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going to bury his store one of these days, and the thought of that, the picture of Levitt’s General packed floor to ceiling with greenish, moldy dirt, the customers and Mr. Levitt himself like mummies inside, filled Sadie with a strange feeling, like she’d looked into a grave. She wanted to peel all that stuff away, see what was really inside. Cause if you could see it, really see it, maybe then it couldn’t hurt you. But something told her people didn’t hold that to be a proper way of seeing things.
    They had already planted some kudzu up there — that was that big vine the state people had brought in from Jap-an that everybody said would grow on anything, even your arm if you left it there too long. The highway department kept telling Mr. Levitt that was what was going to keep the bank from coming down and covering his store. The kudzu had these big green leaves that had three parts to them, and here and there you’d see these dry, papery pods. The leaves and stems grew out from these long runners the vine put out over everything.
    The flowers were supposed to be big and purple, but one of the county workers said he’d only seen it flower a few times, maybe because they’d moved it from where it belonged and it didn’t know how to act no more.
    And it almost never made normal seed, even if it did start to bloom. It was like one of those big, sick, dumb babies that were born in the hollow from time to time. Born too big with a small piece withered here and there, and no brain to speak of, but Lord, how they grew! Those big dumb ugly babies would grow bigger than anyone else in the family, like as not.
    The town was busy. Lots of folks in for their regular store-buying. A lot of horse-trading going on — men shouting at the top of their lungs, talking about how great their animals were and other men — the smart ones, mostly — sitting back and listening, nothing showing on their faces. And there was old lady Millburn, the only woman who traded animals in these parts.
    Several men and Mickey-Gene, her cousin the idiot, were sitting out in front of Levitt’s General. PeteyCarter among them, his white beard stained mahogany from all the tobacco juice. Now and then he’d say something quiet and Mickey-Gene would turn slow and look at him, then laugh out loud like he had heard a joke. Mickey-Gene probably hadn’t understood a word. He’d just heard other people laugh some time or other, and liked the way it sounded. Sadie thought it must be a terrible thing not to be able to tell when somebody was joking. People could be laughing at you all the time, like they did with Mickey-Gene. If something ever happened to her brain, well, she just hoped she would die.
    Mickey-Gene’s momma had been Suzette, the family scandal. She’d had Mickey-Gene when she wasn’t married; nobody knew who the father was. Somehow Mickey-Gene had ended up being raised by Uncle Ralph and his wife Mattie. They pretty much kept to themselves so Sadie didn’t see them much. Her daddy thought they were uppity, too good for the rest of the family. Sadie just figured they didn’t like all the nonsense the Gibsons got into, and besides, they probably had their hands full with Mickey-Gene.
    She caught herself staring at Mickey-Gene, his mouth opening with no sound, turning to her, his gray eyes floating to the top of his white face. She felt a sick, confused feeling, her thoughts getting their wings and flying away from her...
    Sadie jerked away from his face. That kind of scary stuff had happened several times the week past. She touched her lower belly, and then pressed. It wasn’t going to happen, not to her. She wouldn’t let it. She could keep the blood back if she just didn’t get confused by it. She had to keep her head set on that one thing.
    George Mackey came out of Levitt’s and just stood there, staring at her. She made herself stare right back. Then he started talking to the others and she was amazed at how they all perked up,