Absalom's Daughters by Suzanne Feldman

Author:Suzanne Feldman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627794541
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning, they got up later than usual. By Cassie’s judgment the height of the sun made it almost noon. The weather was cool, which was good, but a light morning mist had settled into their clothes, chilling them both. Their mouths were dry and their heads hurt. The noise from the old junk car made their heads hurt worse. Judith said “Time’s a-wastin’,” and they got started driving. The highway opened up in front of them. Soon they saw a sign that read ENTERPRISE 10 MILES.

Judith, who was driving, said to Cassie, “What you got left in your shoe?”

Cassie took off her shoe and counted the change. “Ninety-six cents.”

“We ain’t gonna get to Virginia on ninety-six cents.”

“We can get work in Enterprise.”

“No one gonna hire us for nuthin’,” Judith said. “We jus’ vagrants far as ennyone concerned. Besides, earnin’ money gonna take too long. I got an idea.”

Cassie put her shoe back on. “What’s your idea?”

“I ain’t telling you,” said Judith. “’Cause I ain’t sure it gonna work, an’ I don’t want you thinkin’ I’m’n idjit.”

“I’ll tell you right now if it’s a stupid idea, and then you don’t have to worry ’bout me thinking you’n idjit.”

“You don’t have to do nuthin’. An’ if it don’t work, then I guess we’ll clean ourselves up an’ find a place needs help with the laundry.”

Up ahead signs announced ENTERPRISE’S RARITAN and LIONS CLUBS and a host of others, including the FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE.

“You ain’t gonna try to do hoorin’, are you?” Cassie said.

“Even I ain’t idjit enough for that.”

By the time they got to Enterprise, the cool March morning had turned into a warmer March afternoon. Highway 80 led directly to the center of town, which was where the statue in the picture postcard was. Cars and pickup trucks were parked at an angle along both sides of the street in front of a hardware store, a grocery, and a diner. The monument to the boll weevil rose from a concrete island in the middle of the street. A gleaming white woman stood on a pedestal, dressed in something flimsy that was decorated with gleaming golden curlicues. She looked like she had fallen from the sky, from somewhere completely different than the dusty ordinariness of downtown Enterprise, Alabama. She towered over everything. Her bare arms were raised over her head, hands joined as though in a victorious gesture. In the postcard picture, water had come rushing out of a vase. Now the fountain was dry, and the top was blocked by something dark and oddly shaped.

Judith parked the car by the fountain. “What she holdin’ up there?” said Judith.

Cassie squinted into the brightness of the day. What object was that woman holding over her head in both hands, like a trophy?

“Damned if that ain’t some kinda insect,” said Judith. “Is it a tick?”

“It’s a weevil,” said Cassie. “See its legs stickin’ out on the side?”

Judith stepped into the street and walked over to the edge of the fountain’s dry pool.

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