Juba! Read Online Free PDF

you didn’t tell me?”
    â€œI told him and he said he had already heard about it from Simmy Long, and he wasn’t sure how legitimate it was.” Stubby had started up the stairs and had his hand on the doorknob.
    â€œFreddy probably told you that so you wouldn’t tell me,” I said. “He can’t dance with me and he can’t sing with me, and he knows it.”
    â€œNo, not Freddy,” Stubby said. “Simmy said there was something wrong with the deal. He said Mr. Reeves was going around asking people to come to the auditions, but he wanted them to keep it quiet. Simmy doesn’t trust white men who go around telling you to keep things quiet.”
    â€œLook, Freddy is a dancer, and Simmy is a dancer,” I said.“We’re all out here looking for a place to perform. Neither one of them wants to give me a hand up. You think we should ask Jack about it?”
    â€œCouldn’t hurt,” Stubby said.
    I was getting excited and trying not to get excited at the same time. Having an audition at Almack’s, with Pete on my side, sounded like a good deal, even though there was no way under the sun that I wanted to work for Peter Williams. But any time I had a chance to show people how well I danced, it was a good thing. People remember talent. They talk about fiddlers they heard four and five years ago, or singers they went to hear when they were young. If I could show a theater owner what I could do, it had to be a good thing.
    There were some beans left over from the night before, and I put them in a pot with some water and a little fatback and started heating them up. Stubby asked me if I wanted him to cook the fish filets he’d brought from the docks, and I told him I didn’t mind one way or the other, and he said he wouldn’t cook them but I knew he would. He couldn’t stay out of a kitchen if his life depended on it.
    By the time Jack got home, I had almost changed my mind about telling him about the tryouts or the theater opening again. The truth was I didn’t want anything to be wrong with it. Knowing Jack, I knew he would find something bad to say. The man could find fault with a newborn baby.
    â€œYou have to have three things to open up a theater,” Jack said, washing his hands at the washstand. “You need somebody with money behind you is the first thing. Money is like oil—it gets the machinery going. If this fellow Reeves had any legitimate money, he wouldn’t be sneaking around in the dark. So the money he’s sniffing out has got to be dirty. Nothing wrong with that, but you got to know it, so I put it on the table.
    â€œThe second thing you need is a theater.”
    â€œHe’s got that little place over the Playhouse,” I said. “The one that got closed down before.”
    â€œHe’s got that place, but it’s closed down. It might as well not exist unless he can bribe somebody in the city to get him a license,” Jack said. “So we’re back to money again. The third thing you need is a blanket to put over everybody’s head so they don’t see what’s going on.”
    â€œYou don’t know for sure that something shady is going on,” I said.
    â€œIf Pete Williams is involved, and this Reeves fellow, and they’re talking about keeping things quiet, I know there’s something shady going on,” Jack said. “You can go on and try out for the dancing, but keep your eyes open. Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your belly.”
    Jack was right about me being so excited I didn’t want to see anything wrong. But it was hard for a dancer to make aliving. The Irish dancers enjoyed themselves, and sometimes, if they were good enough, they were asked to come to parties and celebrations. But they only made a few dollars when they came, unless someone threw them a few coins. Once in a while there would be a contest and the best dancer would get a