Judy's Journey Read Free

time. Why don’t you take care of your kids?”
    â€œPickin’ cotton all day, that’s why,” answered Mama. “That’s when Lonnie first took sick. Nothin’ to eat but fatback and cornbread. You wouldn’t never let us have a little garden patch.” It was true—the cotton field came right up to the house on all sides. Only the narrow lane was implanted.
    â€œTeacher at school said we should eat garden sass,” piped up Judy.
    â€œTeacher said we’d git puny if we didn’t,” added her sister, little Cora Jane.
    â€œCan’t have good cotton land wasted,” growled Reeves. “Don’t stand there a-talkin’ all day. Git on out. I got a new family a-comin’ in.”
    â€œLord help ’em!” said Mama.
    â€œCome on then!” ordered Reeves.
    They all followed at the man’s heels.
    â€œJudy, we left our coats,” said Mama. “Go back and fetch ’em, so we don’t ketch our death o cold out here.”
    The girl went into the house.
    â€œThem kids went to school instead of pickin’ cotton?” demanded Reeves. “Didn’t I tell Jim Drummond to keep ’em outa school till pickin’ was over? So that’s why he didn’t get no pickin’ done before the rains started!”
    Judy handed out the coats and they put them on.
    â€œIt rained and rained,” the girl said. “It rained so much we couldn’t go back to school. The creek was flooded. I wanted to finish the Third Reader—”
    â€œI liked my teacher,” said Cora Jane.
    â€œâ€™Twas rain ruint the cotton,” said Mama. “Can’t blame it onto us. It rained and we couldn’t pick. I’m right smart glad them young uns went to school when they had the chance.”
    â€œYou want ’em to git new-fangled notions from them teachers, I reckon,” said Reeves.
    â€œâ€™Bout what’s good for young uns to eat?” put in Judy. “’Bout shuttin’ up holes in your house to keep out the cold?”
    Reeves walked out to the lane where their meager furniture was piled. There was a bureau with a broken mirror, a large iron bed, a table, a kerosene stove, a sewing-machine and various odds and ends. Reeves picked up a small piece of carpet that lay on top of a heap of bedding. He held it out at arm’s length.

    â€œCarpet, eh? Brussels carpet! With roses on it. Now what——”
    He got no further. Joe Bob, like an enraged animal, jumped up and snatched the carpet out of the man’s hand.
    â€œGimme that or I’ll beat the stuffin’ out of you!” the boy cried. He dropped the carpet and pounded the man with his fists.
    â€œGit offen me, you little varmint!” shouted Reeves.
    Just then the sound of a car could be heard in the neighborhood. The boy stopped fighting and they all looked off across the cotton field. The car was coming closer and closer, rattling and banging louder and louder.
    â€œIt’s comin’ here,” said Joe Bob.
    â€œShore is,” said Mama.
    â€œIt’s Papa!” shrieked Judy.
    With arms and legs flying, she was off down the lane. When the car came up, she was sitting in the front seat beside her father. On her face there was a satisfied smile.
    â€œI was tellin’ your folks they gotta get out,” said Old Man Reeves as soon as the engine stopped.
    â€œI see,” said Jim Drummond. “Moved all our plunder out too, didn’t you?”
    â€œMy colored boys done that. Gotta get the house ready for new family comin’ in.”
    â€œO. K.,” said Jim Drummond. “We’re goin’ soon as we can git loaded up. We’re goin’ where we’ll never see the likes o’ you again.”
    â€œOh where, Papa?” cried Judy. Papa looked happy . It was wonderful. Things weren’t so bad after all.
    â€œHush up your mouth, gal,” said Papa. He turned to