Judy's Journey (11 page)

Judy gulped. She would have to go back to school again.

It did not take long to get there in the jalopy, and school was not out yet. Judy went bravely in and Papa followed, carrying Joe Bob. He set him down by the door and they waited.

It was the hardest thing Judy ever did in her life—knock on the door of Miss Garvin's room. But knock she did.

“What? You back?” asked Miss Garvin. “Didn't I send you to Third Grade?”

“Bessie … I want Bessie …” stammered Judy. “My brother's hurt …”

Miss Garvin called Bessie, and almost before they knew it, they were all in the nurse's office. The nurse was little and pretty and her name was Miss Burnette. She examined Joe Bob's leg and said, “We'll fix that in a jiffy.” She laid out adhesive tape and rolls of bandage. “But first we must wash it clean and disinfect it.”

Joe Bob did not cry at all. He just watched what the nurse did.

“We was scared to wash it in canal water,” said Judy.

“That was right,” said Miss Burnette. “If you ever have to use water you are not sure of, boil it first.” As she worked, she talked about the importance of cleanliness and of taking care of even minor injuries.

A man wearing a white coat came into the room.

“This boy has hurt his leg, Doctor,” said the nurse.

The doctor set to work and before Joe Bob knew what had happened, it was all over. “Good thing to have a few stitches in that cut,” said the doctor.

“Did … did you … sew me up, Doc?” asked Joe Bob, surprised.

“Yes,” said the doctor, laughing.

“Come back in two days for another dressing,” said Miss Burnette.

Joe Bob limped to the car with Papa's help. Then school was dismissed and Bessie climbed in the back seat with Judy.

Judy squeezed Bessie's arm. “Oh, I
do
like school after all!” she said.

“J
OE
B
OB'S LEG IS
well again,” announced Judy one day several weeks later. “The nurse took the bandage off.”

Judy and Joe Bob stopped in at Mrs. Harmon's to pick up Lonnie. Lonnie was walking now and he stayed with Mrs. Harmon while Papa and Mama went to the bean house to work and the children were in school. Judy had bravely entered the Third Grade and was happy with her new teacher, Miss Norris.

“Land sakes!” said Mrs. Harmon. “So she did, and his leg looks as good as new.”

All the canal children came running up and everybody looked at Joe Bob's leg.

“I'm going to be a nurse when I grow up,” said Judy. “Just see what Miss Burnette gave me.”

The children crowded close—Joe Bob, Cora Jane and Lonnie, Gwyn Holloway and Tessie with their baby sister in her arms, and the new twins, Roberta and Rosella Parish who had recently come to live on the canal bank. Judy displayed a First Aid kit.

“It's got everything in it—mercurochrome, adhesive tape, and gauze for bandages,” said Judy proudly. “Traveling around so much, Miss Burnette said we might need it. And she told me what to do with everything.”

“My baby's got a cut on her finger,” said Tessie Holloway.

“I'll fix it,” said Judy. She washed the cut and bandaged it neatly.

“I got a baby too,” said Rosella Parish. “I think she's got a cut, I'll go get her.”

Soon seven-year-old Rosella came staggering out with a fat baby in her arms. “She ain't got a cut, but her hands are stuck shut, and she cries if you try to open 'em. Her toes are stuck together too, and her feet are sore.”

“I can't fix that,” said Judy, closing her kit. “You take her to the nurse at school. That's muck-sores. It comes from lettin' her play in the dirt—this black muck. It makes people's skin raw and sore. White people can't stand it to pick beans in the muck fields, their skin gets too sore. Even the colored people get it, but not so bad. Miss Burnette was tellin' about it. You take the baby to the clinic at school.”

“I got a dozen mosquito bites,” said Gwyn Holloway, but Judy had closed her kit.

“Read us outa your book, Judy,” begged Tessie.

“Yes, let's play school,” begged the others.

Judy put her First Aid kit inside the tent and brought out her Geography. She sat down on a crate and the children clustered round. They squirmed uneasily, scratching mosquito bites.

“Now children,” began Judy, “what does it say on the book?”

“‘
A New World Lies Before Us
!'” chanted the children in unison.

“And we want to learn all about the country we live in,” added Judy. “Here's the map of the United States. Today I want each of you to tell me where you came from and we'll find it on the map.”

First Joe Bob pointed out Troy, Alabama, then Tessie found Newport, Tennessee. The twins looked in Arkansas for Bald Knob but could not find it.

Just then Papa and Mama came home.

“Papa, we can't find it,” said Judy. “Bald Knob just ain't in Arkansas at all.”

The twins began to cry. “Yes it is! Yes it is! We came from there.”

Papa took the Geography and looked all over the state of Arkansas. “It's there all right,” he said. “I think it's that tiny little black speck. They just forgot to print the name.” The children all looked at the black speck and the twins were very proud. Then they looked for Lake Okeechobee and Judy pointed out Bean Town. The children all put a finger on it. “That's where we are right now,” they said.

“All of us here live in the Southern States,” Judy went on. “When we study the New England States I'll show you where a girl in my class lives. Now tell me, what are the products of the Southern States?”

The children looked at each other. Nobody knew.

“What do they grow in the Southern States?” repeated Judy. “Cotton,” answered Joe Bob. “We used to pick it.”

“Cotton,” echoed the twins. “We picked it too.”

“Sugar cane,” said Gwyn Holloway.

“Cane syrup and 'lasses,” added Tessie.

“Lumber—pine trees and turpentine,” said Joe Bob. “We saw them tapping the trees in Georgia and North Florida. We saw turpentine camps.”

After Judy read a few paragraphs aloud, the children began to shout all at once: “Oranges from Florida!” “Apples from Arkansas!” “Tobacco from North Carolina and Tennessee!” “Peaches from Georgia!” “Rice and salt from Louisiana!” “Cattle and wool from Texas!”

“Tomorrow we will study the rivers of the Southern States,” said Judy. “Class dismissed.” The children scattered and began to play.

“They're learnin' more outa that ole book than they do at school,” said Mama.

“Judy has a way with her,” said Mrs. Harmon. “Tells me she's gonna be a nurse when she grows up.”

Mama laughed. “All because of Joe Bob's leg. Don't know which she likes the best, that school nurse or Miss Norris, her teacher. She's a big girl to be only in Third Grade, but she says there's some eleven and twelve years old in the class. They're from families who follow the crops and they miss a lot of school.”

“She'll soon catch up to Fifth Grade where she belongs,” said Mrs. Harmon, “if you folks stay here and keep her in school.”

“That's just the trouble,” sighed Mama. “We was countin' on steady work and gittin' a little cash money ahead. But it don't seem to be much. Each day the field hands can't start pickin' the beans till the vines dry off about eleven in the morning. We go to the bean house at noon and hang around, waitin' for the belts to start.” Today they didn't start till two and then ran for only an hour. We git twenty-five cents an hour, so we made fifty cents—the two of us.”

“What does Jim do in the bean house?” asked Mrs. Harmon.

“First one thing, then another,” said Mama. “Sometimes he packs beans, sometimes he catches 'em, sometimes he works on a loading crew—that is, on the busy days. On slack days, the men just hang around like the women-folks.”

“Yesterday you didn't work at all, did you?” asked Mrs. Harmon.

“No, on account of the rain they couldn't pick, so we didn't earn a penny. And every day the whole family's got to eat,” said Mama. “If we can't earn more'n this, we'll have to move on, and that'll put the young uns back in their school work. Their Papa's set on 'em learnin' somethin'.”

“Don't go yet,” said Mrs. Harmon. “The peak of the bean season will soon be here, and then you can earn a-plenty and git caught up.”

Mrs. Harmon was right.

Suddenly the crop reached its peak and the bean houses ran day and night, weekdays and Sundays. It was a rushing life. Papa and Mama were gone from noon till midnight, sometimes till 2
A.M.
Then they would come in exhausted and throw themselves on the mattress without taking trouble to undress. Several times they did not get back until 5:30 the next morning. Judy took care of the children after school, got them their evening meal and put them to bed on their bundle of quilts. She was glad Mrs. Harmon was so near, at night.

The Drummonds needed money badly. Every extra hour that Mama and Papa could stick it out meant a few cents more. There was the back rent for camping on the canal bank and the always over-due grocery bill to be paid. New clothes were needed, and they must try to save a little. Nobody knew how long the peak of the bean harvest would last or what job would come next. The future was dark and uncertain.

Judy got used to having her parents away in the afternoon. Sometimes, coming back from school, she took Joe Bob and Cora Jane and walked through the main street of Bean Town to look in the show windows. They made up a game, picking out things in the windows that they liked best.

One day they met Madame Rosie. They came upon her so suddenly there was no escape. Madame Rosie bought them all double ice-cream cones and led them to her tent. Joe Bob and Cora Jane sat still, pretty scared, licking hard on their cones to keep them from dripping. Judy was surprised to find her shyness gone. It was as easy to talk to Madame Rosie as to Mrs. Harmon.

“You told my fortune once, didn't you?” said Judy.

“You bet, and a beautiful fortune I saw for you too, dearie,” said Madame Rosie. “But tell me—what do you eat for breakfast?”

“Mama's workin' all night in the bean house now,” said Judy. “She gets doggone tard watchin' them beans go by in the glarin' light and with all the noise of the machinery. She's so sleepy in the morning, sometimes she don't git up at all. I can cook fried bread as good as she can——”

“‘Fried bread,' what's that?” asked Madame Rosie sharply.

“It's jest self-risin' flour and water,” said Judy. “You mix it with your hand and throw it in a skillet with grease.”

“I never heard o' fried bread where I come from,” said Madame Rosie.

“Where's that?” asked Judy eagerly.

“Well, from most everywhere,” said the woman.

“Mister Mulligan comes from everywhere too,” said Judy, “but he was born in Killarney, Ireland. I showed it to him on the map.”

“Oh, I was born in Chicago, but——” began Madame Rosie.

“That's in the Central States,” said Judy. “I'll bring my Geography and show you some time.”

But Madame Rosie was more interested in food than in Geography, perhaps because she herself was so well fed. “What does that fried bread look like?” she persisted.

“It's a thick pancake, hard and solid. It bites hard, but it stays by you a long time,” said Judy.

“Taste good?”

“Not very. It just fills you up.”

“I thought you folks ate cornbread all the time .…”

“Mama says it's easier to buy a poke o' white flour, and Papa likes his biscuit and gravy, only Mama hasn't any oven to bake biscuit now.”

“What did you eat for breakfast back home in Alabama?” asked Madame Rosie.