“Horse racing?”
“I ain’t so sho’, but from what Sis Tempy done tol’ me it mought be an’ agin it moughtn’t.”
“Does Tempy debate?”
“Sis Tempy! Yi! Yi!” and Chloe went off in peals of laughter. “Sis Tempy can’t argyfy with nothin’ but a rollin’ pin. She done put up a right good argymint only las’ Sunday with her beau, that big slue-footed nigger, Jeemes Hanks.”
“What was the argument about?”
“Jeemes he done say he’s jes’ as good as any white folks an’ some better’n a heap er them. He say his vote don’t count none an’ he ain’t able ter buy no good lan’ jes’ ’cause de white folks won’t sell him none up clost ter they homes,—an’ Sis Tempy ups an’ tells him that his vote ain’t no count ’cause he ain’t no count hisse’f. She tells him that buzzards lays buzzard eggs an’ buzzard eggs hatches out mo’ buzzards; an’ that made him hoppin’ mad ’cause that nigger Jeemes sho’ do set great sto’ by hisse’f.”
“Does James feel that white people ought to sell him land whether they want to or not?”
“’Zactly! He been wantin’ ter buy a strip from Miss Ellanlouise up yander by the clari’, not so fur from the great house. They’s glad enough ter sell some er that rocky lan’ off over by the gravel pit, but they don’t want no niggers fer clost neighbors.”
“And what did Tempy say?”
“She never said nothin’. She jes’ up’n driv him out’n the cabin with the rollin’ pin. She tells him while she’s a-lickin’ him, though, that he’s a-larnin’ his a-b-c’s upside down at the count’s school an’ fer her part she ain’t a-goin’ back.”