If He Hollers Let him Go by Chester Himes

Author:Chester Himes
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘What you bet?’ Arkansas said. ‘You ast anybody ‘bout me. I’ll fight a peck till—’

‘Aw, man, hush!’ George cut him off. ‘The worst whipping I ever got come from me thinking I could whip every grey boy I seen. I was in Chicago, man, and I was going down to the A.C. on Thirty-fifth Street, learning how to duke. Man, I was bad, I was beating up all the little studs on State Street. Man, I dared them chumps to open their chops. Then I run into this grey boy over on Clark and we got to jawing ‘bout a ruff we found on the street. He said it was hisn and I said it was mine and we went back in a vacant lot to settle it. Well, man, I got to dancing around, showing off my footwork I’d learned at the gym and hitting this grey boy anywhere I wanted. All he’d do was just duck his head and bore in. Man, I beat this chump till he was bloody as a hog, and he kept coming in. Man, I got so tired from beating this chump I couldn’t get my hands up no higher’n my belt and this chump kept gritting his teeth and ducking his head and coming in. Just about time I’d decided to broom, this chump hauled off and hit me a haymaker and killed me a year. I’m telling you, man—’

‘Thass you,’ Arkansas said. ‘That ain’t me.’

They had all just about got over their defiance and were about ready to go to work when Tebbel came in with Kelly. Then they just stood there, milling around, looking sullen. Kelly walked around and looked at the work; he stopped and looked at the broken fire pot. Finally he came up to me and said, ‘What’s the matter these boys aren’t working, Bob?’

I looked at him. ‘Ask ‘em,’ I said. I didn’t care whether he fired me or not.

He reddened and looked away. His gaze rested on Smitty. ‘What’s the matter you aren’t working?’ he said.

‘I was just waiting to ask Bob ‘bout this here joint,’ Smitty said. ‘I’m going to work right now.’

Pigmeat said loud enough for everyone to hear, ‘Nigger, you got crap up your back.’

Kelly said hurriedly, ‘Well, you better all get to work, I’m telling you,’ and beat it.

They were all silent for a moment and then Peaches said, ‘Bob done just right. There’s more’n one of these dirty white tramps needs cussing out. Course it’s too bad he lost his job,’ she added lamely.

‘What he oughta done ‘stead of cussing her out is to trick her some kinda way,’ Homer said. ‘He shoulda slipped up to Hank and said she was locating him, or somp’n like that, and get Hank down on her. Ain’t no need of none of us running round here fighting these white folks. All you gotta do is get ‘em fighting ‘mongst themselves. Look what they doing in Europe right this minute, killing each other off like flies.

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