Native Son (9 page)

Yes, Goddammit! He knew what was coming. He would be asked about that time he had been accused of stealing auto tires and had been sent to the reform school. He felt guilty, condemned. He should not have come here.

“The relief people said some funny things about you. I’d like to talk to you about them. Now, you needn’t feel ashamed with me,” said Mr. Dalton, smiling. “I was a boy myself once and I think I know how things are. So just be yourself….” Mr. Dalton pulled out a package of cigarettes. “Here; have one.”

“Nawsuh; thank you, suh.”

“You don’t smoke?”

“Yessuh. But I just don’t want one now.”

“Now, Bigger, the relief people said you were a very good worker when you were interested in what you were doing. Is that true?”

“Well, I do my work, suh.”

“But they said you were always in trouble. How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know, suh.”

“Why did they send you to the reform school?”

His eyes glared at the floor.

“They said I was stealing!” he blurted defensively. “But I wasn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yessuh.”

“Well, how did you get mixed up in it?”

“I was with some boys and the police picked us up.”

Mr. Dalton said nothing. Bigger heard a clock ticking somewhere behind him and he had a foolish impulse to look at it. But he restrained himself.

“Well, Bigger, how do you feel about it now?”

“Suh? ’Bout what?”

“If you had a job, would you steal now?”

“Oh, nawsuh. I don’t steal.”

“Well,” said Mr. Dalton, “they say you can drive a car and I’m going to give you a job.”

He said nothing.

“You think you can handle it?”

“Oh, yessuh.”

“The pay calls for $20 a week, but I’m going to give you $25. The extra $5 is for yourself, for you to spend as you like. You will get the clothes you need and your meals. You’re to sleep in the back room, above the kitchen. You can give the $20 to your mother to keep your brother and sister in school. How does that sound?”

“It sounds all right. Yessuh.”

“I think we’ll get along.”

“Yessuh.”

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble.”

“Nawsuh.”

“Now, Bigger,” said Mr. Dalton, “since that’s settled, let’s see what you’ll have to do every day. I leave every morning for my
office at nine. It’s a twenty-minute drive. You are to be back at ten and take Miss Dalton to school. At twelve, you call for Miss Dalton at the University. From then until night you are more or less free. If either Miss Dalton or I go out at night, of course, you do the driving. You work every day, but we don’t get up till noon on Sundays. So you will have Sunday mornings to yourself, unless something unexpected happens. You get one full day off every two weeks.”

“Yessuh.”

“You think you can handle that?”

“Oh, yessuh.”

“And any time you’re bothered about anything, come and see me. Let’s talk it over.”

“Yessuh.”

“Oh, Father!” a girl’s voice sang out.

“Yes, Mary,” said Mr. Dalton.

Bigger turned and saw a white girl walk into the room. She was very slender.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were busy.”

“That’s all right, Mary. What is it?”

Bigger saw that the girl was looking at him. Yes; she was the same girl he had seen in the movie.

“Is this the new chauffeur, Father?”

“What do you want, Mary?”

“Will you get the tickets for the Thursday concert?”

“At Orchestra Hall?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. I’ll get them.”

“Is this the new chauffeur?”

“Yes,” said Mr. Dalton. “This is Bigger Thomas.”

“Hello, Bigger,” the girl said.

Bigger swallowed. He looked at Mr. Dalton, then felt that he should not have looked.

“Good evening, mam.”

The girl came close to him and stopped just opposite his chair.

“Bigger, do you belong to a union?” she asked.

“Now, Mary!” said Mr. Dalton, frowning.

“Well, Father, he should,” the girl said, turning to him, then back to Bigger. “Do you?”

“Mary….” said Mr. Dalton.

“I’m just asking him a question, Father!”

Bigger hesitated. He hated the girl then. Why did she have to do this when he was trying to get a job?

“No’m,” he mumbled, his head down and his eyes glowering.

“And why not?” the girl asked.

Bigger heard Mr. Dalton mumble something. He wished Mr Dalton would speak and end this thing. He looked up and saw Mr Dalton staring at the girl. She’s making me lose my job! he thought. Goddamn! He knew nothing about unions, except that they were considered bad. And what did she mean by talking to him this way in front of Mr. Dalton, who, surely, didn’t like unions?

“We can settle about the union later, Mary,” said Mr. Dalton.

“But you wouldn’t mind belonging to a union, would you?” the girl asked.

“I don’t know, mam,” Bigger said.

“Now, Mary, you can see that the boy is new,” said Mr. Dalton. “Leave him alone.”

The girl turned and poked out a red tongue at him.

“All right, Mr. Capitalist!” She turned again to Bigger. “Isn’t he a capitalist, Bigger?”

Bigger looked at the floor and did not answer. He did not know what a capitalist was.

The girl started to leave, but stopped.

“Oh, Father, if he hasn’t anything else to do, let him drive me to my lecture at the University tonight.”

“I’m talking to him now, Mary. He’ll be through in a moment.”

The girl picked up the cat and walked from the room. There was a short interval of silence. Bigger wished the girl had not said anything about unions. Maybe he would not be hired now? Or, if hired, maybe he would be fired soon if she kept acting like that. He had never seen anyone like her before. She was not a bit the way he had imagined she would be.

“Oh, Mary!” Mr. Dalton called.

“Yes, Father,” Bigger heard her answer from the hallway.

Mr. Dalton rose and left the room. He sat still, listening. Once or twice he thought he heard the girl laugh, but he was not sure. The best thing he could do was to leave that crazy girl alone. No wonder they called her a Communist in the movies. She was crazy, all right. He had heard about unions; in his mind unions and Communists were linked. He relaxed a little, then stiffened when he heard Mr. Dalton walk back into the room. Wordlessly, the white man sat behind the desk and picked up the paper and looked at it in a long silence. Bigger watched him with lowered eyes; he knew that Mr. Dalton was thinking of something other than that paper. In his heart he cursed the crazy girl. Maybe Mr. Dalton was deciding not to hire him? Goddamn! Maybe he would not get the extra five dollars a week now?
Goddamn that woman!
She spoiled everything! Maybe Mr. Dalton would feel that he could not trust him.

“Oh, Bigger,” said Mr. Dalton.

“Yessuh.”

“I want you to know why I’m hiring you.”

“Yessuh.”

“You see, Bigger, I’m a supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Did you ever hear of that organization?”

“Nawsuh.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” said Mr. Dalton. “Have you had your dinner?”

“Nawsuh.”

“Well, I think you’ll do.”

Mr. Dalton pushed a button. There was silence. The woman who had answered the front door came in.

“Yes, Mr. Dalton.”

“Peggy, this is Bigger. He’s going to drive for us. Give him something to eat, and show him where he’s to sleep and where the car is.”

“Yes, Mr. Dalton.”

“And, Bigger, at eight-thirty, drive Miss Dalton out to the University and wait for her,” said Mr. Dalton.

“Yessuh.”

“That’s all now.”

“Yessuh.”

“Come with me,” Peggy said.

Bigger rose and got his cap and followed the woman through the house to the kitchen. The air was full of the scent of food cooking and pots bubbled on the stove.

“Sit here,” Peggy said, clearing a place for him at a white-topped table. He sat and rested his cap on his knees. He felt a little better now that he was out of the front part of the house, but still not quite comfortable.

“Dinner isn’t quite ready yet,” Peggy said. “You like bacon and eggs?”

“Yessum.”

“Coffee?”

“Yessum.”

He sat looking at the white walls of the kitchen and heard the woman stir about behind him.

“Did Mr. Dalton tell you about the furnace?”

“No’m.”

“Well, he must have forgotten it. You’re supposed to attend to that, too. I’ll show you where it is before you go.”

“You mean I got to keep the fire going, mam?”

“Yes. But it’s easy. Did you ever fire before?”

“No’m.”

“You can learn. There’s nothing to it.”

“Yessum.”

Peggy seemed kind enough, but maybe she was being kind in order to shove her part of the work on him. Well, he would wait and see. If she got nasty, he would talk to Mr. Dalton about her. He smelt the odor of frying bacon and realized that he was very hungry. He had forgotten to buy a sandwich with the quarter his mother had given him, and he had not eaten since morning. Peggy
placed a plate, knife, fork, spoon, sugar, cream, and bread before him; then she dished up the bacon and eggs.

“You can get more if you want it.”

The food was good. This was not going to be a bad job. The only thing bad so far was that crazy girl. He chewed his bacon and eggs while some remote part of his mind considered in amazement how different the girl had seemed in the movie. On the screen she was not dangerous and his mind could do with her as it liked. But here in her home she walked over everything, put herself in the way. He had quite forgotten that Peggy was in the kitchen and when his plate was empty he took a soft piece of bread and began to sop it clean, carrying the bread to his mouth in huge chunks.

“You want some more?”

He stopped chewing and laid the bread aside. He had not wanted to let her see him do that; he did that only at home.

“No’m,” he said. “I got a plenty.”

“You reckon you’ll like it here?” Peggy asked.

“Yessum. I hope so.”

“This is a swell place,” Peggy said. “About as good as you’ll find anywhere. The last colored man who worked for us stayed ten years.”

Bigger wondered why she said “us.” She must stand in with the old man and old woman pretty good, he thought.

“Ten years?” he said.

“Yes; ten years. His name was Green. He was a good man, too.”

“How come he to leave?”

“Oh, he was smart, that Green was. He took a job with the government. Mrs. Dalton made him go to night school. Mrs. Dalton’s always trying to help somebody.”

Yes; Bigger knew that. But he was not going to any night school. He looked at Peggy; she was bent over the sink, washing dishes. Her words had challenged him and he felt he had to say something.

“Yessum, he was smart,” he said. “And ten years is a long time.”

“Oh, it wasn’t so long,” Peggy said. “I’ve been here twenty years myself. I always was one for sticking to a job. I always say when you get a good place, then stick there. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and it’s true.”

Bigger said nothing.

“Everything’s simple and nice around here,” Peggy said. “They’ve got millions, but they live like human beings. They don’t put on airs and strut. Mrs. Dalton believes that people should be that way.”

“Yessum.”

“They’re Christian people and believe in everybody working hard. And living a clean life. Some people think we ought to have more servants than we do, but we get along. It’s just like one big family.”

“Yessum.”

“Mr. Dalton’s a fine man,” Peggy said.

“Oh, yessum. He is.”

“You know, he does a lot for your people.”

“My people?” asked Bigger, puzzled.

“Yes, the colored people. He gave over five million dollars to colored schools.”

“Oh!”

“But Mrs. Dalton’s the one who’s really nice. If it wasn’t for her, he would not be doing what he does. She made him rich. She had millions when he married her. Of course, he made a lot of money himself afterwards out of real estate. But most of the money’s hers. She’s blind, poor thing. She lost her sight ten years ago. Did you see her yet?”

“Yessum.”

“Was she alone?”

“Yessum.”

“Poor thing! Mrs. Patterson, who takes care of her, is away for the week-end and she’s all alone. Isn’t it too bad, about her?”

“Oh, yessum,” he said, trying to get into his voice some of the pity for Mrs. Dalton that he thought Peggy expected him to feel.

“It’s really more than a job you’ve got here,” Peggy went on.
“It’s just like home. I’m always telling Mrs. Dalton that this is the only home I’ll ever know. I wasn’t in this country but two years before I started working here….”

“Oh,” said Bigger, looking at her.

“I’m Irish, you know,” she said. “My folks in the old country feel about England like the colored folks feel about this country. So I know something about colored people. Oh, these are fine people, fine as silk. Even the girl. Did you meet her yet?”

“Yessum.”

“Tonight?”

“Yessum.”

Peggy turned and looked at him sharply.

“She’s a sweet thing,” she said. “I’ve known her since she was two years old. But she’s kind of wild, she is. Always in hot water. Keeps her folks worried. The Lord only knows where she got her wild ways. But she’s got ’em. If you stay around here long, you’ll get to know her.”

Bigger wanted to ask about the girl, but thought that he had better not do that now.

“If you’re through, I’ll show you the furnace and the car, and where your room is,” she said and turned the fire low under the pots on the stove.

“Yessum.”

He rose and followed her out of the kitchen, down a narrow stairway at the end of which was the basement. It was dark; Bigger heard a sharp click and the light came on.

“This way…. What did you say your name was?”

“Bigger, mam.”

“What?”

“Bigger.”

He smelt the scent of coal and ashes and heard fire roaring. He saw a red bed of embers glowing in the furnace.

“This is the furnace,” she said.