The Grapes of Wrath (53 page)

“I’m a-goin’ to myself,” Ma cried. “Jus’ soon as I get finish’ here. You show me how.”

“I’m a-gonna do it ever’ day,” the girl said. “An’ that lady—she seen me, an’ she seen about the baby, an’—know what she said? Said they’s a nurse comes ever’ week. An’ I’m to go see that nurse an’ she’ll tell me jus’ what to do so’s the baby’ll be strong. Says all the ladies here do that. An’ I’m a-gonna do it.” The words bubbled out. “An’—know what—? Las’ week they was a baby borned an’ the whole camp give a party, an’ they give clothes, an’ they give stuff for the baby—even give a baby buggy—wicker one. Wasn’t new, but they give it a coat a pink paint, an’ it was jus’ like new. An’ they give the baby a name, an’ had a cake. Oh, Lord!” She subsided, breathing heavily.

Ma said, “Praise God, we come home to our own people. I’m a-gonna have a bath.”

“Oh, it’s nice,” the girl said.

Ma wiped the tin dishes and stacked them. She said, “We’re Joads. We don’t look up to nobody. Grampa’s grampa, he fit in the Revolution. We was farm people till the debt. And then—them people. They done somepin to us. Ever’ time they come seemed like they was a-whippin’ me—all of us. An’ in Needles, that police. He done somepin to me,
made me feel mean. Made me feel ashamed. An’ now I ain’t ashamed. These folks is our folks—is our folks. An’ that manager, he come an’ set an’ drank coffee, an’ he says, ‘Mrs. Joad’ this, an’‘Mrs. Joad’ that—an’ ‘How you gettin’ on, Mrs. Joad?”’ She stopped and sighed. “Why, I feel like people again.” She stacked the last dish. She went into the tent and dug through the clothes box for her shoes and a clean dress. And she found a little paper package with her earrings in it. As she went past Rose of Sharon, she said, “If them ladies comes, you tell ’em I’ll be right back.” She disappeared around the side of the sanitary unit.

Rose of Sharon sat down heavily on a box and regarded her wedding shoes, black patent leather and tailored black bows. She wiped the toes with her finger and wiped her finger on the inside of her skirt. Leaning down put a pressure on her growing abdomen. She sat up straight and touched herself with exploring fingers, and she smiled a little as she did it.

Along the road a stocky woman walked, carrying an apple box of dirty clothes toward the wash tubs. Her face was brown with sun, and her eyes were black and intense. She wore a great apron, made from a cotton bag, over her gingham dress, and men’s brown oxfords were on her feet. She saw that Rose of Sharon caressed herself, and she saw the little smile on the girl’s face.

“So!” she cried, and she laughed with pleasure. “What you think it’s gonna be?”

Rose of Sharon blushed and looked down at the ground, and then peeked up, and the little shiny black eyes of the woman took her in. “I don’ know,” she mumbled.

The woman plopped the apple box on the ground. “Got a live tumor,” she said, and she cackled like a happy hen. “Which’d you ruther?” she demanded.

“I dunno—boy, I guess. Sure—boy.”

“You jus’ come in, didn’ ya?”

“Las’ night—late.”

“Gonna stay?”

“I don’ know. ’F we can get work, guess we will.”

A shadow crossed the woman’s face, and the little black eyes grew fierce. “’F you can git work. That’s what we all say.”

“My brother got a job already this mornin’.”

“Did, huh? Maybe you’re lucky. Look out for luck. You can’t trus’ luck.” She stepped close. “You can only git one kind a luck. Cain’t have more. You be a good girl,” she said fiercely. “You be good. If you got sin on you—you better watch out for that there baby.” She squatted down in front of Rose of Sharon. “They’s scandalous things goes on in this here camp,” she said darkly. “Ever’ Sat’dy night they’s dancin’, an’ not only squar’ dancin’, neither. They’s some does clutch-an’-hug dancin’! I seen ’em.”

Rose of Sharon said guardedly, “I like dancin’, squar’ dancin’.” And she added virtuously, “I never done that other kind.”

The brown woman nodded her head dismally. “Well, some does. An’ the Lord ain’t lettin’ it get by, neither; an’ don’ you think He is.”

“No, ma’am,” the girl said softly.

The woman put one brown wrinkled hand on Rose of Sharon’s knee, and the girl flinched under the touch. “You let me warn you now. They ain’t but a few deep down Jesus-lovers lef’. Ever’ Sat’dy night when that there strang ban’ starts up an’ should be a-playin’ hymnody, they’re a-reelin’—yes, sir, a-reelin’. I seen ’em. Won’ go near, myself, nor I don’ let my kin go near. They’s clutch-an’-hug, I tell ya.” She paused for emphasis and then said, in a hoarse whisper, “They do more. They give a stage play.” She backed away and cocked her head to see how Rose of Sharon would take such a revelation.

“Actors?” the girl said in awe.

“No, sir!” the woman exploded. “Not
actors
, not them already damn’ people. Our own kinda folks. Our own people. An’ they was little children didn’ know no better, in it, an’ they was pertendin’ to be stuff they wasn’t. I didn’ go near. But I hearn ’em talkin’ what they was a-doin’. The devil was jus’ a-struttin’ through this here camp.”

Rose of Sharon listened, her eyes and mouth open. “Oncet in school we give a Chris’ chile play—Christmus.”

“Well—I ain’ sayin’ tha’s bad or good. They’s good folks thinks a Chris’ chile is awright. But—well, I wouldn’ care to come right out flat an’ say so. But this here wasn’ no Chris’ chile. This here was sin an’ delusion an’ devil stuff. Struttin’ an’ paradin’ an’ speakin’ like they’re somebody they ain’t. An’ dancin’ an’ clutchin’ an’ a-huggin’.”

Rose of Sharon sighed.

“An’ not jus’ a few, neither,” the brown woman went on. “Gettin’ so’s you can almos’ count the deep-down lamb-blood folks on your toes. An’ don’ you think them sinners is puttin’ nothin’ over on God, neither. No, sir, He’s a-chalkin’ ’em up sin by sin, an’ He’s drawin’ His line an’ addin’ ’em up sin by sin. God’s a-watchin’, an’ I’m a-watchin’. He’s awready smoked two of ’em out.”

Rose of Sharon panted, “Has?”

The brown woman’s voice was rising in intensity. “I seen it. Girl a-carryin’ a little one, jes’ like you. An’ she play-acted, an’ she hug-danced. And”—the voice grew bleak and ominous—“she thinned out and she skinnied out, an’—she dropped that baby, dead.”

“Oh, my!” The girl was pale.

“Dead and bloody. ’Course nobody wouldn’ speak to her no more. She had a go away. Can’t tech sin ’thout catchin’ it. No, sir. An’ they was another, done the same thing. An’ she skinnied out, an’—know what? One night she was gone. An’ two days, she’s back. Says she was visitin’. But—she ain’t got no baby. Know what I think? I think the manager, he took her away to drop her baby. He don’ believe in sin. Tol’ me hisself. Says the sin is bein’ hungry. Says the sin is bein’ cold. Says—I tell ya, he tol’ me hisself—can’t see God in them things. Says them girls skinnied out ’cause they didn’ git ’nough food. Well, I fixed him up.” She rose to her feet and stepped back. Her eyes were sharp. She pointed a rigid fore-finger in Rose of Sharon’s face. “I says, ‘Git back!’ I says. I says, ‘I knowed the devil was rampagin’ in this here camp. Now I know who the devil is. Git back, Satan,’ I says. An’, by Chris’, he got back! Tremblin’ he was, an’ sneaky. Says, ‘Please!’ Says, ‘Please don’ make the folks unhappy.’ I says, ‘Unhappy? How ’bout their soul? How ’bout them dead babies an’ them poor sinners ruint ’count of play-actin’?’ He jes’ looked, an’ he give a sick grin an’ went away. He knowed when he met a real testifier to the Lord. I says, ‘I’m a-helpin’ Jesus watch the goin’s-on. An’ you an’ them other sinners ain’t gittin’ away with it.” She picked up her box of dirty clothes. “You take heed. I warned you. You take heed a that pore chile in your belly an’ keep outa sin.” And she strode away titanically, and her eyes shone with virtue.

Rose of Sharon watched her go, and then she put her head down on
her hands and whimpered into her palms. A soft voice sounded beside her. She looked up, ashamed. It was the little white-clad manager. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Don’t you worry.”

Her eyes blinded with tears. “But I done it,” she cried. “I hug-danced. I didn’ tell her. I done it in Sallisaw. Me an’ Connie.”

“Don’t worry,” he said.

“She says I’ll drop the baby.”

“I know she does. I kind of keep my eye on her. She’s a good woman, but she makes people unhappy.”

Rose of Sharon sniffled wetly. “She knowed two girls los’ their baby right in this here camp.”

The manager squatted down in front of her. “Look!” he said. “Listen to me. I know them too. They were too hungry and too tired. And they worked too hard. And they rode on a truck over bumps. They were sick. It wasn’t their fault.”

“But she said——”

“Don’t worry. That woman likes to make trouble.”

“But she says you was the devil.”

“I know she does. That’s because I won’t let her make people miserable.” He patted her shoulder. “Don’t you worry. She doesn’t know.” And he walked quickly away.

Rose of Sharon looked after him; his lean shoulders jerked as he walked. She was still watching his slight figure when Ma came back, clean and pink, her hair combed and wet, and gathered in a knot. She wore her figured dress and the old cracked shoes; and the little earrings hung in her ears.

“I done it,” she said. “I stood in there an’ let warm water come a-floodin’ an’ a-flowin’ down over me. An’ they was a lady says you can do it ever’ day if you want. An’—them ladies’ committee come yet?”

“Uh-uh!” said the girl.

“An’ you jus’ set there an’ didn’ redd up the camp none!” Ma gathered up the tin dishes as she spoke. “We got to get in shape,” she said. “Come on, stir! Get that sack and kinda sweep along the groun’.” She picked up the equipment, put the pans in their box and the box in the tent. “Get them beds neat,” she ordered. “I tell ya I ain’t never felt nothin’ so nice as that water.”

Rose of Sharon listlessly followed orders. “Ya think Connie’ll be back today?”

“Maybe—maybe not. Can’t tell.”

“You sure he knows where-at to come?”

“Sure.”

“Ma—ya don’ think—they could a killed him when they burned—?”

“Not him,” Ma said confidently. “He can travel when he wants—jackrabbit-quick an’ fox-sneaky.”

“I wisht he’d come.”

“He’ll come when he comes.”

“Ma——”

“I wisht you’d get to work.”

“Well, do you think dancin’ an’ play-actin’ is sins an’ll make me drop the baby?”

Ma stopped her work and put her hands on her hips. “Now what you talkin’ about? You ain’t done no playactin’.”

“Well, some folks here done it, an’ one girl, she dropped her baby—dead—an’ bloody, like it was a judgment.”

Ma stared at her. “Who tol’ you?”

“Lady that come by. An’ that little fella in white clothes, he come by an’ he says that ain’t what done it.”

Ma frowned. “Rosasharn,” she said, “you stop pickin’ at yourself. You’re jest a-teasin’ yourself up to cry. I don’ know what’s come at you. Our folks ain’t never did that. They took what come to ’em dry-eyed. I bet it’s that Connie give you all them notions. He was jes’ too big for his overhalls.” And she said sternly, “Rosasharn, you’re jest one person, an’ they’s a lot of other folks. You git to your proper place. I knowed people built theirself up with sin till they figgered they was big mean shucks in the sight a the Lord.”

“But, Ma——”

“No. Jes’ shut up an’ git to work. You ain’t big enough or mean enough to worry God much. An’ I’m gonna give you the back a my han’ if you don’ stop this pickin’ at yourself.” She swept the ashes into the fire hole and brushed the stones on its edge. She saw the committee coming along the road. “Git workin’,” she said. “Here’s the ladies
comin’. Git a-workin’ now, so’s I can be proud.” She didn’t look again, but she was conscious of the approach of the committee.

There could be no doubt that it was the committee; three ladies, washed, dressed in their best clothes: a lean woman with stringy hair and steel-rimmed glasses, a small stout lady with curly gray hair and a small sweet mouth, and a mammoth lady, big of hock and buttock, big of breast, muscled like a dray-horse, powerful and sure. And the committee walked down the road with dignity.

Ma managed to have her back turned when they arrived. They stopped, wheeled, stood in a line. And the great woman boomed, “Mornin’, Mis’ Joad, ain’t it?”

Ma whirled around as though she had been caught off guard. “Why, yes—yes. How’d you know my name?”

“We’re the committee,” the big woman said. “Ladies’ Committee of Sanitary Unit Number Four. We got your name in the office.”

Ma flustered, “We ain’t in very good shape yet. I’d be proud to have you ladies come an’ set while I make up some coffee.”

The plump committee woman said, “Give our names, Jessie. Mention our names to Mis’ Joad. Jessie’s the Chair,” she explained.

Jessie said formally, “Mis’ Joad, this here’s Annie Littlefield an’ Ella Summers, an’ I’m Jessie Bullitt.”

“I’m proud to make your acquaintance,” Ma said. “Won’t you set down? They ain’t nothin’ to set on yet,” she added. “But I’ll make up some coffee.”

“Oh, no,” said Annie formally. “Don’t put yaself out. We jes’ come to call an’ see how you was, an’ try to make you feel at home.”

Jessie Bullitt said sternly, “Annie, I’ll thank you to remember I’m Chair.”

“Oh! Sure, sure. But next week I am.”

“Well, you wait’ll next week then. We change ever’ week,” she explained to Ma.

“Sure you wouldn’ like a little coffee?” Ma asked helplessly.

“No, thank you.” Jessie took charge. “We gonna show you ’bout the sanitary unit fust, an’ then if you wanta, we’ll sign you up in the Ladies’ Club an’ give you duty. ’Course you don’ have to join.”

“Does—does it cost much?”

“Don’t cost nothing but work. An’ when you’re knowed, maybe you can be ’lected to this committee,” Annie interrupted. “Jessie, here, is on the committee for the whole camp. She’s a big committee lady.”

Jessie smiled with pride. “’Lected unanimous,” she said. “Well, Mis’ Joad, I guess it’s time we tol’ you ’bout how the camp runs.”

Ma said, “This here’s my girl, Rosasharn.”

“How do,” they said.

“Better come ’long too.”

The huge Jessie spoke, and her manner was full of dignity and kindness, and her speech was rehearsed.