"
"You could leave, couldn't you?"
"No, suh. Not 'zactly. You see, I owes Mister Ward a right
smart money. And I ain't movin' off owin' a man. That ain't
right. 'Tain't right, no more'n it's right for a white man to run
off a colored man when the crops is half made. You knows that,
Mister Jodie."
"Yeah, I know, Ned. Still, we see a good bit of both. It's
like Doctor Elton says: 'Rascals come in all colors, 'specially
black and white.'"
Ned didn't say anything.
"Mister Ward drinks considerable, don't he?"
"He sho' do, Mister Jodie. I tell you the big trouble. When
Mister Ward's drinkin', he say one thing. Then when his head's
clear, he do somethin' else."
"That's the way with a drinking man."
"Mister Jodie, you knows that white folks has got their ways,
and us blacks has got our'n. We all works the ground together;
then our roads just naturally parts at the field gate. That's
awright. Everybody knows where he stands. A man likes to know
where he stands."
"Yeah, Ned."
"When a white man wants to talk crops and such, he sends for
you.
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