“Tom!”
“I couldn’ help it, Ma.”
She knelt down beside him. “You in trouble?”
He was a long time answering. “Yeah,” he said. “In trouble. I can’t go out to work. I got to hide.”
The children crawled near on their hands and knees, staring greedily. “What’s the matter’th him, Ma?”
“Hush!” Ma said. “Go wash up.”
“We got no soap.”
“Well, use water.”
“What’s the matter’th Tom?”
“Now you hush. An’ don’t you tell nobody.”