Part 35 (1/2)
”Lord!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed his wife. ”All them?”
”All them,” replied Rawdy, moodily triumphant.
”Well,” said his wife, ”that ain't the point.”
”No, it ain't,” agreed Rawdy.
”The point is,” said she, ”is he agoin' to or ain't he agoin' to pay.”
”That's so,” said Rawdy.
”He's a-owin' everybody, ain't he?” said the wife.
”Pooty near, I guess.”
”Well, you ain't goin' to let one of your cerridges go, let alone hirin', unless he pays ahead.”
”Lord! Dilly, how'm I goin' to ask him?” protested Rawdy.
”How? Why, the way anybody would ask him. 'Ain't you got a tongue in your head?” demanded she.
”You dunno what a man he is. I asked him the other night when I drove him up, and it wa'n't a job I liked, I can tell you.”
”Did he pay you?”
”Paid me some of it.”
”He's owin' you now, ain't he?”
”Well, he ain't owin' much, only the few times their cerridge 'ain't been down. It ain't much, Dilly.”
”But it's something.”
”Yes; everythin' that ain't nothin' is somethin', I s'pose.”
”And now you're goin' right on an' lettin' him have all your cerridges, and you'll be wantin' me to help clean the seats, too, I'll warrant, and you're agoin' to hire into the bargain, with him owin' you and owin' everybody else in town.”
”Now, Dilly, I didn't say I was agoin' to,” protested Rawdy.
”An' me needin' a new dress, and 'ain't had one to my back for two years, and them Carroll women in a different one every time they appear out, and the girl having enough clothes for a Vanderbilt. I guess Stella Griggs will rue the day. She's a fool, and always was.
If you can afford to give that man money you can afford to get me a new dress. I'd go to the weddin'--it's free, in the church--if I had anything decent to wear.”
”Now, Dilly, what can I do? I leave it to you,” asked Samson Rawdy, with confessed helplessness.
”Do?” said she. ”Why, tell him he's got to pay ahead or he can't have the cerridges. If you're afraid to, I'll ask him. I ain't afraid.”
”Lord! I ain't afraid, Dilly,” said Rawdy.
”You'd better clean up, after supper, an' go up there and tell him,”
said Dilly Rawdy, mercilessly.