![]() ![]() ![]() Daily, just before sundown, when the others were bent out of shape from fieldwork and tried to find an elusive peace in their shacks, there Samuel and Isaiah were, scrubbing themselves with mint leaves, juniper, sometimes root beer, washing away the layers of stink.īut the baths didn’t change the demeanor of the sucked teeth that held The Two of Them in contempt. The odor of swill alone had often made them strip bare and spend nearly an hour in the river bathing. In the beginning, they had thought all the curled lips, cut eyes, turned-up noses-even the shaking heads-signified a bad scent emanating from their bodies from toil in the barn. ![]() Samuel and Isaiah used to like being around other people until the other people changed. The sun in Mississippi even found its way into the shade so that on some days, not even the trees were comfort.Īnd, too, there was no good reason to be around other people when it was hot like this, but longing for company made it in some ways bearable. Its only triumph was in making them sticky and mean-sometimes, toward each other. And finally, when neither of those things was successful, it made the air thick like water, hoping they would drown. ![]()
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