Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered

236/260“Yassuh, Mr. Prescott.”“We are handling this case. Another word out of you, out of any ofyou niggers back there, and I’ll bind you over to the big court.”“Yassuh.”The white women made a little applause and Mr. Prescott glared atthe back of the house and stepped down. Then the strange white manthat was going to talk for her got up there. He whispered a little withthe clerk and then called on Janie to take the stand and talk. After afew little questions he told her to tell just how it happened and tospeak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help herGod.They all leaned over to listen while she talked. First thing she hadto remember was she was not at home. She was in the court-housefighting something and it wasn’t death. It was worse than that. It waslying thoughts. She had to go way back to let them know how she andTea Cake had been with one another so they could see she could nevershoot Tea Cake out of malice.She tried to make them see how terrible it was that things werefixed so that Tea Cake couldn’t come back to himself until he had gotrid of that mad dog that was in him and he couldn’t get rid of the dogand live. He had to die to get rid of the dog. But she hadn’t wanted tokill him. A man is up against a hard game when he must die to beat it.She made them see how she couldn’t ever want to be rid of him. Shedidn’t plead to anybody. She just sat there and told and when she wasthrough she hushed. She had been through for some time before thejudge and the lawyer and the rest seemed to know it. But she sat on inthat trial chair until the lawyer told her she could come down.