VOICE OF MRS. ROBERTS. (Off stage right) Lawd, Miz Lewis, you goin’ give me dat lil han’ful of greens for me and my chillun. Why dat ain’t a eye-full. I ought not to take ’em … but me and my chillun is _so_ hongry…. Some folks is so stingy and gripin’! Lawd knows, Tony don’t _feed_ me! (The noise of cane-chewing is heard again. Enter JOE LINDSAY left with a gun over his shoulder and the large leg bone of a mule in the other hand. He approaches the step wearily.) HAMBO. Well, did you git any partridges, Joe? JOE. (Resting his gun and seating himself) Nope, but I made de feathers fly. HAMBO. I don’t see no birds. JOE. Oh, the feathers flew off on de birds. LIGE. I don’t see nothin’ but dat bone. Look lak you done kilt a cow and et ’im raw out in de woods. JOE. Don’t y’all know dat hock-bone? WALTER. How you reckon we gointer know every hock-bone in Orange County sight unseen? JOE. (Standing the bone up on the floor of the porch) Dis is a hock-bone of Brazzle’s ole yaller mule. (General pleased interest. Everybody wants to touch it.) BRAZZLE. (Coming forward) Well, sir! (Takes bone in both hands and looks up and down the length of it) If ’tain’t my ole mule! This sho was one hell of a mule, too. He’d fight every inch in front of de plow … he’d turn over de mowing machine … run away wid de wagon … and you better not look like you wanter _ride_ ’im! LINDSAY. (Laughing) Yeah, I ’member seein’ you comin’ down de road just so … (He limps wid one hand on his buttocks) one day. BRAZZLE. Dis mule was so evil he used to try to bite and kick when I’d go in de stable to feed ’im. WALTER. He was too mean to git fat. He was so skinny you could do a week’s washing on his ribs for a washboard and hang ’em up on his hip-bones to dry. LIGE. I ’member one day, Brazzle, you sent yo’ boy to Winter Park after some groceries wid a basket. So here he went down de road ridin’ dis mule wid dis basket on his arm…. Whut you reckon dat ole contrary mule done when he got to dat crooked place in de road going round Park Lake? He turnt right round and went through de handle of dat basket … wid de boy still up on his back. (General laughter) BRAZZLE. Yeah, he up and died one Sat’day just for spite … but he was too contrary to lay down on his side like a mule orter and die decent. Naw, he made out to lay down on his narrer contracted back and die wid his feets sticking straight up in de air just so. (He gets down on his back and illustrates.) We drug him out to de swamp wid ’im dat way, didn’t we, Hambo? JOE CLARK. I God, Brazzle, we all seen it. Didn’t we all go to de draggin’ out? More folks went to yo’ mule’s draggin’ out than went to last school closing…. Bet there ain’t been a thing right in mule-hell for four years. HAMBO. Been dat long since he been dead? CLARK. I God, yes. He died de week after I started to cutting’ dat new ground.