creaking wagon, back through the evening trees, to the campusâ
âWe were picketing,â Corey said. âThatâs all. With the others, across the street from the theater.â
âWell, that wasnât
quite
all,â Elsie said.
âThen what else
did
we do?â Dr. Corey asked, indignantly.
But Elsie had some devilment in her eye.
And there was a grin back of Dr. Coreyâs indignation. âWe certainly didnât do very
much
elseâthat anyone with a grain of sense wouldnât have done. Thereâs no forgiving a movie like thatâstirring people up to violence against their fellow man!â
âWhat did she do, Miss Elsie?â Mr. Carter asked.
âWell, we were picketing, there across the street. The policemen were keeping us back. And you could see that it wasnât doing anything to keep people from going into the movieââ
âThe thing we wanted to do,â Corey said, âwas to stop them from going to see it, you see. Thatâs what we were trying to do.â
âSo finally,â Elsie said, âCorey says to me, âCome on.â Well, I didnât know where she was going.â
âYou did too!â Corey said. âI
told
youââ
âAfter we got in line,â Elsie said, âyou told me. We left the pickets, went down to the end of the block, crossed over, came back, and got on the ticket line to the movie. Thatâs when I asked you, what we were going to do. And you told me, âWeâre going to go inside and see that movie!â Well, I was afraid to leave her, because I knew she was probably going to do something foolishâand I didnât want her to get in trouble.â
âYou went
into
the movie?â Clarice asked. From her tone, Sam realized this was new to her as well.
Corey nodded.
âWe went into the movie,â Elsie said, âtook our seats, and waited for the lights to go down and the man at the organ to start his playingâand I asked: âCorey, what are we going to do now?â And she whispered, âHush!â and just to sit there and to do what she did. Well, I thought, dear Lord, give me strength! What has this crazy girl, my own little sister, got it into her head to do?â
âThen what happened?â Sam asked.
âThe lights went off, the man started to play the organ, and the movie beganâand Corey jumps up, scoots out into the aisle, with thoselong dresses we used to wear back then, catching on everybodyâs knees, saying real loud, âExcuse meâexcuse me, please!â and Iâm coming right after her. I think people thought she was sickâand had to use the facilities. So they were making room.
âBut then, when she got into the aisle, she ran right down toward the front of the theaterâand Iâm running to keep up. And she climbed onto the stageââ
âI
jumped
onto the stage,â Corey said. âI got hold of the edge, and I went up like a boy over a fenceâthough I donât know whether I could do it todayââ
âAnd she grabbed hold of the edge of the screen, with the light from the projector all over us, and people starting to stand up and call out to ask if something was wrong, and she
ripped
itââ
Corey laughed. âI certainly did. I remember, you stood there, on the stage, in front of all those people, and you said, âOh, Coreyâ!â â
âThen
I
grabbed hold,â Elsie said, âand started ripping too!â
âOnce we began,
she
ripped more than I did,â Corey said. âI really think Elsie was having fun.â
âI was scared to death,â Elsie said. âBut, by then, I figured it didnât make much difference. I knew we were going to end up in jail, no matterâso I decided itâd be better at least to do what weâd come for. Yes, I got hold of itâand I ripped it too. In about a New