“Oh…”
“But that be good thinking. And a barrel don’t cost much. You could try and
see which be easier.” Mourning shrugged.
“So we’re finally going to see the town,” she said as she finished the last of
her berries. “Maybe we’ll get to know some people. We could drive over and
introduce ourselves to those neighbors too – those Stubblefields Jeremy told us
about.”
“Time for that.” He sniffed his nose. “You ain’t gonna be goin’ over there, borrow no cup of flour.”
“They’re farmers. He could give you a lot of helpful advice.”
“Time for that.”
“They might be interested in renting the team. And even if not, it would be nice to have some folks to talk to.”
“Folks ain’t always a big treat. We don’t gotta be goin’ ’round showin’
ourselves off. Here we be – one sweet young white girl and one big scary black
man, livin’ on a piece a land what ain’t got but one cabin on it. Anyway, I ain’t
never noticed you been such a big talker back in Five Rocks.”
She bristled. “I had friends.”
“Must a been the invisible kind.” He tossed a piece of wood into the fire.
“What would you know about me and any friends I may or may not have
had?”
“Nothing, I guess.” His tone had grown gentler
After a long silence broken only by the crackling fire, Olivia asked, “How
come you came back to Five Rocks?”
“What you mean?”
“You know – the Carters. Why didn’t you stay with them? Were they mean to
you?”
He poked at the fire with a stick and shrugged. “Guess it been plenty crowded
in that house. They had a passel of kids of they own.”
“What are you smiling about?” she asked.
“Just rememberin’. Old Goody got so many kids, he hadda build a loft for
them to sleep in. Cut out a hole in the floor, right over the stove, so we gonna get
some heat up there. They had the most ugliest cat you ever seen and that bag a
fur been wanting to sleep up in the loft with us. It finally learned how to climb
up the ladder and we thinkin’ it so smart. But then when it wanna get down, it
jump through that hole, right straight down onto the hot stove. You never heard
such screeching.”
Olivia smiled with him and they sat through another long silence before she
asked, “Do you believe in God?”
“Spose so.”
“Do you ever get mad at Him? I mean, for taking your parents away from
you, and for letting there be slavery, and for all the other terrible things in the world?”
