Название: The Twelve-Mile Straight
Автор: Eleanor Henderson
Издательство: HarperCollins
isbn: 9780008158712
isbn:
His daddy whipped him good, of course. It was darker than pitch when Juke and Lefty finally returned to the farm, and his daddy came out of the house and hauled Juke down from the mule. Juke tried to explain, but his daddy ripped a branch from the chinaberry tree and right there under it by the light of his lantern switched his behind. Juke’s father was angry about the stolen seed, but he was angrier that Juke had gone to the mill. “That ain’t the place for you,” he said, panting, after Juke was good and whipped. “Ain’t this house enough?” He couldn’t feel his behind but he could feel the wet warmth on his legs and hoped he hadn’t messed himself. He was relieved to see it was blood.
Come August, Juke took Lefty to the mill once more. His sore behind had healed; enough time had passed that he was willing to risk another one. This time he didn’t see String, who was out riding freight cars with his cousins. But he took what he’d come for, a cart full of corn, sickled down from the garden in broad daylight, not near as much corn grown from a sack of seed, but it would have to do. Juke Jesup had a long memory, long as the shadows laid across the Twelve-Mile Straight on the ride home. He closed his eyes, feeling the sun press against his lids, remembering the tremor of the train as it made its way from Macon to Florence, the stolen butterscotch on his tongue, the taste of the city’s sickly sweetness.
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