A Day To Pick Your Own Cotton Part 15

"That wasn't so hard," she said with a kind of pleased expression on her face.

"He didn't seem to mind that it was just us," I said. "But we still gotta be careful."

Suddenly we heard a splash. We turned, and there was Aleta sitting in the middle of the rinse tub with her clothes all still on.

We ran over to her laughing.

"What are you doing?" laughed Katie.

"Taking a cold bath," she said. "It's so hot, it's like going swimming."

As we watched I had to admit it looked like a pretty good idea at that! Katie was obviously thinking the same thing.

"I'll go get the soap from the house," said Katie. "I want to take a bath too! I'll wash your hair under the pump, Aleta.-Would you wash mine, Mayme?"

"If you'll wash mine!"

While Aleta was playing and splas.h.i.+ng in the water, Katie and I went back inside and got some clean towels and soap and a scrubbing sponge.

We came back outside, then took off our dresses and took turns getting each other all clean.

Even with my underclothes still on, that was about the best bath I'd ever had! We got Emma back out, and she and William cleaned up real nice too, though she howled a little at the cold water from the pump on her head and back.

When we were done, we pulled the stopper from the bottom of the tub and let the water drain, where it ran in a little trough that had been dug from under it out to the field. Since most of our clothes we'd been wearing were hanging on the lines, we put on robes of Katie's mama's till the things on the line had started to dry, which didn't take too long in the heat.

After that, for most of the rest of the summer, we took cold baths outside almost every day.

As we were walking back to the house, I realized that Aleta had been listening carefully before when Katie had been talking to the gla.s.s man.

"Where is your mama?" she asked.

The question took Katie by surprise as much as it did me. She glanced over at me, but all I could do was shrug. I didn't know what to say.

"She's not here," answered Katie after a bit. "She's gone for a while."

"Where's she gone?" said Aleta. "Why haven't I seen her?"

"She's gone for a long time, Aleta," said Katie. "That's why Mayme and I are here together, and why we have to work so hard."

A REQUEST.

26.

IWAS OUT AT THE WOODPILE THE NEXT DAY GETTING ready to chop some firewood when I heard a soft step behind me. I turned, surprised to see Aleta standing there. For an instant I stiffened inside, getting ready for whatever hurtful thing I was about to hear. But then I realized that there was a different, almost timid expression on her face. ready to chop some firewood when I heard a soft step behind me. I turned, surprised to see Aleta standing there. For an instant I stiffened inside, getting ready for whatever hurtful thing I was about to hear. But then I realized that there was a different, almost timid expression on her face.

"Mayme," she said, and her voice was as different as the look on her face. "Would you please tell me another story about Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Fox, like that one you told us a few days ago?"

"Did you like it?" I asked.

She nodded. "But I couldn't understand it very well," she said. "And I fell asleep before it was done. Why did you talk in such a funny voice when you were telling it?"

I smiled and put down the ax, then sat down on the chopping block.

"You want to sit down?" I said.

Aleta sat down on another piece of wood opposite me.

"That voice is the way my uncle tells the old stories," I said. "Miss Katie likes to hear them that way so she'll know how the stories sounded to me when I was a little girl."

"You heard it from your uncle?"

"Not my real uncle. When I was a slave, we called all old black men uncles. They're the ones who told the old stories that they'd heard when they were young from the uncles before them."

"Were you really a slave, Mayme?"

"Yes I was, Aleta."

"Was it hard?"

"Real hard."

"Why aren't you a slave now?"

" 'Cause some bad men killed my family, and I ran away and came here. Miss Katie ... Miss Katie's family," I added, feeling a twinge of guilt as I said it, "they took me in and let me stay here and work for them. After that, I found out all the slaves had been set free."

"What kind of men were the bad men?" she asked. "Were they white or colored?"

"They were white men."

"My daddy says whites are better than coloreds."

"He'll find out someday that's not true, Aleta," I said. "All white folks have to find that out sometime. Where does your daddy live?"

She shrugged and didn't answer.

"Is it far away from here?"

"Pretty far."

"How long had you and your mama ridden before you fell?"

"I don't know-maybe an hour."

"Was your daddy chasing you?"

"I think so. Mama kept looking back."

"Well, Aleta," I said, "whites can be just as bad as coloreds. And coloreds can be just as bad as whites-if there's not love in their heart. That's what makes folks different, not the color of their skin. Some folks have love in their hearts, others don't."

She was still young, but I think she understood what I'd said. She seemed to be thinking about it anyhow.

"My daddy doesn't have love in his heart," she said.

I didn't think I'd ever heard anything so sad for a girl to say about her father. It almost made me cry. I waited a minute, then spoke again.

"Do you want to hear about Mr. Rabbit now?" I asked.

"Yes ... please!" said Aleta, her eyes gleaming with antic.i.p.ation.

"How much did you hear before you fell asleep?"

"I don't know, but tell it all, tell it to me from the beginning."

From the kitchen porch, Katie had come outside, then paused as she saw us together. She was now watching us sitting at the woodpile talking. She didn't know what we were talking about, but the softened expression on Aleta's face brought tears to her eyes.

QUESTIONS IN T TOWN.

27.

KATIE," I SAID ONE DAY, "NOW THAT THERE'S FIVE of us to feed, I think we oughta start doing something to save the milk. And with summer coming and it getting hot, if there's a drought, the cows could dry up. So we gotta make sure we've got plenty of cheese." of us to feed, I think we oughta start doing something to save the milk. And with summer coming and it getting hot, if there's a drought, the cows could dry up. So we gotta make sure we've got plenty of cheese."

"Do you know how to make cheese, Mayme?" she asked.

"Not really," I said. "You just boil the milk, I think. I watched my mama and Josepha do it once, but I forget what they did."

"I think you've got to put something in it to make the milk turn to cheese," Katie said, then added, "I think my mama's got a book about it."

We went to the pantry and looked around.

"Here's the book my mama was always using," said Katie. She laid it open on the counter and started flipping through it. The book was called The American FrugalHousewife's Guide to Food Preparation and Preservation The American FrugalHousewife's Guide to Food Preparation and Preservation.

"Does it tell about cheese?" I asked.

"I'm looking ... here it is," said Katie, turning the pages.

She bent down to read for a minute.

"It says, 'Take the inner membrane of the fourth, or digestive stomach of a young mammal living on milk, preferably a young calf-' "

"Ugh!" I said. "How are we going to get a calf 's stomach!"

Katie kept reading. " 'Dry the stomach lining in salt, then, when needed, soak in water. The resultant liquid will contain the fermented enzyme, rennet, which has the property of curdling milk. For basic cheese preparation, heat three gallons of fresh milk to approximately 140 degrees ...' "

She stopped and looked over at me. "How can we make cheese if we don't have this rennet thing and the calf 's stomach?" she asked.

"Now that I think about it," I said, "I think I remember something about using thistles or nettles too."

"We could find plenty of those!" said Katie.

"But maybe your mama has a dried stomach skin around here someplace."

"I don't even like to think about it! And I haven't seen anything like that."

"I wonder if we could get anything to use at Mrs. Hammond's store."

"I don't know," said Katie, looking at the book again and reading to herself. "It also says you need salt and cheesecloth. We forgot to get salt last time we went to town."

"Do you have any cheesecloth?"

"I don't think so. Maybe we should go to town and see if we can get what we need at the store."

Thinking of going into town reminded me of seeing Henry in Oakwood. I told Katie what had happened. "I don't know if I should go with you," I said.

"I could go alone," said Katie. "I think after last time I could do it alone if I had to."

"Or we could go to Oakwood instead."

"Then we'd have to pay for it," said Katie, "and I'd rather put it on my mama's bill at Mrs. Hammond's so we don't use up our money."

"But what about Aleta?" I asked.

"Let me talk to her," said Katie. "I'll see what she says to the idea of staying with you."

The next morning after the cows were out to pasture, Katie and I got the small buggy hitched up and ready for a trip into town.

We walked into the house.

"Aleta," said Katie. "I need to talk to you for a minute. I have to go into town today. I'll be gone two or three hours."

Aleta stared back at her with a blank expression.

"Would you mind staying here with Mayme and Emma while I'm gone?" Katie asked.