“Well, we got to git goin’, an’ goin’ quick. I ain’t a-settin’ here no longer, no matter how nice.” Ma took up her bucket and walked toward the sanitary unit for hot water.
“Ma gets tough,” Tom said. “I seen her a-gettin’ mad quite a piece now. She jus’ boils up.”
Pa said with relief, “Well, she brang it into the open, anyways. I been layin’ at night a-burnin’ my brains up. Now we can talk her out, anyways.”
Ma came back with her bucket of steaming water. “Well,” she demanded, “figger anything out?”
“Jus’ workin’ her over,” said Tom. “Now s’pose we jus’ move up north where that cotton’s at. We been over this here country. We know they ain’t nothin’ here. S’pose we pack up an’ shove north. Then when the cotton’s ready, we’ll be there. I kinda like to get my han’s aroun’ some cotton. You got a full tank, Al?”
“Almos’—’bout two inches down.”
“Should get us up to that place.” Ma poised a dish over the bucket. “Well?” she demanded. Tom said. “You win. We’ll move on, I guess. Huh, Pa?”
“Guess we got to,” Pa said. Ma glanced at him. “When?”
“Well—no need waitin’. Might’s well go in the mornin’.”
“We got to go in the mornin’. I tol’ you what’s lef’.”