They call her Dana Read Online Free PDF

chile, only most folk, they forgets they dreams as soon as they opens they eyes. Sometimes the

    sight come only once, faintly, like a shred of mist, and other times it come back again and again, like your dream."
    "Then-I-"
    "You will meet this man."
    "How will I know? I can never see his face."
    "When the time come, chile, you will know."
    "He will take my hands, pull me to him?"
    "Beside the river, and you will feel like you feel in the dream."
    "Is—is he a good man. Mama Lx)u?"
    Mama Lou frowned and beckoned me to her. I got up and kneeled in front of her, and Mama Lou placed her hands on my temples, peering intently into my eyes. Ebenezer made unpleasant noises, not at all pleased. Mama Lou shoved him away with her foot. The candle flame danced wildly, throwing shadows on the walls, and the bizarre masks seemed to change expression. Mama Lou stared into my skull for several long moments, her thin lips working at the comers, her eyes strangely flat. She might have been in some kind of trance. I trembled slightly as her velvet-soft fingertips pressed against my temples, gently kneading the flesh.
    "What—what do you see?" I whispered.
    Mama Lou didn't seem to hear me. Several more moments passed, and then she sighed and sat back, her hands dropping into her lap. She looked exhausted, her eyes closed, her fuzzy gray head resting against the back of the chair as she breathed deeply. It was some time before she opened her eyes, even more before she had the strength to speak.
    "I sees many things, chile. They come in patches, and some of 'em don't rightly make sense."
    "The man? Did you see him?"
    "They's four men. One, he is good. One, he is bad and good. Good, but he does bad. One—" She hesitated "what he wants is unnatural, it is wrong and you must—" Mama Lou cut herself short, frowning deeply.
    "I must what, Mama Lou?"
    "You must not do this thing. It is wrong, against nature."
    I stared at her, frowning. Mama Lou was frowning, too, and there was a puzzled look in her dark eyes.
    "I—I don't understand," I said. "What is it I must not do?"
    Mama Lou shook her head, the frown deepening. "It ain't

    clear, chile. I gets a very strong impression, a feelin', but—it's patchy. All I knows is you must beware of this man."
    "Is—is he the one by the river?"
    "Th' one by the river, he is one of the four, but—which one you must beware of—" Mama Lou shook her head, scowling now, disappointed with herself. "Sometimes it's like that—you get the feelin', but you cain't see it clearly."
    "Four men," I said thoughtfully. "Will—will I love them?"
    "Two of them you will love, with body and soul, and the other two ..." She hesitated, concentrating, trying hard to peer into that hazy realm. "The other two, you will not love them, but-"
    She cut herself short, worried.
    "But I must beware of one," I said.
    Mama Lou nodded, her fuzzy head bobbing.
    "They's more," she said.
    She settled back in the chair and closed her eyes again, leaving me behind as she looked into the haze of future. I kneeled in front of her, very still, waiting. The candle flame danced, leaping, washing over the walls in bizarre patterns. Ebenezer crouched in a comer, purring angrily and glaring at me with hateful eyes. Several moments passed again, and then the old Negro woman sighed and shook her head, opening her eyes. When she spoke, her words were hesitant. She was plainly confused.
    "It—it don't rightly make sense," she said, "but that's the way it is sometimes. I sees you an'—an' you is behind a half circle of lights an' you is wearin' a lovely gown, it seems like silk, yes, gold and white striped silk, an' you is wearin' sparklers, too, at your throat a necklace of sparklers—jewels, they is, maybe diamonds. The lights are flickerin' an' people—people, lots of 'em, they is watchin' you and makin' a big commotion, lots of noise, but—but you ain't frightened at all. You is smi-lin'."
    Mama Lou fell silent and opened her eyes, bemused by the