God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
“Lord, Lord!”
“I was born unlucky. I wish I was a white man myself. She’s got what I’m talking about.”
“Lord, Lord!”
“One day I was passing the window around yonder and I looked in.”
“What did you see, nigger? The moon rising?”
“What I saw made me just want to get right straight away down on my hands and knees and lick something.”
“Lord, Lord!”
“I was born unlucky.”
“Ain’t it the truth!”
“Trouble in the house.”
“Lord, Lord!”
“One man’s dead.”
“And trouble in the house.”
“The male man’s gone.”
“He can’t prick them no more.”
“Lord, Lord!”
“Trouble in the house.”
“My mammy was a darky--”
“My daddy was too-------”
“That white gal’s frisky--”
“Good Lord, what to do--”
“Lord, Lord!”
“The time ain’t long.”
“Somebody shot the male man.”
“He can’t prick them no more.”
“And trouble in the house.”
“Lord, Lord!”
Ty Ty shouted down into the hole from the ground above. They picked the clay without looking up. Ty Ty slid down into the crater, bringing a yard of loose sand and clay with him.
“Buck’s come back, and I don’t want you to say anything to him about staying out all night. I’ve got enough trouble on my hands, Uncle Felix, ‘without making more. Just leave him alone and don’t ask him where he’s been. I’ve got all the trouble now I can stand.”
They nodded while he looked at them.
“Somebody shot the male man,” Black Sam said aloud.
Ty Ty wheeled around.
“What did you say?”
“Yes, sir, boss. Yes, sir. We won’t say nothing to him.”
He started up the side of the hole.
“He can’t prick them no more.”
Ty Ty stopped. Suddenly he jumped from the side of the crater, turning around in the air.
“What in the pluperfect hell are you darkies saying?”
“Yes, sir, boss. Yes, sir. We won’t say nothing to Mr. Buck. We won’t say nothing at all.”
Once more he started climbing to the top.
“Trouble in the house,” Black Sam said aloud.
Ty Ty stopped for the third time, but he did not turn around. He waited there, listening.
“Yes, sir, boss. Yes, sir. We won’t say nothing to Mr. Buck. We won’t say nothing at all.”
He’ll be down here in a little while, and I want him left alone. If I hear you talking to him about staying out all night, I’ll come down in here with a singletree and knock your blocks clear off your shoulders.”
“Yes, sir, boss,” Black Sam said, “Yes, sir, whiteboss. We ain’t saying nothing to Mr. Buck.”
Ty Ty climbed up the side of the hole, leaving the colored men silent. He was confident that they would obey his orders. They were smart Negroes.
Up on the ground Ty Ty met Buck coming to work. He put his arm around his son’s shoulder when they met. Neither of them said anything, and after a moment Buck turned from Ty Ty and slid down into the crater with the two colored men. Ty Ty stood above for several minutes watching them shovel the clay. Later he left and walked around to the front yard.
Coming down the road from the Marion-Augusta highway was a big car blowing up a cloud of dust. At first Ty Ty thought it was Pluto, but the car was traveling twice as fast as Pluto ever dared drive, and, besides that, it was a larger car and it was shiny black with nickeled trimming that glistened in the sun like new half-dollars.
“Now, who can that be?” Ty Ty asked himself, stopping at the water-oak to watch its approach.
The automobile was at the yard before he realized it. The driver slowed down in a quickly enveloping cloud of yellow dust, coming to a stop so suddenly that the dust passed on in front of it.
Ty Ty ran several steps toward the large black car. It came into the yard then, swaying on the deep springs and roaring in its long motor.
With mouth agape he saw Jim Leslie step out and come towards him. He could not imagine seeing Jim Leslie there. It was the first time in nearly fifteen years that he had set foot on the place.
“Well, I’ll declare!” Ty Ty said, running forward to grasp his son’s hand.
“Glad to see you, Pa,” Jim Leslie said. “Where’s Griselda?”
“Who?”
“Griselda.”
“You didn’t come out here to ask that, did you, son?”
“Where is she?”
“You must be all balled up, Jim Leslie. Didn’t you come to see the whole family?”
Jim Leslie started towards the house. Ty Ty ran and caught up with him, pulling his arm and stopping him quickly.
“Now, wait a minute, son. Just hold your horses. What do you want to see Buck’s wife about?”
“I haven’t got time to talk to you now. I’m in a big hurry. Turn my arm loose.”
“Now, listen, son,” Ty Ty begged, “there’s sorrow here in the house now.”
“What about it? What’s the matter?”
“Will Thompson was killed the other day over in Scottsville. The girls in the house are nervous and sad. I don’t want you to come here and make a mess. You come on out to the hole and sit and talk to the boys and me. When you get tired of staying, then just turn around and go on back to Augusta. We’ll all take a trip up there next week to see you when the girls have calmed down some.”
“There’s nothing the matter with Griselda. What’s she got to do with Will Thompson getting killed? He wasn’t anything to her. She wouldn’t get mixed up with a lint-head from Horse Creek Valley.”
“Now, son, I know a heap more right now than you do, and I ask you not to go in there. Women are queer creatures, and man don’t always understand them. I can’t tell you about it now, but I ask you to stay out of that house. Just get back into your car and turn around and go on back to Augusta where you came from. Now go on, son, before trouble starts.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” Jim Leslie asked crossly. “Will Thompson is out of this. Griselda wouldn’t have anything to do with a lint-head.”
“Will Thompson being a lint-head, as you call him, hasn’t anything to do with it, either.”
“Turn me loose, then. I’m in a big hurry. I haven’t got time to stand here arguing with you. I know what I want, and I came after it.”
Ty Ty saw that he was powerless to keep Jim Leslie from the house, but he was determined to do all he could to keep trouble from starting. He decided that the best thing to do was to call Buck and Shaw, and the three of them would be able to force Jim Leslie back into his car.
He called Buck, and waited, still holding Jim Leslie’s arm. Jim Leslie looked all around, expecting to see Buck suddenly appear at any moment.
“It won’t do any good to call him, because I’m not scared of him. Where is he, anyway?”
“He’s down in the hole digging.”
Ty Ty called again, listening for Buck’s answer.
“Still digging for gold,” Jim Leslie laughed. “And even Buck and Shaw. It looks like you and the rest of them would have learned your lesson by now. You ought to go to work raising something on this land. Raising piles of dirt is the nearest you’ve come to it yet.”
“I aim to strike the lode soon.”
“That’s the same thing you said fourteen or fifteen years ago. Age didn’t bring you any sense.”
“I’ve got sense you don’t know about, son.”
Buck came around the corner of the house. He was surprised to see Jim Leslie there, but he came forward to find out why he had been called. Several feet away he stopped and looked at his older brother suspiciously.
“What do you want?” he asked.
&
Ty Ty turned to Jim Leslie.
“Now, son, I ask you once more to get in your car and go on back to Augusta before trouble starts. You know I can’t stop Buck once he gets started, and I don’t want no trouble here on the place.”
Ty Ty waited a moment, hoping that Jim Leslie would do as he had been asked. He made no reply to his father. Even the appearance of Buck did not deter him from his announced intentions.
“Now, son,” Ty Ty said, “Jim Leslie is here. We don’t want to have no trouble. He’s as welcome as the day is long. But if he starts in the house, well--he just ain’t going in there, that’s all.”
Jim Leslie turned his back on them and started up the porch steps. He was halfway up when he felt his arm being twisted in its socket.
“No, you don’t,” Buck said, releasing him. “You stay in the yard, or you leave.”
Ty Ty yelled for Shaw to come running.
Chapter XX
“Now, son,” Ty Ty said to Buck, “Jim Leslie has come out here and I want him to leave in a peaceful manner. I’ve aimed all my life to have a peaceful family, and I can’t stand here and see you boys scrap. You must tell Jim Leslie, son. that we don’t want no trouble out here. If he’ll get in his car and turn around and go on back to Augusta, everything will be all right and like it was before he came. I wouldn’t know what to think of myself if it turned out that you boys would scrap all over the place.”
Ty Ty saw the two colored men at the corner of the house looking at the scene in the yard. Only their heads were showing, and their eyes ‘were the shade of whitewash on a sunny day. When they had first heard Ty Ty calling for Buck, they knew something was about to happen up on top of the ground, and they had come up to see what the trouble was. Hearing Ty Ty order Jim Leslie into his car, they turned and walked softly out of sight around the other side of the house. After passing the rear of the building, they tiptoed towards the barn, holding their hats in their hands, and trying their best not to look back over their shoulders.
“What do you want out here?” Buck asked his brother, blocking his way on the porch.
“I didn’t come out here to talk to you,” Jim Leslie replied curtly.
“If you can’t talk, then get to hell away from here, and be quick about it.”
“Now, son,” Ty Ty said.
Jim Leslie turned his back again and started up the steps to the porch. Buck still blocked the way, but Jim Leslie pushed past him.
“Now, wait a minute, you son-of-a-bitch.”
“This here now scrapping has got to quit,” Ty Ty shouted. “I don’t aim to have it on my land.”
“Wait?” Jim Leslie replied to his brother. “What for? I’m in a hurry. I can’t wait.”
Buck struck him on the jaw, knocking him against the side of the house. Jim Leslie crouched low over his knees and sprung at Buck.
When he saw what had happened, Ty Ty ran between them, trying his best to pry them apart. He had to duck his head every moment or two in order to keep from being hit by one of the four fists that flew all around him. He succeeded in pushing Jim Leslie against the wall, and then he tried to hold Buck.
“Now, wait a minute, boys,” he said. “You boys are brothers, the three of you. You know good and well you don’t want to fight each other. Every one of you wants to be peaceful, and I aim to keep you that way. Let’s all just walk down to the barn and talk things over calmly and without scrapping like a pack of bobcats. I’ve got some things to tell you down there. There’s a heap I can explain if you will only be calm while I try to talk. It’s a sin and a shame for you to scrap like this. Now, come on and let’s all walk down to the barn.”
“I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch, now,” Buck said, impatient with his father for talking so much.
“Let’s not use swear-words at each other,” Ty Ty begged. “I’m against so much swearing among brothers. It’s all right at some times and places, but not among brothers.”
Ty Ty thought that Buck appeared at that moment to be willing to listen if Jim Leslie would.
“He can’t come out here--I’ll kill him. I know what you’re after. I’m no damn fool.”
Shaw had not said anything, but he was standing beside Buck ready to help him the moment his help was needed. He would take up for Buck any time the choice was required. Ty Ty knew that he and Jim Leslie never got along very well together, anyway.
“This here now squabbling over women has got to stop on my land,” Ty Ty said with sudden determination. He had at last realized how hopeless his efforts to make peace had been. “I’ve tried to settle this argument peacefully, but I ain’t going to stand for you boys scrapping each other over women no longer. It’s going to stop right now. You get in your car, son, Jim Leslie, and go on back to Augusta. Buck, you and Shaw go on back to the hole and dig. I’ve let this scrapping go as far as I’m going to stand for. Go on now, all of you. This here now squabbling over women has got to stop on my land.”
“I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch, now.” Buck said. “I’ll kill him if he goes in that house, now. He can’t come out here and take Griselda off, now.”
“Boys, this here now squabbling over women on my land has got to stop. You all boys go on and do like I told you to do just now.”
Jim Leslie saw his opportunity, and he sprang for the door and was in the house before they could stop him. Buck was only three steps behind him, however, and Ty Ty and Shaw ran after them. Jim Leslie ran through the first door he reached, and on into another room. He did not know where Griselda was, and he continued through the house in search of her.
“Stop him, Buck!” Shaw shouted. “Make him come back through the hall--don’t let him get away through the back door!”
In the dining-room when Ty Ty reached it a moment later, Jim Leslie was in the middle of the room, with the table between Buck and himself, and they were cursing each other. Over in the corner the three girls were huddled behind a chair they had pulled in front of them. Griselda was crying, and so was Rosamond. Darling Jill looked as if she did not know whether to cry or to laugh. Ty Ty could not stop to look at them any longer, and he did not try to protect them so long as they were in no immediate danger, but began shouting at the boys again. He soon saw it was useless. They did not hear a word he said; they appeared to be unaware of his presence in the room.
“Come out of that corner, Griselda,” Jim Leslie told her. “You’re going with me. Come out of that corner and get into the car before I have to come and pull you out.”
“You stay where you are and don’t move,” Buck told her out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes still on his brother.
Ty Ty turned to Shaw in desperation.
“You’d better go get Black Sam and Uncle Felix to help us. It looks like we can’t handle him alone.”
“You stay here, Shaw,” Buck said. “I don’t need any help. I can handle him by myself.”
“Come out of that corner before I drag you out, Griselda,” Jim Leslie said again.
“You came to get her, huh? Why didn’t you say that in the yard? I knew damn well what it was, but I’ve just been waiting to hear you say it. You came to get her, huh?”
“This here now squabbling over women on my land has got to quit.” Ty Ty said determinedly. “I just ain’t going to stand for it no longer.”
“Come out of that corner, Griselda,” Jim Leslie said for the third time.
“I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch, now,” Buck said.
He stepped back, relaxing his muscles.
“This here now squabbling over women on my land has got to stop,” Ty Ty said, banging his fists on the table between his two sons.
Buck stepped back to the wall behind him and reached for the shotgun on the rack. He unbreeched it, looking down a moment to see if both barrels were loaded.
When Jim Leslie saw Buck with the gun, he ran out the door into the hail and on through the house to the fro
Out in the yard, Ty Ty realized it was useless for him to try to stop Buck. He could not wrestle the gun away from him; Buck was too strong. He would throw him aside without much effort. So, instead of running out into the yard, Ty Ty sank to his knees on the porch and began praying.
Behind him in the hall stood Griselda and Rosamond and Darling Jill, afraid to come any further, but scared to stay alone in the house. They huddled behind the front door, peeping through the crack to see what was happening in the yard.
Ty Ty looked up from his prayer, one eye open in fright, one eye closed in supplication, when he heard Buck shout to Jim Leslie to stop running. Jim Leslie was in front of his automobile, and he could easily have jumped behind it for protection, but instead he stopped where he was and shook his fist at Buck.
“I reckon you’ll leave her alone now,” Buck said.
The gun was already leveled at Jim Leslie. Ty Ty could almost see through the sights from where he was on the porch, and he was certain he could feel Buck’s finger tighten on the trigger. He closed his eyes prayerfully a second before the explosion in the barrel. He opened his eyes to see Jim Leslie reach forward for something to grip for support, and heard almost immediately the explosion of the second shell. Jim Leslie stood upright for a few short seconds, and then his body twisted to one side and he fell heavily on the hard white sand under the water-oak tree.
Griselda and Rosamond and Darling Jill screamed behind the door at the same moment. Ty Ty closed his eyes again, trying to erase from his mind each horrible detail of the scene. He hoped, opening them, to find that it had all vanished. It was no different than before, however, except that Buck was standing over Jim Leslie pushing new shells into the gun. Jim Leslie twisted and doubled up into a round ball.
Ty Ty got up and ran down into the yard. He pushed Buck away and bent over Jim Leslie trying to speak to him. Without help he lifted his son in his arms and carried him to the porch. Shaw came and looked down at his brother, and the girls stood in the doorway with their hands over their faces. Every moment or so one of them would scream. Buck sat down on the steps, dropping the shotgun at his feet.