Leaving Cold Sassy (9780547527291) Read Online Free PDF Page B

two openings. She thought the problem was my German name.” Miss Klein was staring down at her hands. “Mama used to be so proud of our being German, because Germans are said to be smart. Since the war started, she never mentions it.”
    I wanted to see her laugh again. “They tell it on my Cudn’T.D. how last year he refused to go to his daughter’s weddin’. Said, ‘I cain’t bear to see Ethel git marrit to a man from Texas named Ertzberger.’ His wife, Cudn Huldah, said, ‘T.D., how could you forgit that you marrit a Holtzkaemper!’ He said things were way different back then.
    â€œWell, Miss Klein, I better get on over home. Like I said, my little sister’s leavin’ for college in the mornin’. I’ll be seein’ you soon, I hope?”

4
    M Y SISTER , Mary Toy, was nineteen and a senior at Cox College in College Park, Georgia, near Atlanta. When I got home I found her in her room, packing for school. She’d come home early from the watermelon cutting.
    Mama hadn’t gone at all, despite Papa being president of the school board. She was in the kitchen, reaching into the warming oven above the big iron cookstove, taking out bowls of fried chicken, black-eyed peas, string beans, and a sweet potato soufflé. Mama never cooked at night on Sundays except maybe to slice tomatoes, since Queenie always cooked enough dinner to have it for supper. Still, there was always a rush to get it on the table early on account of Sunday night preaching.
    â€œI cain’t go to church with y’all tonight, Mama,” I said. Lifting the thin linen cloth that kept flies off the bread, I picked up a cornstick. “I’ll have to get on back to Athens. After dark it’s slow goin’ on a motorsickle.”
    â€œBut you’ll stay to supper, won’t you, Will?” Mama didn’t say it like an invite. More like an urgent plea. I realized she’d been crying.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Mama?”
    â€œI’ve got one of my sick headaches,” she said, and burst into new tears. “Son, Loma’s go’n go back to New York Wednesday mornin’, and she’s takin’...Will, she’s takin’ poor li’l...” When she got hold of herself, she looked towards the breakfast room door to be sure nobody was coming, and said in a low voice, “Will, the Yankee that Loma’s engaged to, he’s got a name so foreign I cain’t pronounce it. And he’s old! Will, what she came home for, she’s go’n take Campbell Junior back up North with her!”
    Campbell Junior had been staying with Mama and Papa for two years, ever since Aunt Loma set out on what she called her career. “Well,” I reminded Mama, “you been sayin’ the boy ought to be with his mother.”
    â€œBut he’s not go’n be with her! Will, that man she’s engaged to? He’s go’n pay for Campbell Junior at one of those military schools for rich boys. A boardin’ school that’s a hundred miles or more from New York City!”
    â€œGood Lord! Loma don’t know upside down from sideways! Campbell Junior cain’t even hold his own with the boys here in Cold Sassy. Him in military school? He’s never had a gun in his hands. Cain’t stand thinkin’ bout a bird or rabbit gettin’ shot. Him in military school?”
    Mama took it up. “They’ll make fun of him for bein’ fat and they’ll mock his Southern accent, and...and I don’t know what all.” She looked around again at the door. Lowering her voice still more, she said, “If you ast me, he’ll die on the vine up there, or cry his eyes out, one. He’s bright as a penny and makes good marks but...”
    â€œBut he don’t know beans bout bein’ a boy.”
    â€œHe’s such a little gentleman. They’ll make fun of his manners.”
    Campbell Junior