“Then she looked at me. 'Yes, Seth,' says she, 'I see you are home.'
“'At last,' put in brother-in-law, '“There is no place like home”—when the other places are shut up.' And he laughed again.
“'Stop, Bennie,' says Emeline, and he stopped. That was another of his little ways—to do anything she asked him. Then she turned to me.
“'Seth,' she asks, 'where have you been?'
“'Oh, down street,' says I, casual. 'It's turrible warm out.'
“She never paid no attention to the weather signals. 'Where 'bouts down street?' she wanted to know.
“'Oh, down to the store,' I says.
“'You go to the store a good deal, don't you,' says she. Bennie D. chuckled, and then begged her pardon. That chuckle stirred my mad up.
“'I go where folks seem to be glad to see me,' I says. 'Where they treat me as if I was somebody.'
“'So you was at the store the whole evenin'?' she asks.