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“No, ma’am,” I said “We’re not crazy and we’re not in love, either”

“You just tryin’ to cause trouble then, white boy?” she demanded

“All I did was kiss her,” I explained “But we did cause some trouble”

The old lady thought about it a moment, then she cracked a smile

It was like a photographic negative of our ot to the crossroads by He with us

One of the old rim “Now see what you done,” he said to me “You done kicked over the anthill for sure They coonna lynch you up somethin’ fierce And some of us, besides”

“Then we’d better get ready for them,” Moody said

“Ready?” said the other checkers player “Wh

at you o make the pine box ourselves”

“You got a gun for shootin’ squirrel, don’t you?” said Moody “You got a knife to skin it with, don’t you?”

The old man nodded “Well, sho’, but what does that—”

“They can’t beat all of us,” Moody said “Not if we’re ready for them”

The people around us wereto one another Moody’s words had started a brushfire a man “Let ’em come on!”

Moody looked atI will never forget I will carry it with me my whole life, the way I have carried Marcus’s kindness to Mama

She took ain Not for show, because she wanted to We walked hand in hand to Abraham’s house