God's Little Acre Read online

  Pluto stopped the car but did not shut off the motor. Darling Jill turned the switch and took out the key.

  “Wait a minute,” Pluto said excitedly. “Don’t do that, Darling Jill.”

  She dropped the key into her pocketbook and laughed at Pluto’s protests. Before he could stop her, she had opened the door and stepped to the street. Pluto got out and followed her up the walk to the front door.

  “I don’t hear Will anywhere,” she said, stopping and trying to see through the window.

  They opened the door and went into the hall. The light was burning and all the other doors were open. From one of the rooms came the sound of someone crying. Darling Jill went into one of the dark rooms and snapped on the light. Rosamond was lying across the bed with part of a sheet covering her face. She was sobbing loudly.

  “Rosamond!” Darling Jill cried. “What in the world is the matter!”

  She ran and fell across the bed with her sister.

  Rosamond raised herself on her elbows and looked around the room. She dried the tears on her face and tried to smile.

  “I wasn’t expecting you,” she said, throwing her arms around Darling Jill and bursting into tears again. “I’m glad you came when you did. I thought I was going to die. I must have been out of my head a little.”

  “What did Will do to you? Where is he?”

  Pluto had been standing in the doorway, not knowing what else to do. He tried not to look at Rosamond until she had noticed him.

  “Hello, Pluto,” she smiled. “I certainly am glad to see you again. Take the clothes off the chair and sit down and make yourself at home.”

  “Where’s Will?” Darling Jill asked again. “Tell me what happened, Rosamond.”

  “I suppose he’s down the street somewhere,” Rosamond said. “I don’t know exactly where he is.”

  “But what’s the matter?”

  “He’s been drunk all this week,” Rosamond said. “And he won’t stay at home with me. He talks about turning the power on at the mill when he’s drunk, and when he’s sober, he won’t say anything. The last time he came home he hit me.”

  Her face was badly swollen. One of her eyes was slightly discolored, and blood had been flowing from her nose.

  “Isn’t he working?”

  “No, of course not. The mill is still shut down. I don’t know when it will start running again. Some people say it never will. I don’t know.”

  Pluto stood up, twisting his hat in his hands.

  “I’ve got to be getting back home,” he said. “And that’s a fact.”

  “Sit down, Pluto,” Darling Jill told him. “And be quiet.”

  He sat down again, placing his hat under the chair and folding his hands in his lap.

  “I came over to take you and Will home with me,” Darling Jill said. “Pa says he wants you and Will to help some. He needs Will to help dig, and you can do whatever you like. Pa’s got something on his mind about finding gold for sure this time. I don’t know what got into him.”

  “Oh, he always has some new notion,” Rosamond said. “There’s no gold on that place, is there? If there was gold there, they would have found it long before now. Why can’t he stop digging the land full of holes and farm some?”

  “I don’t know,” Darling Jill said. “He and the boys think they’re going to strike it soon. That’s what keeps them at it all the time. I wish they would.”

  “The Waldens are worse than the darkies, always expecting to find gold somewhere.”

  “Pa wants you and Will to come, anyway.”

  “Will won’t dig. Pa ought to know that by this time. Will’s always restless when he is away from here.”

  “Pa has his head set on you and Will coming over there, anyway. You know how he is.”

  “We can’t go tonight. Will isn’t here, and I don’t know when he’ll come back.”

  “Tomorrow is soon enough. We’ll spend the night. Pluto can sleep with Will, and I’ll sleep with you.”

  Pluto started to protest that he had to get back to Marion that night, but neither of them noticed him.

  “You’re welcome to stay,” Rosamond said, “but the bed isn’t big enough for Will and Pluto. One of them will have to sleep on the floor.”

  “Pluto, can,” Darling Jill said. “Just give Pluto a pillow and a quilt and let him make himself a pallet in the hall. He won’t mind.”

  Rosamond got up and fixed her hair and powdered her face. She looked better after that.

  “I don’t know when Will is coming home. Maybe not at all tonight. Sometimes he doesn’t.”

  “He’ll get sober when he goes back with us and digs a day or two. Pa will keep him sober, too.”

  All of them turned and listened. There was a noise on the front porch, followed by the sound of someone banging on the door.

  “That’s him now,” Rosamond said. “He’s still drunk, too. I can tell.”

  They waited in the room while he came through the hall and appeared at the door.

  “Well, for God’s sake!” Will said. “You back again?”

  He stared at Darling Jill for several moments and started towards her, his hands leading him. She sidestepped, and he went on into the wall.

  “Will!” Rosamond said.

  “And there’s old Pluto, too! How’s everything out there around Marion these days?”

  Pluto got up and tried to shake hands with Will, but Will started sideways toward the other side of the room.

  Will sat down in the corner against the wall and placed his head on his arms. He was quiet for such a long time that all of them thought he had gone to sleep. They were getting ready to tiptoe out of the room, and they had got as far as the door when Will looked up and called them back.

  “Trying to slip off from me again, weren’t you? Come back here, all of you, and keep me company.”

  Rosamond made a gesture of helplessness and sank wearily upon the bed. Pluto and Darling Jill laughed at Will and sat down.

  “How’s Griselda?” Will asked. “Is that girl as good-looking as ever? What part of the country did she come from? I’d like to go there some day and take my pick.”

  “Please, Will,” Rosamond said.

  “I’m going to get that girl yet,” Will said determinedly, shaking his head from side to side. “I’ve been wanting her for a long time now, and I can’t wait much more for her, either. I’m going to get her.”

  “Please shut your mouth, Will,” Rosamond said.

  He appeared not to have heard her.

  “Tell me how Griselda’s looking these days, Darling Jill. Does she still look ripe for picking? I’m going to get her, so help me God! I’ve had my eye on her ever since she moved in the house over there. Griselda’s got the sweetest pair--”

  “Will!” Rosamond said.

  “Aw, what the hell is the matter with you,” Will said irritatedly. “It’s all in the family, ain’t it? Why in the hell should you bawl me out for talking about her? Buck wouldn’t care much if I did get her. He can’t use her all the time. Nobody ought to howl about just one tiny little bit when nobody is getting hurt. You act like I was getting ready to run down the King of England’s daughter.”

  “Please don’t talk about it now, then,” Rosamond begged.

  “Now, listen to me,” Will said. “Griselda can’t keep from being the prettiest girl in the country, no more than I can keep from wanting to get her. So what the hell does that make you? I promised myself a piece when I saw her the first time over there in Georgia, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to break my own promise. You get all you bargained for. I can’t help it if you raise a howl, either.”

  “I’ll talk about it some other time, Will, if you promise to stop talking now. Try to remember who’s here.”

  “It’s all in the family, ain’t it? So, what the hell!”

  Darling Jill looked at Pluto and laughed. Pluto felt the blood coming over his face again, and he turned his head toward the wall where the light would shadow it. D
arling Jill burst out laughing again.

  There was no use in any of them trying to talk as long as Will was there.

  Rosamond suddenly began to cry.

  “There ain’t a bit of sense in taking on like that,” Will said doggedly. “It’s all in the family, ain’t it? Well, what the hell! Old Pluto, there, is having a good time with Darling Jill, or would if he could, and I reckon I take you plenty of times, except when you get uppity and start talking about the God damn sacredness of approaching a female, or some such talk. So, why in hell can’t I talk about getting Griselda if I want to? You can’t expect a girl like Griselda to put a plug in herself. Why, that would be a God damn shame! It would be a heathen sin. I swear it would. That’d be the damnedest shame I ever heard about!”

  He began to cry at the thought of it. He stood up and the tears ran down his face and he sounded as if his heart were breaking. He tried to stop the flow of tears by twisting his fists into his eyesockets, but the tears fell as heavily as ever.

  Rosamond got up off the bed.

  “I’m glad that’s over with,” she said, sighing. “He’ll be all right now. Just leave him alone for a little while, and he’ll be himself again. Come on into the other room. I’ll turn the light out so it won’t hurt his eyes.”

  Pluto and Darling Jill followed her, leaving Will crying in the corner.

  When they had all found chairs in the other room, Rosamond turned to Pluto.

  “I’m awfully ashamed of what happened in the next room, Pluto,” she said. “Please try to forget it and not think of it again. When Will gets drunk, he doesn’t know what he’s saying. He didn’t mean a word of it. I’m sure of that. I wouldn’t have let him embarrass you for anything, if I could have helped it. Please forget all about what he said.”

  “Oh, that’s all right, Rosamond,” he said, blushing a little. “I don’t hold anything against you or Will.”

  “Well, I don’t suppose you would,” Darling Jill broke in. “It’s none of your business, anyway. Just sit tight, Pluto, and keep your mouth shut.”

  She and Rosamond began talking about something else then, and Pluto was unable to follow the conversation. He was almost on the other side of the room from them, and their voices were lowered. He sat uncomfortably in the little chair, wishing he could sit on the floor where he would have a wider seat.

  Presently Will came to the door. His face was drawn, but he showed little indication of his drinking. Apparently he had sobered.

  “Glad to see you, Pluto,” he said, going over and shaking hands. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. It’s been nearly a year, hasn’t it?”

  “I reckon it has, Will.”

  Will drew up a chair and sat down, leaning back to look at Pluto.

  “What are you doing now, the same thing as usual?”

  “Well, I’m a candidate for sheriff this year,” Pluto told him. “I’m running for office.”

  “You’ll make a humdinger,” Will said. “It takes a big man to hold the office of sheriff. Why that is, I don’t know, but it seems to be a fact. I don’t remember ever seeing a skinny sheriff.”

  Pluto laughed good-naturedly. He went to the window and spat tobacco juice on the ground.

  “I ought to be back home now,” he said, “but I’m glad to have the chance of coming over here to see you and Rosamond. I’ve got to get back the first thing in the morning though, and do some canvassing. I didn’t get a thing done all day. I reckon I started early enough, but I only got as far as the Waldens, and now here I am over here in Carolina.”

  “Are the old man and the boys still digging holes in the ground over there?”

  “Night and day, almost. But they’re going to get an albino from the swamps to divine it for them. That’s where they are tonight. They left a little before we did.”

  Will laughed, slapping his legs with his broad hands.

  “Conjur stuff now, huh? Well, I’ll be damned. I didn’t know Ty Ty Walden would start using conjur, old as he is. He’s always been trying to tell me how scientific he is about digging for gold. And now he’s using conjur stuff! I’ll be a suckegg mule!”

  Pluto wished to make a defense of some kind, but Will was laughing so much he was afraid to bring it up.

  “That might help some, at that,” Will continued. “And then again it mightn’t. The old man ought to know, though; he’s been fooling around that farm digging for gold nearly fifteen years now, and he ought to be an expert at it by this time. Reckon there’s gold in that ground, sure enough, Pluto?”

  “I’d hate to say,” Pluto replied, “but I reckon there must be, because people have been picking up nuggets all over the country around there ever since I can remember. There’s gold somewhere around there, because I’ve seen the nuggets.”

  “Every time I hear about Ty Ty digging those holes I sort of get the fever myself,” Will said. “But just take me over there and put me out in that hot sun, and I lose all interest in it. I wouldn’t mind striking gold there, and that’s no lie. Looks like there isn’t much use of waiting around here to make a living in the mill. That is, unless we do something about it.”

  Will had turned and was pointing out the window towards the darkened cotton mill. There was no light in the huge building, but arc lights under the trees threw a thin coating of yellow glow over the ivy-covered walls.

  “When’s the mill going to start up again?” Pluto asked.

  “Never,” Will said disgustedly. “Never. Unless we start it ourselves.”

  “What’s the matter? Why won’t it run?”

  Will leaned forward in his chair.

  “We’re going in there some day ourselves and turn the power on,” he said slowly. “If the company doesn’t start up soon, that’s what we’re going to do. They cut the pay down to a dollar-ten eighteen months ago, and when we raised hell about it, they shut off the power and drove us out. But they still charge rent for these God damn privies we have to live in. You know why we’re going to run it ourselves now, don’t you?”

  “But some of the other mills in the Valley are running,” Pluto said. “We passed five or six lighted mills when we drove over from Augusta tonight. Maybe they’ll start this one again soon.”

  “Like so much hell they will, at a dollar-ten. They are running the other mills because they starved the loom-weavers into going back to work. That was before the Red Cross started passing out sacks of flour. They had to go back to work and take a dollar-ten, or starve. But, by God, we don’t have to do it in Scottsville. As long as we can get a sack of flour once in a while we can hold out. And the State is giving out yeast now. Mix a cake of yeast in a glass of water and drink it, and you feel pretty good for a while. They started giving out yeast because everybody in the Valley has got pellagra these days from too much starving. The mill can’t get us back until they shorten the hours, or cut out the stretchout, or go back to the old pay. I’ll be damned if I work nine hours a day for a dollar-ten, when those rich sons-of-bitches who own the mill ride up and down the Valley in five thousand dollar automobiles.”

  Will had got warmed to the subject, and once started, he could not stop. He told Pluto something of their plans for taking over the mill from the owners and running it themselves. The mill workers in Scottsville had been out of work for a year and a half already, he said, and they were becoming desperate for food and clothing. During that length of time the workers had reached an understanding among themselves that bound every man, woman, and child in the company town to a stand not to give in to the mill. The mill had tried to evict them from their homes for nonpayment of rent, but the local had got an injunction from a judge in Aiken that restrained the mill from turning the workers out of the company houses. With that, Will said, they were prepared to stand for their demands just as long as the mill stood in Scottsville.

  Rosamond came over to Will and placed her hand on his shoulder. She stood silently beside him until he finished. Pluto was glad she had come. He felt uneasy in Scottsville th
en; Will talked as though there might be violence at any minute.

  “it’s time to go to bed, Will,” she said softly. “If we’re going back with Darling Jill and Pluto in the morning, we ought to get some sleep. It’s after midnight now.”

  Will put his arm around her and kissed her on the lips. She lay in his arms with her eyes closed, and her fingers were interlocked with his.

  “All right,” he said, raising her from his lap. “I reckon it is time.”

  She kissed him again and went to the door. She stood there for a moment, partly turned, looking at Will.

  “Come on to bed, Darling Jill,” she said.

  They went into the bedroom across the hail and closed the door. Pluto began taking off his tie and shirt. After he had removed them, he began to unlace his shoes. He was ready after that to lie down on the floor and go to sleep. Will brought him a pillow and a quilt and tossed them on the floor at his feet. After leaving Pluto, he went into the room across the hall and closed the door.

  “Where am I going to sleep?” he asked, standing in the middle of the room and watching Darling Jill undress.

  “In the other bed, Will,” Rosamond said. “Now please go along, Will, and don’t bother Darling Jill. She’s going to sleep with me. Please don’t try to start a row. It’s awfully late. It’s after midnight.”

  Without another word he opened the door and went into the adjoining room. He took off his clothes and got into bed. It was too hot to sleep in nightclothes, or even in underwear. He stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes. He still felt a little drunk, and his head was beginning to hurt behind his temples. If he had not felt so badly just then, he knew he would have got up and argued with Rosamond about sleeping in the other room.

  When Darling Jill and Rosamond had undressed, Rosamond turned out the light and opened the doors of all the rooms so there would be better circulation of air. Will could hear her open the door of his room, but he was too tired and sleepy by that time to open his eyes and call her. It was nearly one o’clock before they all went to sleep, and the only sound in the house was Pluto’s snoring on his pallet across the hall.