Free The Well by Mildred D. Taylor Page A

they done draw’d good water. I come up first thing this mornin’ t’ get my family some water and this well here stinkin’ like hell. Now them boys yonder—that Hammer and that David—they done said your boys, Charlie and Ed-Rose there, they done threatened t’ poison this here well. Now, I wants t’ know what’s the truth of it!”
    Mr. Simms cursed and spat the ground. Mr. Melbourneput up his hand, as if to stop any more such action…or something worse. “Now I ain’t sayin’ I’m takin’ these boys’ words on what happened. All I know is this well here done saved me and mine for some months now, and these folks here they ain’t had t’ share, but they done it without askin’ nothin’ from nobody. Now all of a sudden they water ain’t no good no more, and I gotta ask why. I gotta ask why!”
    â€œMaybe they done put something down it they own-selves,” said Ed-Rose before his father could speak. “Put it down there and then now tryin’ t’ blame it on us!”
    â€œNow why would we go and do a fool thing like that?” asked Hammer.
    â€œHush!” said Mama, but too late. The words were already spoken, and Charlie took them up.
    â€œâ€™Cause you figurin’ you and that David could get Ed-Rose and me back for all that work y’all had t’ do after jumpin’ on me. You figurin’ t’ lay the blame for a bad well on Ed-Rose and me, get everybody all riled up ’gainst us. Well, it ain’t gonna work, you little nigger. Ain’t nobody gonna believe yo’ word over a white man’s!”
    â€œI s’pose not,” said Hammer, and looked at George Melbourne. George Melbourne reddened and kept his silence. John Henry and me, our eyes met.
    It was then that Joe McCalister came walking up the road. “Mornin’!” he said before he had even gotten up the drive.
    Nobody said a word, but things like that didn’t bother Joe. I doubt if he even noticed, because he turned his attention to the next thing on his mind.
    â€œMr. Charlie, Mr. Ed-Rose! How’d that hunt come out the other night? Bet them possums and them coons y’all done bagged was mighty good eatin’!”
    Old Man McCalister Simms turned cold eyes on his boys. “Y’all gone huntin’?”
    Ed-Rose and Charlie looked at each other, and all of us standing there could see their fear. “No, suh, Pa!” Ed-Rose yelped out. “We ain’t!”
    â€œYeah, ya did,” said Joe, just as friendly as always. He had no idea of what was going on. “You done forgot, huh? I seen ya.”
    â€œWhen y’all gone?” demanded Old Man McCalister Simms. “Y’all ain’t brought no hunt home for your mama t’ cook in a spell now.”
    â€œAh, Pa, ya know Joe,” said Charlie. “Ya know he ain’t right in the head. He makin’ it up.”
    â€œNaw, I ain’t!” Joe cried, getting a bit vexed about anybody doubting his word. “I done seen y’all down ’long the Rosa Lee jus’ night ’fore last and I said, ‘ ’Ey, there, Mr. Charlie! Mr. Ed-Rose!’ Y’all had done alreadybagged y’allselves a possum and a coon too! And I done asked y’all what y’all was gonna do with that skunk y’all done caught, and y’all done said it was for a joke and not t’ tell nobody! Don’t y’all ’member?”
    Charlie took a step backwards. “Ah, Daddy, Joe, he jus’ mad ’cause we been funnin’ him. We done played a trick on him while back and he jus’ mad. Daddy…Daddy, he lyin’—”
    â€œNaw. Naw, he ain’t,” said Mr. McCalister Simms. “He ain’t got the brains t’ lie.”
    â€œWell…well, then he jus’ done got the days mixed up.”
    â€œThat’s right, Pa,” said Ed-Rose. “He