I kinda nods. Remember? Shore I can remember. If somebody would crack the paint around my mouth, I might say somethin’.
I can hear Judgment Jones out in front of the curtain, explainin’ things, and I hear him tell that me and Peewee has been added to the show. Miss Eveline Annabel Wimple finds me, and she says in a voice what is kinda choked, “Uncle Tom, yo’re goin’ to be a knockout.”
Then along comes Zibe Hightower. He’s wearin’ an old plug hat, long, black coat, which Judgment Jones uses on Sunday, a pair of striped pants and boots. He’s got some big black eyebrows painted up above his scrawny ones and his mustache is as black as ink. In one hand he’s packin’ a blacksnake whip, and he’s seven-eighths drunk.
There’s Susie Hightower Potts, wearin’ a knee-length white dress, and she’s wearin’ more paint than a warpath Apache. Susie weighs two-twenty on the hoof, and she ain’t over five feet tall. Cometh Hank Potts, ready for the fray, wearin’ one of his wife’s polka-dot waists, a pair of tight pants made out of a sheet, and a pair of boots, which he has painted with black enamel. On his head is a little speckled jockey cap, with a long beak.
“Limpy” Lucas is almost in-cog-neeto in a boiled shirt, glasses and Hank’s old brown derby. Mrs. Thursday Noon is wearin’ a necklace of them cut-glass dinguses off a chandelier, a feather fan, and a dress so danged tight that she couldn’t set down without havin’ a accident.
Then cometh a interruption in the shape of Dog-Rib Davidson, Roarin’ Lyons and “Nebrasky” Smith. The two former are from Oasis, and the latter is from Alkali.
“We’ve been appointed a committee,” states Dog-Rib. “We bought tickets in good faith, expectin’ to see a show, but we finds that you’ve done fired two of yore best actors—Zeke Hardy and Olaf Swenson—and we know why yuh ditched ’em. It’s ’cause Zeke used to live in Oasis, and Olaf used to hibernate in Alkali. We hereby demand our money back.”
“No, yuh can’t do that,” says Hank. “We’re ready to start the show.”
“Money or scalps,” says Roarin’.
“Let us arbitrate,” suggests Judgment Jones. “We’ve got two better actors to take their places, and the show will be much better.”