’t tell which was older. Both were tall and stately, with pretty faces and skin the reddish brown of pecans. Both wore long braids, and they each carried a covered basket and bore one between them. I figured them for sisters. There was no laughing from either one as they approached the boys and stood before them.

“So, what y’all want?” asked one of the smart-mouthed boys. “This ain’t y’all’s business.”

“You messin’ with this boy here, it is,” said the girl dressed in blue.

“Gal, you best stay outa this.”

“I’m not a gal. I’m the person tellin’ you to leave this boy be.”

“You best be watchin’ yo’ mouth!”

“You best be watchin’ yo’s,” warned the young woman, undaunted. “I said leave this child be and I mean it. Come on with us now, Henry.”

Another one of the sassy-mouthed boys stepped forward in front of the boy of color. “He ain’t goin’ nowheres ’til we say so!”

The young woman glanced away for a moment, and the expression on her face told me she was tired of fooling with these children. She set down both of her baskets, then looked again at the boys. “Now, look here,” she said, “I know each and every one of y’all’s mamas.” She stared each boy right in the face. “Lloyd James, you know my daddy just saved your cow in birthin’. And Harold Thomas back there, yo’ mama been buyin’ pies from my mama for years. Jamie Struthers and Conrad, I see y’all too, and you know I know your mamas, and I know for a fact not a one of ’em would ’low y’all to be down here doin’ such a thing, makin’ fun of this here child.” The young woman then placed long-fingered hands on her hips. “Now, go on and get ’fore I have to go tell them ’bout y’all.”

“And if this girl here don’t tell y’alls mamas, y’all can rest assured I will!” hollered someone from the porch of the store. I turned. It was Luke Sawyer. He stood in the store doorway, a large forbidding presence holding a bloody butcher knife.

The boys looked up fearfully. The young woman, however, without looking around at Luke Sawyer, had the last word. “Now, y’all get!” she ordered once again.

The boys took off.

The young woman watched them go; so did Luke Sawyer. Then he said, “Girls, them baskets for me?”

Both girls replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Got some more of them good pies and cakes from your mama?” Luke Sawyer grinned. “Well, bring ’em on in.”

“Yes, sir, Mister Sawyer, in just a minute,” said the young woman who’d done all the talking. She put her arm around the boy, Henry. “Soon’s we tend to this boy here.”

“Suit yourself,” said Luke Sawyer, turning back to his store, then stopped and looked around again. “Where’s your papa? He bring y’all into town?”