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The thought of leaving reminded him of his reason for being there. He had to have some rations before suppertime that night, no matter how short they were.

“Mr. Arch, I …”

Arch stared at him for a moment, appearing as if he had turned to listen to some strange sound unheard of before that moment.

Lonnie bit his lips, wondering if Arch was going to say anything about how lean and hungry he looked. But Arch was thinking about something else. He slapped his hand on his leg and laughed out loud.

“I sometimes wish niggers had tails,” Arch said, coiling Nancy’s tail into a ball and putting it into his pocket.”I’d a heap rather cut off nigger tails than dog tails. There’d be more to cut, for one thing.”

Dudley Smith and somebody else behind them laughed for a brief moment. The laughter died out almost as suddenly as it had risen.

The Negroes who had heard Arch shuffled their feet in the dust and moved backwards. It was only a few minutes until not one was left at the filling station. They went up the road behind the red wooden building until they were out of sight.

Arch got up and stretched. The sun was getting low, and it was no longer comfortable in the October air.”Well, I reckon I’ll be getting on home to get me some supper,” he said.

He walked slowly to the middle of the road and stopped to look at Nancy retreating along the ditch.

“Nobody going my way?” he asked.”What’s wrong with you, Lonnie? Going home to supper, aint you?”

“Mr. Arch, I …”

Lonnie found himself jumping to his feet. His first thought was to ask for the sowbelly and molasses, and maybe some corn meal; but when he opened his mouth, the words refused to come out. He took several steps forward and shook his head. He did not know what Arch might say or do if he said “no.”

“Hatty’ll be looking for you,” Arch said, turning his back and walking off.

He reached into his hip pocket and took out Nancy’s tail. He began twirling it as he walked down the road towards the big house in the distance.

Dudley Smith went inside the filling station, and the others walked away.

After Arch had gone several hundred yards, Lonnie sat down heavily on the box beside the gas pump from which he had got up when Arch spoke to him. He sat down heavily, his shoulders drooping, his arms falling between his outspread legs.

Lonnie did not know how long his eyes had been closed, but when he opened them, he saw Nancy lying between his feet, licking the docked tail. While he watched her, he felt the sharp point of his chin cutting into his chest again. Presently the door behind him was slammed shut, and a minute later he could hear Dudley Smith walking away from the filling station on his way home.

Lonnie had been sleeping fitfully for several hours when he suddenly found himself wide awake. Hatty shook him again. He raised himself on his elbow and tried to see into the darkness of the room. Without knowing what time it was, he was able to determine that it was still nearly two hours until sunrise.

“Lonnie,” Hatty said again, trembling in the cold night air, “Lonnie, your pa aint in the house.”

Lonnie sat upright in bed.

“How do you know he aint?” he said.

“I’ve been lying here wide awake ever since I got in bed, and I heard him when he went out. He’s been gone all that time.”

“Maybe he just stepped out for a while,” Lonnie said, turning and trying to see through the bedroom window.

“I know what I’m saying, Lonnie,” Hatty insisted.”Your pa’s been gone a heap too long.”

Both of them sat without a sound for several minutes while they listened for Mark Newsome.

Lonnie got up and lit a lamp. He shivered while he was putting on his shirt, overalls, and shoes. He tied his shoelaces in hard knots because he couldn’t see in the faint light. Outside the window it was almost pitch-dark, and Lonnie could feel the damp October air blowing against his face.

“I’ll go help look,” Hatty said, throwing the covers off and starting to get up.