Wise Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

Haze said. He pulled his hat down farther on the side Enoch Emery was on and walked very fast. The blind man up ahead began to make mock bows to the right and left.
                "I didn't ketch your name good," Enoch said.
                Haze said his name.
                "You look like you might be follerin* them hicks," Enoch remarked. "You go in for a lot of Jesus business?"
                "No," Haze said.
                "No, me neither, not much," Enoch agreed. "I went to thisyer Rodemill Boys' Bible Academy for four weeks. Thisyer woman that traded me from my daddy she sent me. She was a Welfare woman. Jesus, four weeks and I thought I was going to be sanctified crazy."
                Haze walked to the end of the block and Enoch stayed at his elbow, panting and talking. When Haze started across the street, Enoch yelled, "Don't you see theter light! That means you got to wait!*' A cop blew a whistle and a car blasted its horn and stopped short. Haze went on across, keeping his eyes on the blind man in the middle of the block. The policeman kept on blowing his whistle. He crossed the street to where Haze was and stopped him. He had a thin face and oval-shaped yellow eyes.
                "You know what that little thing hanging up there is for?" he asked, pointing to the traffic light over the intersection.
                "I didn't see it," Haze said.
                The policeman looked at him without saying anything. A few people stopped. He rolled his eyes at them. "Maybe you thought the red ones was for white folks and the green ones for niggers," he said.
                "Yeah I thought that," Haze said. "Take your hand off me."
                The policeman took his hand off and put it on his hip. He backed one step away and said, "You tell all your friends about these lights. Red is to stop, green is to go-men and women, white folks and niggers, all go on the same light. You tell all your friends so when they come to town, they'll know." The people laughed.
                "I'll look after him," Enoch Emery said, pushing in by the policeman. "He ain't been here but only two days .1*11 look after him."
                "How long you been here?" the cop asked.
                "I was born and raised here," Enoch said. "This is my oF home town. Ill take care of him for you. Hey wait!" he yelled at Haze. "Wait on mel" He pushed out of the crowd and caught up with him. "I reckon I saved you that time," he said.
                "I'm obliged," Haze said.
                "It wasn't nothing," Enoch said. "Whyn't we go in Wal-green's and get us a soda? Ain't no night clubs open this early."
                "I don't like drug stores," Haze said. "Good-by."
                "That's all right," Enoch said. "I reckon I'll go along and keep you company for a while." He looked up ahead at the blind man and the child and said, "I sho wouldn't want to get messed up with no hicks this time of night, particularly the Jesus kind. I done had enough of them myself. Thisyer Welfare woman that traded me from my daddy didn't do nothing but pray. Me and daddy we moved around with a sawmill where we worked and it set up outside Boonville one summer and here come thisyer woman." He caught hold of Haze's coat. "Only objection I got to Taulkinham is there's too many people on the streets," he said confidentially. "Look like all they want to do is knock you down--well here she come and I reckon she took a fancy to me. I was twelve year old and I could sing some hymns good I learnt off a nigger. So here she comes taking a fancy to me and traded me off my daddy and took me to Boonville to live with her. She had a brick house but it was Jesus all day long." A little man lost in a pair of faded overalls jostled him. "Whyn't you look wher you going?" Enoch growled.
                The little man