Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

Author:Irene Latham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Welcome to Camden

WHEN I GOT OUTSIDE, MRS. COBB WAS ALREADY behind the wheel of the motorcar. She had on a wide-brimmed hat with a netting that fell right in front of her eyes. In her lap was the shotgun.

Patrick opened the motorcar door and motioned for me to get in. “You remember what I told you, child. Get yourself back to Gee’s Bend. Don’t say nothing except yes’m and no’m.”

“What’s that, Patrick?” Mrs. Cobb called over the sound of the motor.

“Not a thing, Mrs. Cobb. Just helping the child get in.”

I slid across the leather seat as Patrick closed the door behind me. The motorcar didn’t have a top, so the seat was warm from the sunlight streaming onto it. I wasn’t ready for the way the whole motorcar shuddered. It felt like I was in a nice warm nest that happened to be in a real shaky tree. My heart shuddered right along with it.

Then, with a jerk, we was moving. Mrs. Cobb pressed pedals with her feet and used her gloved hands to steer the wheel. Behind us the big house got smaller and smaller.

Look at me, I wanted to wave and shout. Across the river and riding in a motorcar. It was turning into some story, and I didn’t have no idea how I was gonna fit it all into my quilt. But with Mrs. Cobb’s fancy napkin to add to my bundle, I was sure gonna try.

The motorcar bumped along for what seemed like hours. Wasn’t no talking due to the noise. I braced myself with my feet to keep from sliding into Mrs. Cobb’s shotgun whenever we hit them rough spots in the dirt road. And rocks was the worst, on account of the way they lifted me right up and out of my seat. Then there was the bugs that kept getting in my eye.

I wished I had me a hat like Mrs. Cobb’s. And I wished my teeth would stop rattling. Seemed like every bump and bounce set ’em off again. It was making my belly feel sick.

Was we ever gonna get to Camden? I reckon that ferry sure did take me a long way downriver. Or else them miles just seemed longer when you was bouncing around in a motorcar. I didn’t say nothing about it to Mrs. Cobb, but I’d just as soon have walked all the way to Camden.

When I got tired of watching the fields go by, I rested my head against the seat and closed my eyes. I was about to drift off when Mrs. Cobb tapped my knee with her finger and pointed toward a group of houses on the right side of the street. They was big like Mrs. Cobb’s house but lined up in a row like the cabins in Gee’s Bend. I reckon you could fit four of our cabins into one of them houses. And seemed like every one of ’em was wrapped in a big wide porch that had fans hanging from the ceiling.

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