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

108/260“Daisy, don’t let Jim fool you wid his talk. He don’t aim tuh donothin’ fuh yuh. Uh lil ole steamship! Daisy, Ah’ll take uh job cleanin’out de Atlantic Ocean fuh you any time you say you so desire.” Therewas a great laugh and then they hushed to listen.“Daisy,” Jim began, “you know mah heart and all de ranges uhmah mind. And you know if Ah wuz ridin’ up in uh earoplane way upin de sky and Ah looked down and seen you walkin’ and knowed you’dhave tuh walk ten miles tuh git home, Ah’d step backward offa datearoplane just to walk home wid you.”There was one of those big blow-out laughs and Janie was wallowingin it. Then Jody ruined it all for her.Mrs. Bogle came walking down the street towards the porch. Mrs.Bogle who was many times a grandmother, but had a blushing air ofcoquetry about her that cloaked her sunken cheeks. You saw a flutteringfan before her face and magnolia blooms and sleepy lakes underthe moonlight when she walked. There was no obvious reason for it, itwas just so. Her first husband had been a coachman but “studied jury”to win her. He had finally become a preacher to hold her till his death.Her second husband worked in Fohnes orange grove—but tried topreach when he caught her eye. He never got any further than a classleader, but that was something to offer her. It proved his love andpride. She was a wind on the ocean. She moved men, but the helm determinedthe port. Now, this night she mounted the steps and the mennoticed her until she passed inside the door.“I god, Janie,” Starks said impatiently, “why don’t you go on andsee whut Mrs. Bogle want? Whut you waitin’ on?”Janie wanted to hear the rest of the play-acting and how it ended,but she got up sullenly and went inside. She came back to the porch