A sudden vision flashed over Bunny—of Mrs. Groarty, in her shiny robe of yellow satin, and her large bare arms and bosom. “Tell me,” he said, “does your aunt roll?”
“Gosh, no!” said the other. “She married a Romanist, and Pap calls her the Whore of Babylon, and we’re not supposed to speak to her no more. But she’s kind, and I knew she’d gimme some grub, so when I found I couldn’t get a job, I come here.”
“Why couldn’t you get a job?”
“ ’Cause everybody lectures you and tells you to go back home.”
“But why do you tell them about it?”
“You have to. They ask where you live, and why ain’t you at home; and I ain’t a-goin’ to lie.”
“But you can’t starve!”
“I can before I’ll go crooked. I had a fuss with Pap, and he says, if you depart from the Holy Word, the devil gets you, and you lie and cheat and steal and fornicate; and I says, ‘Well, sir, I’ll show you. I think a fellow can be decent without no devil.’ I made up my mind, and I’m a-goin’ to show him. I’ll pay back Aunt Allie, so I’m only borrowin’ this grub.”
Bunny held out his hand in the darkness. “You take this,” he said.
“What is it?”