“Yes, chile, they was up there with you an’ Kent up’n had the imprence to tell me to go tell his maw that he warn’t comin’ ter no dinner, ’cause he an’ that there Judy gal was a keepin’ house up the tree.” The old woman chuckled with delight at Kent’s “imprence.”
“I shouldn’t be astonished if they did go to housekeeping soon, Aunt Mary, but I don’t fancy it will be up a tree.”
“An’ what I done say all the time ’bout that there Kent not being drownded? When the niggers came a whining ’roun’ me a sayin’ he was sho’ daid ’cause they done had signs an’ omens, I say ter them I done had mo’ ter do with that there Kent than all of ’em put together an’ I lak ter know what they be havin’ omens ’bout him when I ain’t had none. If’n they was any omens a floatin’ ’roun’ they would a lit on me an’ not on that triflin’ Buck Jourdan. He say he dream er teeth an’ ’twas sho sign er death. I tell him mebbeso but ’twas mo’n likely he done overworked his teeth a eatin’ er my victuals, a settin’ ’roun’ here dayanight a strummin’ on his gittah, an’ what’s mo’ I done tole him he better git the blacksmith ter pull out one er his jaw teeth what ain’t mo’n a snaggle. Sukey low she goin’ ter send him in ter Lou’ville ter one er these here tooth dentists, but I say the blacksmith is jes’ as good a han’ at drawin’ teeth as they is, an’ he chawge the same as ter shoe a mule, an’ that ain’t much.”
“But Aunt Mary, I should think if there is anything serious the matter with Buck’s teeth he had better see a dentist. The blacksmith might break his tooth off.”
“Who? This here blacksmith? Lawsamussy, honey, why he’s that strong an’ survigorous that he would bust Buck’s jaw long befo’ he break his tooth. He’ll grab hol’ the tooth and put his knee in Buck’s chist an’ he gonter hol’ on till either Buck or the tooth comes.”
A groan from the next room, the lean-to kitchen, gave evidence that Buck was in there, an unwilling eavesdropper since the method of the blacksmith on his suffering molar was the topic.
“Don’t you think the baby has grown, Aunt Mary?” asked Molly, mercifully changing the subject.
“Yes, she done growed some an’ she done growed prettier. I seed all the time she were gonter be pretty, an’ when that there Paul came down here an’ give it to me that the new baby looked lak a pink mummy—I done tol’ him that I didn’t know what a mummy were, but what ever it were, the new baby didn’t look no mo’ lak one than he did when he was born, ’cause of all the wrinkly, scarlet little Injuns he would a fetched the cake. That done dried that there Paul up an he ain’t been so bombast since bout the looks er no new babies.” The old woman chuckled with delight in remembrance of her repartee.
“Aunt Mary, I think you are feeling better, aren’t you? You seem much more lively than when I saw you last.”
“’Cose I is feelin’ better. Ain’t we done heard good news from that there Kent?”