Their Eyes Were Watching God - Get a Free Blog

“Crazy thing!” Janie commented, beaming out with light.
He acknowledged the compliment with a smile and sat down on a box. “Anybody have uh Coca-Cola wid me?”
“Ah just had one,” Janie temporized with her conscience.
“It’ll hafter be done all over agin, Mis’ Starks.”
“How come?”
“ ’Cause it wasn’t done right dat time. ’Kiah bring us two bottles from de bottom uh de box.”
“How you been makin’ out since Ah seen yuh last, Tea Cake?”
“Can’t kick. Could be worse. Made four days dis week and got de pay in mah pocket.”
“We got a rich man round here, then. Buyin’ passenger trains uh battleships this week?”
“Which one do you want? It all depends on you.”
“Oh, if you’se treatin’ me tuh it, Ah b’lieve Ah’ll take de passenger train. If it blow up Ah’ll still be on land.”
“Choose de battleship if dat’s whut you really want. Ah know where one is right now. Seen one round Key West de other day.”
“How you gointuh git it?”
“Ah shucks, dem Admirals is always ole folks. Can’t no ole man stop me from gittin’ no ship for yuh if dat’s whut you want. Ah’d git dat ship out from under him so
slick till he’d be walkin’ de water lak ole Peter befo’ he knowed it.”
They played away the evening again. Everybody was surprised at Janie playing checkers but they liked it. Three or four stood behind her and coached her moves
and generally made merry with her in a restrained way. Finally everybody went home but Tea Cake.
“You kin close up, ’Kiah,” Janie said. “Think Ah’ll g’wan home.”
Tea Cake fell in beside her and mounted the porch this time. So she offered him a seat and they made a lot of laughter out of nothing. Near eleven o’clock she
remembered a piece of pound cake she had put away. Tea Cake went out to the lemon tree at the corner of the kitchen and picked some lemons and squeezed
them for her. So they had lemonade too.
“Moon’s too pretty fuh anybody tuh be sleepin’ it away,” Tea Cake said after they had washed up the plates and glasses. “Less us go fishin’.”
“Fishin’? Dis time uh night?”
“Unhhunh, fishin’. Ah know where de bream is beddin’. Seen ’em when Ah come round de lake dis evenin’. Where’s yo’ fishin’ poles? Less go set on de lake.”
It was so crazy digging worms by lamp light and setting out for Lake Sabelia after midnight that she felt like a child breaking rules. That’s what made Janie like it.
They caught two or three and got home just before day. Then she had to smuggle Tea Cake out by the back gate and that made it seem like some great secret she
was keeping from the town.
“Mis’ Janie,” Hezekiah began sullenly next day, “you oughtn’t ’low dat Tea Cake tuh be walkin’ tuh de house wid yuh. Ah’ll go wid yuh mahself after dis, if you’se
skeered.”
“What’s de matter wid Tea Cake, ’Kiah? Is he uh thief uh somethin’?”
“Ah ain’t never heard nobody say he stole nothin’.”
“Is he bad ’bout totin’ pistols and knives tuh hurt people wid?”
“Dey don’t say he ever cut nobody or shot nobody neither.”
“Well, is he—he—is he got uh wife or something lak dat? Not dat it’s any uh mah business.” She held her breath for the answer.
“No’m. And nobody wouldn’t marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it’s somebody jes lak him—ain’t used to nothin’. ’Course he always keep hisself in
changin’ clothes. Dat long-legged Tea Cake ain’t got doodly squat. He ain’t got no business makin’ hissef familiar wid nobody lak you. Ah said Ah wuz goin’ to tell
yuh so yuh could know.”
“Oh dat’s all right, Hezekiah. Thank yuh mighty much.”
The next night when she mounted her steps Tea Cake was there before her, sitting on the porch in the dark. He had a string of fresh-caught trout for a present.
“Ah’ll clean ’em, you fry ’em and let’s eat,” he said with the assurance of not being refused. They went out into the kitchen and fixed up the hot fish and corn muffins
and ate. Then Tea Cake went to the piano without so much as asking and began playing blues and singing, and throwing grins over his shoulder. The sounds lulled
Janie to soft slumber and she woke up with Tea Cake combing her hair and scratching the dandruff from her scalp. It made her more comfortable and drowsy.
“Tea Cake, where you git uh comb from tuh be combin’ mah hair wid?”
“Ah brought it wid me. Come prepared tuh lay mah hands on it tuhnight.”
“Why, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin’ mah hair do you? It’s mah comfortable, not yourn.”
“It’s mine too. Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels jus’ lak
underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face.”