"No, he couldn't, Cottie."
A silence—the great stone silence of a coliseum—closed in about them. Della shivered and burrowed her head deeper into her sister's lap.
"Aw, Gawd, us talkin' like this, with him layin' in there!"
"If he wasn't layin' in there we wouldn't be talkin'."
A shutter swung in on its hinges.
"There, there! It ain't nothin' but the wind, Della."
"He was goin' to fix that shutter to-day when he was off shift. Gawd, he didn't have no more idea of dyin' than I did!"
"That's just like maw. Sometimes in the night I can almost hear her stop breathin'—she's so weak, but she's always talkin' about next year—next year."
"It'll be awful for you, little sister, with me gone and you alone with her."
"It—it ain't a sin to say it, Delia. She—she ain't here for long, and I'll be comin' to join you soon. You'll tell 'em I'm comin'."