"Me too. It'd be a sad mistake for him and his wife to settle in town and him take up public work." "Yeah. Working for the other fellow's no good. Besides, town ain't a fit place to live—folks all crowded together! A man needs room for his own shade tree if he's to stand the heat of the day." "Trouble is, you can't tell young folks nothing. They've got to find out things for themselves." Papa was quiet for a while. Then he said, "Nannie, I wasn't aiming to tell you, but I reckon I'd better." "What, Jodie?" "Our friend is in business now!" "Where you reckon he got the money?" "Beats me. You know, he's made a batch and hauled it off in the middle of the night." By that, I knew Papa was telling Mama that Mister Goode or somebody had cooked a batch of ribbon cane syrup in the nighttime instead of the daytime. I never cared a thing about syrup, except when it was poured on a hot biscuit or batter-cakes, so I turned my face toward the wall and snuggled farther down under the covers. "Ned told me, Nannie," Papa said. "That poor Negro is scared to death of Ward! He was sitting there on my store porch, shaking, when I got there this morning." "What'd Ned say?" "You remember this fellow Hicks that drove his automobile through here a while back?" "Yeah. That was the only automobile we saw the whole summer." "Ned told me he came riding up on that automobile and got the whiskey around midnight last night, and Ward went off with him." "Did Ned actually see them?" "They had him and his boys loading the kegs and jugs into the automobile. This man Hicks didn't say a word to Ned, but Ward threatened him again." "You've been waiting for proof on the still. Now you've got it. But, Jodie, please don't turn him in! I'm scared for you to go to the Law!" "I won't report him—not just yet. Doctor Elton talked me into waiting. He figures if we called the Law and they came out and busted up the still, all the commotion of Ward getting arrested might make Ophelia lose her baby." "It probably would. Her time's about up, and she looks so bad-all hollow-eyed and blotchy-faced." "Yeah. The doctor says he's worried about her this time. Me and him both figure Ward's just a big enough fool to get in a drunken rage and kill Ned. So, we're gonna wait till the baby's born and Ned moves. He's decided to start looking for another place." "You're not thinking of taking Ned, are you, Jodie?" "No. He's a good worker, but I'd have to build him a house, and I'm just not in shape for that this year. I did promise him I'd speak to Roy Taylor, down on State Line Road." "Jodie, who all knows about Ward's still?" "Nobody except us, Doctor Elton, and the Goodes. And we told the new schoolteacher. He's a fine man, Nannie." "Seems to be." "Evidently Wes Bailey hasn't got wind of it yet. Old Man Hawk don't know it either, or he would've done had Ward in jail." Chapter 5