page23 (2/2)

“Yes, suh,” he finally said “If you just keep walkin’, you will co smell of onions That will be Abraham’s house”

The sight of a whiteon this street was not a welcome one for most of the people I came across They kept their eyes down as they passed, which seemed to be customary now in Eudora but had not been the case when I was a boy

Withinof onions on the air I saw thick patches of the fareen stalks in the yard of a small red house

Suddenly, fro, followed by two more, and two more in pursuit

“He gonna snatch you and eat you,” the lead boy shouted

Then I saas chasing the down on the boys with a pair of very bad-looking tusks

“That ain’t the most beautiful ani on the porch of the red house

I answered, “That is a face not even a mother could love”

I looked closer The man was taller than me, by at least three inches, and older, by at least fifty years

“But she sure is beautiful when she’s angry,” he said

We both laughed

Then he said, “Begging your pardon, sir, but I get the idea youfor someone”

“Well, as afor a man His name is Abraham Cross”

“Yes, sir You lookin’ at him”

I must have appeared surprised