Part 10 (1/2)
These people ate cool slices of watermelon, spit out the black seeds and sweated in the vertical rays of the July sun They drank quart bottles of beer and wine, and srocery stores nearby They sucked chocolate-coated icecreaerated pushcart of the Good Humor man They chewed succulent sections of barbecued pork-rib sandwiches, cast the polished bones to the friendly dogs and cats and the bread crusts to the flocks ofHarleainst their sweaty skin and into their gritty eyes
The juhter and the tinkle of the vendor's bellsfrom the open church door and the loud su in the street
A picnic had never been better
Sweating horse cops astride lathered horses, harness bulls with open collars and patrol cars with rolled-dos rode herd
When Johnny backed his big fishtail Cadillac into a reserved spot and clih the crowd and his na from every lip
Inside the church was like an airless oven The crude wooden benches were jaa-car waiters and Holy Rollers--but were being cooked instead
With his tomen, Johnny pushed forward toward the mourners' bench They found places beside Mamie Pullen, Baby Sis, and the pallbearers--who included a white dining-car steward; the Grand Wizard of Big Joe's lodge, dressed in the oldbraided uniforray-haired, flat-footed waiter known as Uncle Gin; and two Holy Roller Deacons
Big Joe's coffin, banked with hothouse roses and lilies of the valley, occupied the place of honor in front of the soapbox pulpit Green ifies buzzed above the coffin
Behind it, Reverend Short was ju up and down on the fli on red- and white-hot flaious fervor and streah celluloid collar and soaked into the jacket of his black woolen suit His gold-rimmed spectacles were clouded A band of sweat had forh his coat
”_And the Lord said_,” he was screaht on his face and spraying hot spit like a garden sprinkler ”_As many as I love, I rebuke and chastenDoes you hear me?_”
”We hears you,” the church members chanted in response
”_Be zealous therefore, and repent_”
”repent”
”_So I' to take my text from Genesis_”
”Genesis”
”_The Lord God e_”
”Lord made Adam”
”_Therefore I'm your preacher and I want to make a parable_”
”preacherJoe Pullen in his coffin, as much of a man as Adam ever was, as dead a e_”
”Big Joe in God's ie”
”_Adam bore two sons, Cain and Abel_”
”Cain and Abel”
”_And Cain rose up against his brother in the field, and he stuck a knife in Abel's heart and he murdered him_”
”Jesus Savior,heaven with all His grandeur, clothing hi his face black, pointing the finger of accusation, and saying to you unrepented sinners, 'He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword_'”
”die by the sword, Lord, Lord”
”_I see Hier and say, 'If Ada in that coffin dead and his na Joe Pullen_'”
”have mercy, Jesus”
”_And he'd have a son named Abel_”
”have a son, Abel”
”_And his son would have a wife_”
”son would have a wife”
”_And his ould be the sister of Cain_”
”sister of Cain”
”_I can see Hi_”
”rib bone of nothing”
Spit drooled fro finger straight in Dulcy's direction
”_I can hear him say, 'Oh, you sister of Cain, why slayest thou thy brother?_'”
A dead silence dropped like a pall over the cooking congregation Every eye was turned on Dulcy She cringed in her seat Johnny stared at the preacher with a sudden alertness, and the scar in his forehead came suddenly alive
Mamie half arose and cried, ”It ain't so! You know it ain't so!”
Then a sister in the amen corner jumped to her feet, with her arers stiffened, and screamed, ”Jesus in heaven, have mercy on the poor sinner”