American Front

TOGETHER, THEY DIDN'T MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF SENSE. BUT THEN, YOU COULD

He and Herodotus lifted a crate. It was heavy enough to need two men on it, sure enough. "You niggers want to watch out what you're doin'," Lieutenant Ke

"Give that man a whip and put him in the cotton field, he get five hundred bales to the acre," Herodotus said.

"Yeah, till one fine mornin' they find him with his head broke in, and what a shame, nobody knows who done it," Cinci

But Lieutenant Ke

Cinci

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Cinci

Sure enough, when he went back to work after his sowbelly and greens and his canteen full of cold coffee, he needed a while to get used to things again, and he never did quite find the trancelike state in which he'd been working before di

About halfway through the afternoon, another big barge came across the river from Cinci

Herodotus raised an eyebrow. "Ain't never seen 'em do that before," he said. Cinci

At last, Lieutenant Ke

"That's how he thinks of us-mules," Cinci

"Mus' be his time of the month," Herodotus said. "He's sure enough cranky like that."

Some of the work gang stood at the trolley stop and waited for a ride back to the Negro district of Covington. Others-men who saved every nickel-left them with waves and weary calls of, "See you in the mornin'," and started walking south, away from the Ohio. Cinci

A little south of downtown, he peeled off from the group of labourers. "Got to buy me some new laces for my shoes," he said. "Got so many knots holding these ones together, it's like puttin' rocks in my shoes."

"You could pick a better place," Herodotus said. "Conroy there"-he pointed to the name on the awning above the storefront-"he don't like black folks much. Feldman down the street, he's a better bet."

"I ain't never had no trouble with Conroy, an' he's cheaper to buy from than the Jew," Cinci

Conroy's general store was typical of the breed. The proprietor, a big, red-faced fellow with a formidable grizzled mustache and a wad of tobacco in one cheek, looked a lot more pregnant than Elizabeth did. He had dry goods at the right of the store, yard goods at the back, groceries to the left, with barrels of flour, sugar, and crackers in front of his counter. Cigars and candy reposed in glass jars on the counter.

A white man and a couple of white women were in the store. Cinci

At last, the labourer's turn came. The storekeeper got him three pairs of shoelaces and gave back ninety cents change on the day's dollar Cinci

"Seen somethin' interesting," Cinci

Conroy tugged at one end of his mustache. "That a fact?" he said. "Well, you're right. Mebbe that is interesting." He spat, and fell a little short of the cuspidor. By the brown stains on the pale pine boards near the spittoon, he missed a good deal of the time.

With ninety cents in change clinking in his pocket, Cinci

When he got home, Elizabeth had a stew of chicken and okra and rice waiting for him. "I was startin' to be worried about you," she said, and then yawned. She'd been tired all the time since she was expecting, but she hadn't worked any less. With everything more expensive because of war and occupation, she couldn't afford that.

"Put in some extra time," Cinci

"Did you?" Elizabeth said, and let out a long sigh. "Dear God, I wish we didn't have to have nothin' to do with Conroy or any of the other people still spyin' for the CSA up here."

"Lord have mercy, so do I," Cinci

"No good will come of it," Elizabeth predicted gloomily. "No good at all."

Cinci