Read Online Georgia Boy by Erskine Caldwell - Free Book Online Page B

bottom while Pa was talking, and he handed it to another gypsy who carried it out to the wagons. Pa grabbed one of the gypsies by the back of his vest and tried to argue about the ax and the bucket. While he was doing that, another one of them went into the woodshed and carried out our saw-horse. Pa saw our saw-horse going towards the wagons, but it was gone before he could grab it.
    “A swap’s a swap,” my old man said, “but not when it’s as one-sided as this. You folks have been getting your share, but I ain’t got a single thing for mine.”
    One of the gypsies came over and put his hand in his pocket and brought out a jack knife. Pa tried to open it to look at it, but both blades were broken off.
    “Now, hold on,” Pa said. “I didn’t bargain for nothing like this.”
    The men climbed up in the woodshed loft where Handsome slept at night, and Pa started up behind them, still trying to make them listen to him.
    The gypsy women were plaguing Ma until she was almost out of her mind. They had gone inside and had brought out Ma’s sewing basket, a hairbrush, and the water pitcher from the washstand. Ma was trying to take the things away from the women, but they wouldn’t turn loose. One of the gypsies handed Ma a string of beads, and the others made off with the pitcher, the brush, and the sewing basket.
    One of the men climbed down from the loft carrying Handsome’s banjo under his arm. Handsome let out a yell and grabbed the banjo before the gypsy could make off with it.
    “Morris!” Ma yelled. “Get these people away from here! Do you hear me, Morris! They’re going to ransack the whole place!”
    One of the gypsy women grabbed Ma’s hand and looked at the palm. She began telling Ma things about her future, and ma got so interested in what she was saying that she didn’t yell any more right away. While the woman was reading Ma’s palm, the others went inside the house.
    Pa was so rattled by then that he didn’t see one of the men lead Ida out of the stable. The man had put a halter around Ida’s neck and she followed him just as though she didn’t know a thing was wrong.
    “There goes Ida, Pa!” I yelled. “Pa, don’t swap off Ida!”
    Ma heard me and she let out a yell.
    “Morris Stroup!” she said. “Are you clear out of your head! Don’t you dare let that mule out of this yard!”
    Pa turned around and saw Ida walking off, and he looked as if he was so distracted he didn’t know what to do. Handsome grabbed the halter line and pulled Ida away from the gypsy.
    “No, sir!” Handsome said. “Ain’t nobody going to take this here mule!”
    “Now, you folks just ain’t acting fair and square,” Pa said. “I’m in a good frame of mind to make trades, as long as it’s pure give-and-take, but I ain’t going to stand for such one-sided going on. I’m going to have my say-so about what’s traded for what.”
    Handsome led Ida back to the stable and locked the door.
    Some of the kids dashed out of the kitchen with biscuits and baked sweet potatoes that had been left over from dinner. Ma saw them, but she was so mad she couldn’t say a word. One of the gypsy women put the string of beads around Ma’s neck, and the others tried to take off her shoes. Ma kicked like a mule when they tried to make off with her shoes. Handsome yelled at me, and I turned around. The gypsy kids were crawling out from under the porch carrying the steamshovel we built railroads with under the house. But that wasn’t all. One of them had all the engines and cars. The first thing I knew Handsome had grabbed the kids and had taken the things away from them. He gave the kids a shove that sent them flying around the corner of the house.
    “They sure got mixed up when they thought they could get away with these,” Handsome said hugging the steamshovel and train in his arms.
    Just then another gypsy woman, one that we had never seen before, came walking into the yard. She looked like all the rest of them, except