Judd
Mortimer Lewis. May 11,1939 711
JUBILEE'S PARDNER.
Thursday, and
I woke up thinking about the way Angela screamed when I pushed the Lost Bag of
Tripe off the bridge, and I let Jubilee down by his rope and pushed myself into
my short britches and went downstairs and got
the
pail and went out to do my stuff with the cows and the bunch came, and I
thought the Lost Bag of Tripe would still be mad at me. but he only grinned. I think he was proud for Angela to see how good
he could swim, but he said -the water was still too coolish for swimming, and
Banty told him that was because he was a sissie and he went to slap Banty's
ears down but Banty picked up an old whiffletree and he changed his mind, and I
went in to strain the milk leaving them still squabbling, and Youniss and
Feeble and Maggie came while I was feeding my face, and we all followed my
grandfather out to the greenhouse and Feeble asted him didn't the elephant kick
and wiggle while he was carrying it under his arm, and my grandfather said it couldn't
wiggle because he had shot it. He said it was in a wallow taking a mud bacth
and when it seen him it started to come out and he shot it before he knowed
what it was, and when he washed it and seen what it was he was sorry, and then
he hollered, “Doggone you kids get out of here!” and we skun out and went to
Angela's to leave Jubilee while we went to school, and when we got out we went
back to get him and Angela's mother gave us some cookies and Angela I started out with us and when we got where her
mother couldn't hear her she said she wanted to go out to the railroad bridge
again, so we did and all the wayout I was wondering if I was going to push her
in the river. I didn't want to do it but I was thinking about it so much that I
felt sure I was going to. The watchman knowed she was a new one in the bunch
and asted her whose girl she was and she told him she was my girl, so it was
Youniss that pushed her in the river, and the watchman hollered at Youniss and
was all ready to jump in after Angela when she came up and started to swim to
the shore, and she got plastered with mud climbing up the bank, and she thought
it was me that had pushed her in. And she said,
“I was never so scairt in my life. Push me in again, Thomas Aristides,"
and I said, “You poor wart, you don't have to be pushed in, you can
jump,” and the next I knowed she went in head first. Then we made a fire on the
bank with some wood the watchman gave us and she got all dried out by the time
it was time to go home, and when we got there we was kinda scairt of her mother
when, Angela said, “Mamma, I got pushed in the river.” Her mother said, “How
wonderful. I hope you was a good sport?” and we all told her that she was, and
her mother hugged her and said she was glad she had found us to play with ,so I
told her mother she was a good sport too. I hope Annabelle Lee will be a good
sport when she gets bigger. I am going to learn her how to fight like a boy.