Free A Long Day in November by Ernest J. Gaines

quarter, since I done already gived you seventy-five cents.”
    â€œYou want advice?” Madame Toussaint asks Daddy.
    Madame Toussaint looks like she’s getting mad with Daddy now.
    â€œSure,” Daddy says. “But since—”
    â€œThen shut up and hand me your money,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œBut I done already—” Daddy says.
    â€œGet out my house, nigger,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œAnd don’t come back till you learn how to act.”
    â€œAll right,” Daddy says, “I’ll give you three more dollars.”

    He hands Madame Toussaint the dollar.
    Madame Toussaint gets her pocketbook out her pocket. Then she leans close to the fire so she can look down in it. She sticks her hand in the pocketbook and gets two dollars. She looks at the two dollars a long time. She stands up and gets her eyeglasses off the mantelpiece and puts them on her eyes. She looks at the two dollars a long time, then she hands them to Daddy. She sticks the dollar bill Daddy gived her in the pocketbook, then she takes her eyeglasses off and puts them back on the mantelpiece. Madame Toussaint sits in her big old rocking chair and starts poking in the fire with the three sticks again. Her face gets red from the fire, her eyes get big and white. I turn my head and hide behind Daddy’s leg.
    â€œGo set fire to your car,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œWhat?” Daddy says.
    â€œGo set fire to your car,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œYou talking to me?” Daddy says.
    â€œGo set fire to your car,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œNow, just a minute,” Daddy says. “I didn’t give you my hard-earned three dollars for that kind of foolishness. I dismiss that seventy-five cents you took from me, but not my three dollars that easy.”
    â€œYou want your wife back?” Madame Toussaint asks Daddy.
    â€œThat’s what I’m paying you for,” Daddy says.
    â€œThen go set fire to your car,” Madame Toussaint says.

    â€œYou can’t have both.”
    â€œYou must be fooling,” Daddy says.
    â€œI don’t fool,” Madame Toussaint says. “You paid for advice and I’m giving you advice.”
    â€œYou mean that?” Daddy says. “You mean I got to go burn up my car for Amy to come back home?”
    â€œIf you want her back there,” Madame Toussaint says. “Do you?”
    â€œI wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t,” Daddy says.
    â€œThen go and burn it up,” Madame Toussaint says. “A gallon of coal oil and a penny box of match ought to do the trick. You got any gas in it?”
    â€œA little bit—if nobody ain’t drained it,” Daddy says.
    â€œThen you can use that,” Madame Toussaint says. “But if you want her back there, you got to burn it up. That’s my advice to you. And if I was you, I’d do it right away. You can never tell.”
    â€œTell about what?” Daddy asks.
    â€œShe might be with another man a week from now,” Madame Toussaint says. “This man loves her and he’s kind. And that’s what a woman wants. That’s what they need. You men don’t know this, but you better learn it before it’s too late.”
    â€œWhat’s the other man’s name?” Daddy asks. “Can it be Freddie Jackson?”
    â€œIt can,” Madame Toussaint says. “But it don’t have to be. Any man that’d give her love and kindness.”

    â€œI love her,” Daddy says. “I give her kindness. I’m always giving her love and kindness.”
    â€œWhen you home, you mean,” Madame Toussaint says.
    â€œHow about when you running up and down the road in your car? How do you think she feels then?”
    Daddy don’t say nothing.
    â€œYou men better learn,” Madame Toussaint says. “Now, if you want her, go and burn it. If you don’t want her, go and get