rest. We better git you back t’Jo’s.’
‘Uh-uh. I ain’t goin’ there.’
‘Jo ain’t gonna do nuthin’ when you sick, Easy. And she’s the closest thing to a doctor for twenty miles.’
‘I ain’t goin’ t’Jo’s. No!’
‘You cain’t be comin’ wit’ me, Ease. Reese come up ‘hind me an’ I gotta move, fast.’
‘Why’ont we go on home?’
‘I ain’t finished yet. I made up my mind I’ma git what’s ines outta that man an’ that’s what I’ma do.’
‘He tole you no.’
‘That’s all right. I ain’t hesitatin’ yet. We got some more ground t’cover - me an’ daddyReese.’
‘I ain’t goin’ t’Jo’s.’
‘Okay. I take you over to Miss Dixon’s. She always willin’ t’he’p if she think you know Dom.’
‘Who is she?’ I asked, not trusting Mouse too much anymore.
He laughed a good laugh and said, ‘Don’t worry, Easy, she too old t’be thinkin’ bout love. Anyway, she’s white.’
It was a beautiful day.
We made it down to some railroad tracks and followed them for a few miles. It was one of those sultry southern mornings when all of the sounds of birds and insects are muffled by the heavy air. I was so weak that I couldn’t bring myself to worry about what Mouse was planning; all I wanted was a bed somewhere and some food.
After almost an hour we came to a large field that abutted a smooth dirt road. Across the road was a house. It was a real house with a garden and a fence and all the walls standing straight.
‘That’s Miss Dixon’s place,’ Mouse said. ‘Now you let me do the talkin’, all right?’
‘Uh-huh. But I ain’t gonna stay there if I don’t like it.’ ‘Don’t you worry, even a white man’d like this.’ There was a swing chair out front. The porch was dosed by a lattice covered with forsythia. When we walked up the front stairs Mouse took the lead, but before he could knock on the screen door the inner door opened.
‘Raymond Alexander.’ It was a statement. ‘What you want here?’
Mouse doffed a make-believe hat and said, ‘Miss Dixon, I come out here on a piece of business for Domaque.’
‘I didn’t know you were back in Pariah, Raymond. Why is that?’
Whether she was asking why she wasn’t told about Raymond’s return or she just wanted to know why he had come back I couldn’t tell, but Mouse didn’t even try to figure it out.
‘Dom axed me t’ax you t’keep Easy here for a night ‘cause Easy’s sick. Come on up here, Ease, an’ let Miss Dixon see ya.’
I moved up to his side, looking as hard at that little old woman as she was at me.
‘Anyway,’ Mouse continued, ‘Dom has got business down in Jenkins an’ he wanted Easy someplace where he’d be warm. You know he’s got the grippe an’ that can come to pneumonia in a second.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ she said.
‘Dom said that he gonna come get Easy tomorrah if he can please stay in some ole corner t’night.’
‘Domaque asked you this?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘And how am I to know that Domaque asked you this?’
‘Well you know ma’am that Dom an’ me is the best of friends...’
‘I know,’ she interrupted, ‘that you are a sinner, Raymond Alexander, and a bad influence on the ground you trod. I was hoping that you were gone forever and that that sweet poor chile Domaque was free of your evil ways.’
‘I’m just visitin’, ma’am.’
She looked at him and then at me. ‘Why, this boy could be as bad as you. How’m I to know?’
She moved to dose the door but Mouse spoke up again. ‘Ma’am, I’m not lyin’ to ya. Dom wants Easy t’stay wichyou ‘cause Easy got the grippe, an’ if you don’t believe me then you feel his head an’ see if I’m lyin’.’
She looked suspicious for a minute but then she pushed open the screen door and came toward me. I moved back a halfstep, out of reflex I guess, but Mouse grabbed me and made me stand still.
Miss Dixon was a small white woman with pale hair that was pulled straight back against her head. She wore a floor-length flat green dress that had long sleeves and a neckline at the throat. She was very thin but not brittle- looking like many old white women; she could’ve been made from solid bone from the way her hard hand felt against my forehead.
‘Lord, he’s burnin’ up!’
‘I tole you,’ Mouse said.
‘You a friend to Domaque, son?’ she asked me.
The porch beams started shaking gently before my eyes, like leaves on a breeze.
