“Ain’t dar no good dreams in dat book, Skeeter?” Figger Bush asked.
“Yes, suh, dis book is full of ’em,” Skeeter answered.
“Read us some, Skeeter,” Pap Curtain begged. “Ef we knows whut dey is, mebbe us kin dream ’em an’ bust de hoodoo.”
“Here is de fust one I sees,” Skeeter replied as he began to read laboriously: “‘Lion—To see one denotes admittunce to de sawciety of dis-tin-guish-ed pussons. To sit or ride on de back of a lion denotes de pro-tec-tion of some powerful pussonage. To dream of eatin’ de flesh of a lion denotes some high of-fice——”
“Aw, shuckin’s!” Prince Total exclaimed. “A nigger never could dream ’bout no lion. Us might dream ’bout a lizard.”
“You better not, Prince,” Skeeter warned him. “Listen to dis: ‘Lizard—Misfortune through false an’ de-ceit-ful friends.’”
“Fer de Lawd’s sake, Skeeter,” Vinegar howled impatiently. “Look over dat book an’ see ain’t dar no way to bust a bad hoodoo dream-sign!”
The pages of the dream book rustled for ten minutes while the negroes sat in expectant silence. At last Skeeter squealed:
“I done foun’ a new page, niggers! It’s all ’bout signs an’ omens. It say dis: ‘How-ever skep-ti-cal some pussons pro-fess to be on de subjeck of signs which ad-mon-ish an’ forewarn——’”
“Aw, cut dat out!” Hitch Diamond growled. “Us b’lieves in ’em—read de signs!”