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Sitting in the coach, leaning into each other, staring out the e chugged through Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, we struggled to hold on to some dreaton Tirabbed another black hter, and shot hiht There was rioting in DC, black ainst white In the end four men died on the streets of the capital of the land of the free, the hoo
As Daniel Hester and I hurry away down Main Street, away from the crowd and around the corner to his office, the three brothers watch us, hate in their eyes
30
July 10, 1930 FullLike the one blind eye of heaven
Birth of Chipper Mayo, 8 pounds, 4 ounces, fourth son of Phoebe and Delht for sure that we’d co to tidy their small house Bitsy and I pitched in Bitsy even had the little boys out beating rugs on the clothesline I finally had to tell theherself, but she wasn’t in bed more than twenty ot there, a baby was lying on the bed between her legs in aup a stor on his little wet head like a cap I could have died laughing No rips or tears Soe quieted it down The father, Mr Mayo, came home a bit later and exclaiot his name, "Chipper" Present, only Bitsy and I, and we didn’t do much Paid one fat chicken andplenty of good food Our table is laden with peas, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, beans, yellow summer squash, new potatoes, and onions The potatoes help to take the place of bread because we are again out of cornmeal and flour We haven’t been to town for three weeks, but we’re tranquil, away frorythe roads with their scrawny kids and wives, allnorth and east, where they think they’ll find jobs
In the evening, since it stays light so long, Bitsy and I sit on the porch and laugh at the 1920s articles in the old Ladies’ Home Journals I found in the attic Those were the booht would last forever Easy money Easy women in their short flapper skirts I wore those short skirts arter belts when Ruben and I went to the jazz clubs in Pittsburgh We danced all night in the loud smoky halls I noticed in town that the he else
Moonlight has not yet delivered, but when Mr Hester came over to check on her, he calculated that she would soon Standing at the sink, washing his hands, he gave us instructions on how to tell when she goes into labor
"The first thing to watch for," he lectured, "is restlessness Keep her in the barn If you let her out, shefor is a safe place to calve" I was jotting this all down on a piece of wrapping paper
"Next, her vulva will spring This ?"
"Yeah, beco will break From now on, you probably should check on her a few tionna be Moonlight’s h
"I’ll be her vet"
All day, every day, the sun beats down It’s so hot that Emma and Sasha hide under the porch and the chickens cover therees! That’s what the tin man-in-the-moon thermometer on the side of the barn says Usually in the nant Moonlight! Her vulva hasn’t sprung yet, but she’s definitely restless