Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2009 - (Page 66) “Y ou can add to the value of an Impala, Chevy, or Cadillac by fixing it, waxing it, cleaning it up, and adding new, shiny parts; but you can’t make no ho’ no housewife,” T-Red told Black, a field-worker and selfmade mechanic, from the opposite side of the busted screen door. “All I’m going to say is tink hard and long about what you gonna do. That’s you, but I wouldn’t do it. Any day now that girl reputation gonna reach Sunset. Maymay got her .45 and T-Man old shotgun. I got a .22, four hunting rifles, and six hunting dogs. I ain’t using nare-a-one to defend that gal’s honor or save her from your angry fist when you find some field hand in your bed.” T-Red looked through the hole of the screen door at Black long and hard. His brows were wrinkled and intense. He expressed cautious approval about Black’s decision to “shack up” with Tut. Before Black took Tut away to Sunset, he wanted Black to know what he was getting and the terms and conditions of the exchange. Black stood on the porch dressed in his field uniform: navy blue Dickies, a short sleeve shirt and pants. His blue 1975 Buick Riviera had just been detailed and was parked in front of the house on the dirt and grass headland. The Buick’s clean silver rims reflected the sun’s rays with dazzling radiance. Black wiped the sweat from his dark chocolate-colored forehead. He had to dodge six dogs before Tinie, Tut’s seven year old, grabbed them and shooed them away. She herded them into the screened back porch and locked the door, but they continued to bark even more furiously at the scent of Black’s cheap Woolworth cologne. Black went through the sea of barking, snapping dogs just to stand on Maymay’s cypress porch and ask for permission to shack up with Tut, the town’s petain. “Don’t beat nobody and risk your life with the likes of her.” T-Red looked at Black superciliously. “They done told you about that trifling gal. All you see is bright skin, long good hair, a fine ass, and big tiddies. You and Tut can 66 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Spring 2009
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.