"But if it does pay, maw? What'll I do? Go away from here?"
"Naw, Benny—. Not—away—. What'd you go away for, when it pays? After all them years I gave to it?"
His spoon clattered noisily to his plate. He pushed his chair back from the table. The legs of it rasped loudly along the uncarpeted floor. He got to his feet.
"Let's go on outside," he said. "There ain't no sense to this here talking—and talking."
She glanced up at him. Her eyes were narrow and hard.
"All right, Benny. I'll clear up. I'll be along in a minute. All right, Benny."
He slouched heavily out of the room.
She sat where she was, the set look pressed on her face. Automatically her hands reached out among the dishes, pulling them toward her.
Outside the boy sank down on the step.
It was getting dark. There were shadows along the ground. Blue shadows. In the graying skies one star shone brilliantly. Beyond the mist-slurred summit of a hill the full moon grew yellow.