The Chronicles of Aunt Minervy AnnHarris, Joel Chandler
General
The Chronicles of Aunt Minervy Ann
Harris, Joel Chandler
Georgia -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
“Wellum, I flopt down on a cheer; yessum, I sho’ did. My min’ wuz gwine
like a whirligig an’ my head wuz swimmin’. I des sot dar an’ look at
’er. Bimeby she up an’ say, pickin’ all de time at her frock, ‘I know’d
sump’n wuz gwine ter happen. Dat de reason I been bringin’ dem bundles
here. In dem ar bundles you’ll fin’ all de things I fotch here. I ain’t
got nothin’ dey give me ’cep’n dish yer black dress I got on. I’d ’a’
fotch my ol’ trunk, but I dunner what dey done wid it. Hamp’ll hatter buy
me one an’ pay for it hisse’f, ’kaze I ain’t got a cent er money.’ Dem
de ve’y words she say. I ’low, ‘Sump’n must ’a’ happen den.’ She nodded,
an’ bimeby she say, ‘Mr. Towers comin’ home ter-night. Dey done got a
telegraph fum ’im.’
“I stood up in de flo’, I did, an’ ax ’er, ‘Which Mr. Towers?’ She say,
‘Mr. Jesse Towers.’ I ’low, ‘He done dead.’ She say, ‘No, he ain’t; ef he
wuz he done come ter life; dey done got a telegraph fum ’im, I tell you.’
‘Is _dat_ de reason you gwine ’way?’ I des holla’d it at ’er. She draw’d
a long breff an’ say, ‘Yes, dat’s de reason.’
“I tell you right now, ma’m, I didn’t know ef I wuz stannin’ on my head
er floatin’ in de a’r. I wuz plum outdone. But dar she sot des es cool ez
a curcumber wid de dew on it. I went out de do’, I did, an’ walk ’roun’
de house once ter de right an’ twice ter de lef’ bekaze de ol’ folks use
ter tell me dat ef you wuz bewitched, dat ’ud take de spell away. I ain’t
tellin’ you no lie, ma’m—fer de longes’ kinder minnit I didn’t no mo’
b’lieve dat Miss Sadie wuz settin’ dar in my house tellin’ me dat kinder
rigamarole, dan I b’lieve I’m flyin’ right now. Dat bein’ de case, I
bleeze ter fall back on bewitchments, an’ so I walk ’roun’ de house. But
when I went back in, dar she wuz, settin’ in a cheer an’ lookin’ up at de
rafters.
“Wellum, I went in an’ drapt down in a cheer an’ lookt at ’er. Bimeby,
I say, ‘Miss Sadie, does you mean ter set dar an’ tell me youer gwine
’way ’kaze yo’ husban’ comin’ home?’ She flung her arms behime ’er
head, she did, an’ say, ‘I ain’t none er his wife; I des been playin’
off!’ De way she look an’ de way she say it wuz ’nuff fer me. I wuz
pairlized; yessum, I wuz dumfounder’d. Ef anybody had des but totch me
wid de tip er der finger, I’d ’a’ fell off’n dat cheer an’ never stirred
atter I hit de flo’. Ever’thing ’bout de house lookt quare. Miss Vallie
had a lookin’-glass one time wid de pictur’ uv a church at de bottom.
When de glass got broke, she gimme de pictur’, an’ I sot it up on de
mantel-shelf. I never know’d ’fo’ dat night dat de steeple er der church
wuz crooked. But dar ’twuz. Mo’ dan dat I cotch myse’f feelin’ er my
fingers fer ter see ef ’twuz me an’ ef I wuz dar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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