April 12, 1946.
THE SALEMITE
Page Five.
Home-Coming.....
by Peirano Aiken
Callie, the little deformed Negro
cook, put up her hands to take the
puppy and jerked her head gaily
at the fair-skinned child before her.
"Lawsy, won’t ole Ann be surprised
when she sees this lil’ feller! Sho
was nice of you to give us one of
the pups, Miss Frances.”
Frances, granddaughter of Callie’s
employer, looked reluctantly for a
split second from the m,other dog to
the puppy in Callie’s arms. Then she
smiled and said, “Be good, doggie!
Bye, Callie!” and ran out of the
kitchen into the parlor when a
few .boarders lingered on after
supper.
Meanwhile, Callie, having hung
her apron on ihe pantry hook,
bundled herself and the roly-poly
animal in the faded red coat she
had brought at the last rummage
sale, and stepped out into the night.
It was a typical southern November
night, cold, but not bitterly so.
Clouds greyer than usual had gather
ed in the West over the hills where
Callie lived. Dusk was just turn
ing to darkness, for it was barely
seven o’clock. Usually there were
too many dishes to wash for her to
get through before eight, but this
was Saturday and not many people
ate at the hotel.
Thiit was good because now she
would get home in time to settle
the little dog in front of the fire
before old Ann got in from collect
ing her laundry.
Ann was Callie’s mother, and the
two hobbling little creatures lived
alone in a shack outside of town.
Of course, there had once been
Jim Blair, too, the handsome Negro
from Nashville who had taken Ann
to love and cherish. But then Cal-
arissa—Callie, that is—came and
things got a little too tamo for Jim
Blair and he left. But that was f^o
long ago that no one remembered
that Jim had even existed—except
maybe Ann, sometimes.
As Callie limped out of the house
sho hugged her gift gently. “ Ilyer,
you critter, sto]> ticklin’ my ribs
that way,” she chuckled. “ Heh, heh,
Ann’s always admirin’ them pretty
little animal.s wif ribbons round
their necks, like you see in pictures
in the dime store. Guess she’ll really
like you, lil’ feller.”
She came from the driveway into
the road and turned left toward
Main Street. It was shorter to go
right, but this was Saturday night
and it gave Callie a sort of gay, e.x-
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cited feeling to gee the crowds.
Her angular brown face bobbed at
all the colored folks and the “re
spectable” white folks, her eyes
shining like huge brown, and white
marbles. Nobody saw the Saturday
pageant with as much pleasure as
Callie and Ann who lived it over
a dozen times before their evening
fire. They were close observers, too.
No one was born, married, divorced,
dead, or in jail without their know
ing about it.
First she went by the picture
show, where throngs of mill hands
were pushing in t,o see the double
feature, a western and a murder
mystery. Under the marquee the
sweated odor of packed humanity
and the glare of the bright lights
pierced the atmosphere . offensively.
At Mrs. Hall’s five-and-dime she
decided she would bo extravagant
tonight and buy a yard of ribbon
for the puppy’s neck—(just to cast
a festive air). Knowing that Ann
liked red best, she asked for that
but had to take orange instead.
Orange was a witch’s color, she
tIi,ought; but perhaps it would im
part the desired gaietJ^
Next door was a drug store
where children of the “better”
families were hunched over sundaes
and sodas. On the curb outside were
Buicks filled with fashionable ma
trons who came to relieve the
tedium of doing nothing at home
and to sip their evening coke.
Callie nodded respectfully to
Mrs. Woodruff, who she noticed had
a new permanent. “Got to tell Ann
about Mrs. Woodruff’s new hair-do,
al! piled up on her head. And looky
dere; dere’s h^r boy Tommy com
ing out of the drug store with the
Hendrick’s girl. lie must be home
from that^big navy .school in Mary
land."
AtarylandT Sho wondered where
that was, and decided to ask Paris,
the colored taxi driver who took
folks to New York, Florida, and all
kinds of big places. lie was educat
ed, too, and c,ould talk politics up
a breeze. Afost of the Negroes did
not like Paris; and Callie did not
feel very much at case with him
herself, but she did want to know
about Maryland. It would please
Ann to hear about a far-off place
like that, and they could imagine
for hours what it would be like to
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live there. They had to have some
thing to talk about to keep away
the gloom.
The last store before the final
filling station was Mr. Bivens’
grocery store. Everyone called him
“Pap” Biyens except his Buick-
owning daughter, who always re
ferred to him as Mr. He sat on a
feed sack outside his store and
spoke to the farmers as they came
in to buy food, staples and tobacco.
“H,owdy, sir!” Callie spoke pleasant
ly. “Howdy!” answered Pap, lifting
his shaggy brows to show the gleam
in his eyes. As sho passed, he mumbl
ed. “That Callie and Ann do more
work in ji day than my daughters
will have done by Doomsday. Damn!”
Out beyond the store and church
with its graveyard she hobbled;
her leg.s, bent by paralysis when
■she was a child, moved a little
faster. An owl hooted forebodingly
from somewhere in the eaves of the
church. Callie shivered. The ])uppy
wiggled again and Callie felt the
soft, warm ball of life bump against
her chest with relief. “Nice com
pany to keep out scairy feelings
these winter nights, this lil’ feller.
In fact, he’ll make things real
chummy.”
Callie glowed inside as she
th,ought of home. She and Ann did
not live in Darktown Hollow or
Poplar Hill like the other Negroes.
They lived alone out beyond the
city limits where there were no
neighbors in sight. Home was every
thing to them.
Coming around the bend, she
could distinguish the outline of
their two-rooni shack. She took the
dirt path that led up the hill to
the plank which served as a door
step to the entrance. In the manner
of many southern cabins, its planked
floor lay right on the ground. On the
door was nailed a—but here, Callie
stopped. “Whatever’s become of do
horseshoe?” she mumbled as she
kicked around in the dark for it.
“Wind musta knocked it off. Drat
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“How about
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it. We don’t want no evil spirits in
our house, do we, pupf”
She decided to continue her search
in the morning and stepped inside
where she lit the oil lantern that
hung on a wire from the ceiling.
Taking a string of dried red peppers
fr,om the wall to amuse the puppy
with, she set her charge down before
the hearth.
“Hyer, little boy, you going to
get slicked up for old Ann. Come
on and be still for me to tie this
bow on you. Now when de door
opens, you bark real nice for ole
Ann.” She chatted happily, while
she kept one ear open for sounds
of Ann’s approach. But only the
owl broke the silence.
Suddenly her thoughts were
frozen! A piercing scream and the
screech of braks! Callie sat motion
less for a moment and then ran to
the door. She almost bumped into
the two men coming forward, bear
ing a small broken brown body, limp
and lifeless. A.s they carried it,
the head swung freely from a
broken neck. They laid it down and
spoke words in short, hesitant
breaths; but Callie did n,ot hear. She
only stared from the eyes like soft
brown and white marbles to the
ones that would never sparkle again.
The puppy looked up expectantly
at Callie and barked in his puppy
voice. The high pitched noise stirred
Callie from her stare and she turn
ed and whispered, “Dat’s right, lil’
feller, say hello to Ann.”
C O H E N » S
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Be Sure To Visit Us Early
West Fourth Street
Hayes
(Continued from Page J)
rable. Perhaps to an even greater
degree than elsewhere, her in
terpretation of this work marked
her as a musically ripe performer.
Miss Hayes’ entire program was
notable for its brilliance, but tho
Chopin group, comprising the
“Etude in F Major,” the “Etude in
C Minor,” and the “Scherzo in B
Flat Minor,” stood out in this
respect, as did the de Falla “An-
daluza.”
The Cesar Franck “Variations
Symphoniques,” in which Miss
Hayes was assisted by Dr. Vardell
at a second piano, brought tho
pr,ogram to a close. This difficult
work was given an outsitanding
performance.
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The Photographic
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DIAL 6128
2nd Floor
1865
1946
W. T. VOGLER & SON
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A
p.
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O’HANLON’S
DRUG STORE
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AT THE BUS STOP
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West Fourth Street