Sweet Song Read Free Page B

slave and half older-brother. His weak stomach had him throwing up once a week, mostly late in the evenings and well after dinner, after being tickled or played with by Poor Bess.
    After spending the morning to early afternoon with the Carpenter boys, Leon worked in the fields with Big Leon. One day Leon reached for Big Leon’s hand, but the hand was pulled away and Leon didn’t try again for years.
    By this time Leon had learned why the other Negro children called him Mix-up. He learned that he could be an instrument of cruelty in his own family. And he learned that Hank and Earl’s sister, Hillary, grew older, just as he did, but that she blossomed differently.
    Mona had kept Hillary away from the help for years. By the time Hillary turned twelve, though, Leon had not only been introduced to her, but also saw her often while cleaning the garbage from behind the house or whenever she strolled out to the barn to call for Hank and Earl.
    Although stout like her mother, Hillary’s face didn’t carry the same weight of anger and cruelty that Mona’s face displayed. Not that Leon saw Mona’s face often. He tried to stay away when she was around. She’d holler and threaten to beat him.
    Hillary was talkative and curious at the same time. Sometimes she’d ask Leon a question, then suggest three answers even before he could think what to say. He learned to think faster and it became a game for him to come up with an answer before she could.
    Hillary slipped through the barn door. All the boys stopped working at the same time.
    “What you doin’ here?” Hank hollered.
    Hillary pointed at Leon. “His mama sent me to fetch him for garbage cleanin’.”
    “Why don’t she fetch him herself?”
    “Why doesn’t she? Don’t you hear any of your learning?”
    “No need for it. Anyhow, you didn’t answer.” Hank put down a feed bag.
    “She’s busy.”
    “Well, you go tell her he’s busy too,” Hank said.
    “Pa said it was okay. He’s talking with Bess about something.”
    Hank smiled and looked at Earl. They both started to laugh. “Nigger soup,” Hank said.
    Leon turned away.
    “So, where’s Ma,” Hank asked Hillary.
    “Sittin’, like always.”
    “She’s burstin’ with crazy,” Earl murmured.
    “Stop it,” Hank said.
    “You’re jokin’, why can’t I?”
    “Don’t matter what I do. Just stop it about Ma.” Hank glanced at Hillary. “Take ‘im. But bring ‘im back straight away.”
    Leon didn’t need to be ordered. He followed behind Hillary as if she were leading him with a rope. “Why it need cleanin’ now?” Leon said once they were outside.
    “’Coons got in the garbage last night and made a mess. Pa wants it cleaned up before the house stinks. You know what to do with it?”
    “Throw it down the holler.”
    “What do you do when you’re done work?”
    “Go back to the barn.”
    “I mean after that.”
    “Help Pa.”
    “I mean after that, too.”
    “Wash up for dinner. Go to bed.”
    “You don’t do any reading? That’s what I do. I’m reading parts of the Bible on my own. I have been for a long time now. Mrs. Milner said I’m smart. Smarter than those two back there in the barn. I’m going to go away when I’m old enough and keep learning until I’m smarter than anyone.” She looked into Leon’s face.
    Leon turned his eyes away.
    “You look smart.”
    “I not.”
    “What do you read and I’ll tell you how smart you are. Earl is only about first grade smart and trying to sit in the fourth grade.” She laughed at herself.
    “I don’t read. Negroes don’t read.”
    Hillary stopped in the path and touched Leon’s arm to stop him as well. “I already told you I’m smart. I know you’re not all Negro. I know you’re part of my pa. That’s why my ma is crazy. She hates him and loves him. That’s like a hook in a fish’s mouth. You love the taste but can’t get away.”
    “You wrong, Miss Hillary. I all Negro and Big Leon the only pa I ever knowed.”
    A