Kentucky -- Fiction; Self-actualization (Psychology) in women -- Fiction
Old Mr. Bell had a collection of Indian arrow-points and stone hatchets
mounted and displayed in cabinets that were strung through the halls and
passages of the house. Luce had once stood wondering at the door of a
hallway while Theodosia called to her to come and play. “Oh, come on,
come on,” she had called. “Leave those old rubbishes. What’s any good
beside a game? You’re It. Come on.” But a child had told of a wonder.
Old Mr. Bell had once opened the cabinet of Indian relics and had shown
the children the arrow-flints, had let them take some of them into their
hands. They were hard stone weapons from the stone age of the country
before the time of the white men. Luce had not been present and the
cabinets had never been opened for her. Miss Charlotte sat now turning
the pages of a music book, her eyes busy with the songs in the book.
Once, in a game, when she was not It, and when she was so well hidden
that no one could find her, so well that she was forgotten, Luce had
slipped into the hallway of the largest of the cabinets, a rear enclosed
gallery, and had looked her fill at the wonders inside. She knew that
these wonders had been picked up from an old Indian battlefield not far
from the town. Horace Bell was a tall man, standing above most of the
people of the street. He had a great voice that sometimes burst from the
court-room when he made a speech there. He had a pride in his voice and
he liked to roll out long sayings that gave it a chance to flow and turn
and recede. One day he had boomed at some pigeons that took flight and
swept across the street by the pump with a low thunder of wings, and he
had made a saying quickly to run with them in their going, his eyes full
of his laughter. He had then run his hand through his upstanding yellow
hair with a great gesture and had taken a remembered delight in the
pigeons and his voice that could match their rumble of wings. Miss Tennie
Burden, Tennessee, lived out another street. The Sunday questioning
passed into the region of Miss Charlotte’s darkly averted, sad face.
How can I glorify God?
By loving Him and doing His holy will.
Can you see God?
No, but He can always see me.
Does Charlotte Bell know about Tennie Burden?
She knows.
Does she care because Horace Bell goes to sit in Miss Tennie’s
doorway?
Ask somebody else.
Why would she care?
A big girl said she would care. A big girl knew why.
What do Horace Bell and Miss Tennie talk about?
About old times.
Who is Miss Tennie’s husband?
Mr. Joe Burden.
How many children has Miss Tennie got?
Two. Joyce and Evaline.
Any boys?
No boys.
How do you know that you have a soul?
Because I can think about God and the world to come.
I can’t think about God and the world to come.
Try.
I tried.
Who made Theodosia Bell?
God, I reckon.
Is God a smell or something?
Whose little girl is this?
Luce. Luce Jarvis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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