not nobody," she repeated,
looking at Red Sammy.
"Did you read about that
criminal, The Misfit, that's
escaped?" asked the
grandmother.
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised if
he didn't attact this place right
here," said the woman. "If he
hears about it being here,I
wouldn't be none surprised to
see him. If he hears it's two
cent in the cash register, I
wouldn't be a tall surprised if
he . . ."
"That'll do," Red Sam said.
"Go bring these people their
Co'-Colas," and the woman
went off to get the rest of the
order.
"A good man is hard to find,"
Red Sammy said. "Everything is getting terrible. I
remember the day you could go
off and leave your screen door
unlatched. Not no more."
He and the grandmother
discussed better times. The old
lady said that in her opinion
Europe was entirely to blame
for the way things were now.
She said the way Europe acted
you would think we were made
of money and Red Sam said it
was no use talking about it, she
was exactly right. The children
ran outside into the white
sunlight and looked at the
monkey in the lacy chinaberry
tree. He was busy catching
fleas on himself and biting
each one carefully between his
teeth as if it were a delicacy.
They drove off again into the
hot afternoon. The grandmother took cat naps and woke
up every few minutes with her
own snoring. Outside of
Toombsboro she woke up and
recalled an old plantation that
she had visited in this
neighborhood once when she
was a young lady. She said the
house had six white columns
across the front and that there
was an avenue of oaks leading
up to it and two little wooden
trellis arbors on either side in
front where you sat down with
your suitor after a stroll in the
garden. She recalled exactly
JOY FEELINGS | DECEMBER ISSUE
236