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"He didn't talk to the men He didn't talk to anyone He watched the television and he drank Barq's Root Beer, but he wasn't seeing or hearing a thing
"Then, one night when Patsy drove up late and ca she was sick and Jasmine had to make her some dinner, Pops sat down at the table opposite her and told et out of the room
" 'No, you let hi to say to me,' Patsy said 'Go on, out with it ¡¯
"I didn't know quite what to do, so I stepped into the hallway and leaned against the back doors I could see Patsy's face, and the back of Pops' head, and I could hear every word that was said
" 'I'll give you fifty thousand dollars for it,' Pops said
"Patsy stared at hi about?¡¯
" 'I know you're pregnant,' he said 'Fifty thousand dollars And you leave the baby here with us ¡¯
" 'You crazy oldto do with a baby? You think I'd go through all that again for fifty grand?¡¯
" 'A hundred thousand dollars,' he said calmly And then he said, 'Two hundred thousand dollars, Patsy Blackwood, on the day that it's born and you sign it over to me ¡¯
"Patsy rose fro at him 'Why the hell didn't you tell me that yesterday!' she shouted 'Why the hell didn't you tell !' She made her hands into fists and stomped her foot 'You crazy old man!' she said 'Damn you ' And she turned and flew out the kitchen The screen door banged shut after her, and Pops bowed his head
"I came into the kitchen and stood at his side
" 'She's already gotten rid of it,' he said He bowed his head He looked utterly defeated He never said another word about it He went back to his silent ways
"As for Patsy, she did lie sick in her roo which Jaseneral care of her, and then she was up and off in her new van for a series of country jamborees
"I was very curious Would Patsy inant just to make two hundred thousand dollars? And ould it be like to have a baby sister or brother? I really wanted to know
"Pops set himself to solitary tasks around the farm He painted the white fences where they needed it; he clipped back the azaleas He laid in arden patches and eraniuh they didn't last too long in the heat he set out plenty of theet perspective on his schemes