He was.
“One o Doll’s minds is good an’ sensible, de other is mischeevous, enty?”
Perhaps so.
“All whilst you was talkin to me, a-tellin me ’bout Doll, all two o my minds was speakin. One mind say, ‘Doll is a mean ’oman’; de other mind say, ‘Doll is a po pitiful creeter. E can’ stand for Andrew to go off to see anybody else after dark.’ My first mind say, ‘Tell Andrew to don’ never fool wid Doll, not no more,’ but my second mind say, ‘Tell Andrew fo Gawd’s sake go hitch up a mule an’ wagon an’ fetch Doll back home.’ Doll’s a-lookin down the road fo you right dis minute, Cousin. Evy time Doll sees a dust a-risin e heart jumps inside e breast a-hopin dat dust is you.”
Andrew’s eyes widened and he stopped quite still to think it over. “Si May-e, you’s a good ’oman. You got a good heart, even if you is de wickedest sinner Gawd ever made.”
Mary grinned. “I ain’ so wicked, Cousin, neither so good. You’s a man an’ I’s a ’oman. You want to have all de pleasure, an’ don’ leave me an’ Doll none. Dat ain’ right, church or no church. Gawd ain’ gwine be too hard on people what misses an’ makes mistakes sometimes. You’ll see. But you better go fetch Doll home. An’, Cousin,”—Mary laughed, smiled right up into Andrew’s eyes—“if I was you, you know what I’d do?”
“What, gal?”
“I’d go beg Doll’s pardon.”
“Beg em pardon?”
“Dat is what I say.”
“But I ain’ done Doll no wrong.”
“It don’ matter who done right or wrong. If you would go humble like to Doll an’ beg em pardon, it would do em an’ you all-two good.”
Andrew wasn’t convinced, but Mary persisted.
“What’s done is done. You can’ change em. You may as well make de best o em.”
Andrew stayed dumb as a clam.
“You must be forgot how you licked Doll on you weddin-night, enty, Cousin?”
“I didn’t lick em so much. I was just lettin em know I was gwine to rule em. Dat was all.”
“Den why don’ you rule em, if you know how?”
“Times is changed, Si May-e. Womens is changed too. Nobody can’ rule a ’oman by switchin em dese days. Dey hides is pure tough. A leather strap can’ sweeten em now.”
Andrew did not see that Mary covered up a smile under her hand, for he was making her a comfortable seat by turning upside down a broken washtub which was waiting to have a new band put around it.
He began bending a steel rod into a smooth strong link and Mary drew her skirts to one side for the sparks flew wildly about under the beating of the heavy hammer.
She liked to watch Andrew’s big hands ruling the hot metal and molding it into a pattern. The rumbling boom of his deep voice was pleasant. His skin was as smooth and black as her own and in spite of his height and bulk he moved as easily as a cat. Suddenly his eyes lifted and looked straight at her.
“How-come you named you cripple boy Keepsie, Si May-e? Dat’s a new name to me.”
The smoke from Mary’s pipe curled into a curious shape which broke and faded as she drew in a sudden breath. She hated to answer the question truthfully, yet if she lied, Andrew would know it.
“You ever did hear of a town named Pough-keepsie?”
Andrew had not.
“Well, it’s a town up-north.”
Andrew nodded, then waited for her to go on.
“Keepsie’s daddy come from Pough-keepsie.”
“Who e is?”
“When I went to town on de excursion long time ago, I met em.”
“You ain’ seen em since?”
“Not since.”
Andrew reflected and nodded his head. Since Keepsie had no daddy to provide crutches for him, he would be glad to make them. He would put all his other work aside and start them as soon as he got Keepsie’s measure. Big Boy would go to the swamp and get the right kind of ash wood, so the crutches would be both stout and light. Together, they would soon get them made. And maybe after this Seraphine would treat Big Boy with more manners.
“When did Seraphine ever mistreat Big Boy?”
“Last Sat’day when e went all de way to town to see em.”
“What Seraphine done, Cousin?”
“Seraphine wouldn’ much as come out an’ speak to em.”
The morning was warm and the air in the shop was hot from the fire in the forge, but cold sweat broke out on Mary and chilled her the same as if Andrew poured a bucket of spring water over her. Fear stabbed her to the heart. Seraphine was always so glad to see anybody from home, why would she not come out and speak to Big Boy?
“How-come Big Boy ain’ told me how Seraphine done?”
“Big Boy ain’ had de heart to tell you.” Andrew’s eyes shot a swift look at Mary’s face then went back to the hot white rod which shed scales of red-hot skin every time that it was given a twist.
“Big Boy is wrong, somehow, Cousin. Seraphine wouldn’ miss seein em, not fo gold. Seraphine is a good mannersable gal, an’ e everwas raven over Big Boy.”
“So much book readin might be changed Seraphine from how e was, Si May-e.”
Mary could not answer that. Book reading is an unnatural thing, and it might have gone to Seraphine’s head fo-true.
Andrew plunged the piece of steel into a tub of water and the sigh he made was almost as deep as its hissing. Women have got to be strange things these days. They don’t need book reading to make them act crazy. All they want is enough money to buy themselves cake and candy and bottle-drinks and stuff to sweeten their mouths and rot out their teeth. They were not satisfied to ruin their feet wearing shoes every day, but they wanted
