Read Online The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty - Free Book Online

Judge Tip Clanahan is not really a judge. What he is is a splendid lawyer and our best friend, even if he is a thousand years old and can't really see where he's going. But lo and behold, Judge Tip told me, just before we got off to the start, he had to let DeYancey, his grandson, argue Uncle Daniel's case, because he never realized how his strength was leaving him, and he had to go to Hot Springs.
    "I was always partial to Daniel, but I'm getting too old for him now," he says. "I got to go to Hot Springs tomorrow."
    I knew Grandpa was turning in his grave. "Go out of town?" I says. "You think I'm going to forgive you for it when you get back?"
    He gives me a little pinch. The day I don't rate a pinch of some kind from a Clanahan, I'll know I'm past redemption—an old maid.
    Uncle Daniel has always considered DeYancey one of his best friends, and was always partial to him until this happened. De Yancey came out and announced that Uncle Daniel wasn't going to open his mouth at his own trial. Not at all, not a word. The trial was going to proceed without him.
    It would be like this. I was to testify about what happened. That's very important. Dr. Ewbanks was to testify from the medical point of view. And a few other odds and ends. But Uncle Daniel, the main one, was just supposed to sit there and be good, and not say anything at all. And he felt left out. He didn't understand a bit. It was so unlikely! Why, he loves the limelight.
    Everybody in town was indignant with DeYancey when they heard. More than one member of our congregation baked and sent Uncle Daniel his favorite cake—banana—and a Never Fail Devil's Food came from the Clanahans the day Judge Tip went off. Miss Teacake sent a beautiful Prince of Wales cake in black and white stripes—her specialty, but I couldn't help thinking of
convicts
when I sliced it. The bank sent a freezer of peach ice cream from their own peaches, beautifully turned and packed. Uncle Daniel got the idea things must be more momentous than he thought. And we couldn't let a soul get near enough to him for him to do any talking beforehand—that was the hardest part.
    Of course they hadn't done anything
about
Uncle Daniel: he didn't have to
go
anywhere. They knew where he was: with me.
    "They're letting you roam," says DeYancey to Uncle Daniel.
    "
Roam?
" says he.
    "Now that isn't anything for you to worry about," says De Yancey. "Just means they can count on you for coming." As if they could keep him away.
    But De Yancey Clanahan was here roaming around with him. I never saw the like—he was his shadow! He said, "Come on in the dining room, Daniel, I want to practice you not talking." That was easier in the dining room than anywhere else, but it wouldn't be clear sailing anywhere. Uncle Daniel couldn't bear to hear out what De Yancey was saying, that was always the trouble.
    He managed to keep up his appetite, anyway. When the day came, he was up with the sun as usual, and looking pretty cheerful at breakfast. He had on his new white Sunday suit and white shirt with the baby-blue pinstripe in it, and snow-white shoes and his Sunday tie. He set out when breakfast was over and got a fresh haircut at the barbershop and came back looking fat and fine to me, with a little Else Poulsen rose in his lapel.
    Â 
    Well, the town was jam-packed. Everybody and his brother was on hand, on account of Uncle Daniel's general popularity—and then people not knowing the Ponders but knowing
of
them are just about everywhere you'd look. It was a grand day, hot but with that little breeze blowing that we get from the south.
    Uncle Daniel and I didn't get there either early or late, but just on time, and Uncle Daniel had to speak to a world of people—but just "Hello." He was delighted at where our seats were saved—inside the railing. That was the furthest down front he'd ever sat anywhere. I kept my gloves on, and shook open my Japanese fan, and just fanned.
    Of course, inside