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

59/260“Naw, Ah needs two mules dis yeah. Taters is goin’ tuh be taters inde fall. Bringin’ big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis manAh’m talkin’ ’bout is got uh mule all gentled up so even uh woman kinhandle ’im.”Logan held his wad of tobacco real still in his jaw like a thermometerof his feelings while he studied Janie’s face and waited for her tosay something.“So Ah thought Ah mout as well go see.” He tagged on and swallowedto kill time but Janie said nothing except, “Ah’ll cut de p’tatersfuh yuh. When yuh comin’ back?”“Don’t know exactly. Round dust dark Ah reckon. It’s uh sorta longtrip—specially if Ah hafter lead one on de way back.”When Janie had finished indoors she sat down in the barn with thepotatoes. But springtime reached her in there so she moved everythingto a place in the yard where she could see the road. The noon sunfiltered through the leaves of the fine oak tree where she sat and madelacy patterns on the ground. She had been there a long time when sheheard whistling coming down the road.It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an anglethat didn’t belong in these parts. His coat was over his arm, but hedidn’t need it to represent his clothes. The shirt with the silk sleeveholderswas dazzling enough for the world. He whistled, mopped hisface and walked like he knew where he was going. He was a sealbrowncolor but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that toJanie. Where would such a man be coming from and where was he going?He didn’t look her way nor no other way except straight ahead, soJanie ran to the pump and jerked the handle hard while she pumped.It made a loud noise and also made her heavy hair fall down. So he