jusâ done got the days mixed up. He must be talkinâ âbout that last coon hunt we gone onââ
âYeah, thatâs right, Pa! Thatâs right, and that was moreân a month ago!â
Old Man McCalister stared dead-eyed at those boys of his, and he shook his head. âNaw. Naw, that ainât what happened. Yâall boys lyinâ tâ me.â
âNaw, Pa, nawââ
âYâall done poisoned that well.â
âAh, nawââ
âYâall done shamed me and mine.â
âNo, suh, Pa!â cried Charlie. âNo, suh, we ainât done no such thing. No, suh!â
âDonât you go lyinâ tâ me, boy!â said Mr. McCalister Simms and with one mighty fist knocked Charlie to the ground. âItâs one thing tâ teach a nigger where he stand, but ya donât go destroyinâ Godâs good earth tâ do it!â He reached inside his wagon. He pulled out a bullwhip.
Charlieâs eyes and Ed-Roseâs too got bigger. âNaw, Pa!â yelled Ed-Rose, backing away.
âPa! Pa! Donât ya do it!â cried Charlie from the ground. âDonât ya go shaminâ us like this front of niggers!â
âYâall done already shamed yoâselves!â shouted the old man. âGet up!â
âPlease, Pa! Please!â Charlie cried again as he got up. âNot front of niggers!â
Old Man McCalister Simms stood there breathing hard and trembling with his rage; then he stepped back. âCharlie, you and Ed-Rose, yâall get down in that well and get them dead things outa there!â
âBut, Paââ
Mr. McCalister Simms cracked the whip upon the ground. âDonât yâall back talk me! There was only white men standinâ up here, yâall wouldnât be talkinâ at all! Now, yâall done put that filth down there, yâall get it out, and donât yâall stop âtil itâs all out! Yâall hear me? Not âtil itâs all out! Charlie, you the one go down first!â
Ed-Rose and Charlie backed away from their daddy, looked at the Peabodys and the Melbournes, but not at Mr. Tom Bee, John Henry, Hammer, Mama, or me. I reckon they were too shamed to look at us. They got a rope from their wagon, and Ed-Rose lowered Charlie down into the well. It took them awhile, and we all waited. Charlie came up wet and shivering without a thing, and Mr. McCalister Simms sent Ed-Rose down. We waited some more. Back and forth the brothers went, taking turns going down. They brought up parts of a possum, a coon, and a skunk too, and went back down. Seeing those parts, all of us standing there knew Ed-Rose and Charlie hadnât taken any chances about spoiling our well. They hadnât just thrown dead animals down there in the night; theyâd hacked them up before they did.
The time passed and more folks, colored folks and white folks, their wagons filled with empty barrels, came up the road, and there was a buzz of words softly passed about what the Simmses had done, and a silence settled over the wagons, and the day.
Finally it was Charlie who brought the last of the dead things out. âYâall got it all?â Old Man McCalister demanded of Charlie.
Charlie, eyes lowered, nodded. âAll we can, Daddy.â
âThen yâall get on in that wagonâ¦in the back!â
Charlie placed the last dead thing in the back of their wagon, and he and Ed-Rose got in with them. Mr. McCalister Simms climbed on the seat, took up the reins, and turned the mules down the drive. As the Simmses passed all those wagons lined up for water, all those silent, accusing eyes, Charlie and Ed-Rose hung their heads. Old Man McCalister, though, stared dead-eyed, straight ahead.
Folks watched the wagon until it was gone, out of sight, then the folks began to leave. Mr. Melbourne and George left, and the Peabodys too. All the folks left, all