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

118/260people in there the more ridicule he poured over her body to point attentionaway from his own. So one day Steve Mixon wanted somechewing tobacco and Janie cut it wrong. She hated that tobacco knifeanyway. It worked very stiff. She fumbled with the thing and cut wayaway from the mark. Mixon didn’t mind. He held it up for a joke totease Janie a little.“Looka heah, Brother Mayor, whut yo’ wife done took and done.” Itwas cut comical, so everybody laughed at it. “Uh woman and uhknife—no kind of uh knife, don’t b’long tuhgether.” There was somemore good-natured laughter at the expense of women.Jody didn’t laugh. He hurried across from the post office side andtook the plug of tobacco away from Mixon and cut it again. Cut it exactlyon the mark and glared at Janie.“I god amighty! A woman stay round uh store till she get old asMethusalem and still can’t cut a little thing like a plug of tobacco!Don’t stand dere rollin’ yo’ pop eyes at me wid yo’ rump hangin’ nearlyto yo’ knees!”A big laugh started off in the store but people got to thinking andstopped. It was funny if you looked at it right quick, but it got pitiful ifyou thought about it awhile. It was like somebody snatched off part ofa woman’s clothes while she wasn’t looking and the streets werecrowded. Then too, Janie took the middle of the floor to talk right intoJody’s face, and that was something that hadn’t been done before.“Stop mixin’ up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. When you gitthrough tellin’ me how tuh cut uh plug uh tobacco, then you kin tellme whether mah behind is on straight or not.”“Wha—whut’s dat you say, Janie? You must be out yo’ head.”