Inside, The Tower was a long dark room with a counter at one end
and tables at the other and dancing space in the middle. They all sat down
at a board table next to the nickelodeon and Red Sam's wife, a tall
burnt-brown woman with hair and eyes lighter than her skin, came and
took their order. The children's mother put a dime in the machine and
played "The Tennessee Waltz," and the grandmother said that tune always
made her want to dance. She asked Bailey if he would like to dance but
he only glared at her. He didn't have a naturally sunny disposition like she
did and trips made him nervous. The grandmother's brown eyes were very
bright. She swayed her head from side to side and pretended she was
dancing in her chair. June Star said play something she could tap to so the children's mother put in another dime and played a fast number and June
Star stepped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine.
"Ain't she cute?" Red Sam's wife said, leaning over the counter.
"Would you like to come be my little girl?"
"No I certainly wouldn't," June Star said. "I wouldn't live in a
broken-down place like this for a million bucks!" and she ran back to the
table.
"Ain't she cute?" the woman repeated, stretching her mouth politely.
"Arn't you ashamed?" hissed the grandmother.
Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counter
and hurry up with these people's order. His khaki trousers reached just to
his hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of meal
swaying under his shirt. He came over and sat down at a table nearby and
let out a combination sigh and yodel. "You can't win," he said. "You can't
win," and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief.
"These days you don't know who to trust," he said. "Ain't that the truth?"
"People are certainly not nice like they used to be," said the
grandmother.
"Two fellers come in here last week," Red Sammy said, "driving a
Chrysler. It was a old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I let
them fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?"
"Because you're a good man!" the grandmother said at once.
"Yes'm, I suppose so," Red Sam said as if he were struck with this
answer.
His wife brought the orders, carrying the five plates all at once
without a tray, two in each hand and one balanced on her arm. "It isn't a
soul in this green world of God's that you can trust," she said. "And I
don't count nobody out of that, not nobody," she repeated, looking at Red
Sammy.
"Did you read about that criminal. The Misfit, that's escaped?" asked
the grandmother.
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attact this place right here,"
said the woman. "If he hears about it being here, I wouldn't be none
surprised to see him. If he hears it's two cent in the cash register, I
wouldn't be a tall surprised if he . . ."
"That'll do," Red Sam said. "Go bring these people their Co'-Colas,"
and the woman went off to get the rest of the order.
"A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Everything is getting
terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more."
He and the grandmother discussed better times. The old lady said that
in her opinion Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now.
She said the way Europe acted you would think we were made of money
and Red Sam said it was no use talking about it, she was exactly right.
The children ran outside into the white sunlight and looked at the monkey
in the lacy chinaberry tree. He was busy catching fleas on himself and
biting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy.
They drove off again into the hot afternoon. The grandmother took cat
naps and woke up every few minutes with her own snoring. Outside of
Toombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had
visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady. She said
the house had six white columns across the front and that there was an
avenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors on
either side in front where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll in
the garden. She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She
knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old
house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it
once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. "There
was a secret panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver was
hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found . . ."
"Hey!" John Wesley said. "Let's go see it! We'll find it! We'll poke all
the woodwork and find it! Who lives there? Where do you turn off at?
Hey Pop, can't we turn off there?"
"We never have seen a house with a secret panel!" June Star shrieked.
"Let's go to the house with the secret panel! Hey Pop, can't we go see the
house with the secret panel!"
"It's not far from here, I know," the grandmother said. "It wouldn't
take over twenty minutes."
Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as a
horseshoe. "No," he said.
The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the
house with the secret panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seat
and June Star hung over her mother's shoulder and whined desperately
into her ear that they never had any fun even on their vacation, that they
could never do what THEY wanted to do. The baby began to scream and
John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feel
the blows in his kidney.
"All right!" he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the side of the road. "Will you all shut up? Will you all just shut up for one second? If
you don't shut up, we won't go anywhere."
"It would be very educational for them," the grandmother murmured.
"All right," Bailey said, "but get this: this is the only time we're going
to stop for anything like this. This is the one and only time."
"The dirt road that you have to turn down is about a mile back," the
grandmother directed. "I marked it when we passed."
"A dirt road," Bailey groaned.
After they had turned around and were headed toward the dirt road,
the grandmother recalled other points about the house, the beautiful glass
over the front doorway and the candle-lamp in the hall. John Wesley said
that the secret panel was probably in the fireplace.
"You can't go inside this house," Bailey said. "You don't know who
lives there."
"While you all talk to the people in front, I'll run around behind and
get in a window," John Wesley suggested.
"We'll all stay in the car," his mother said.
They turned onto the dirt road and the car raced roughly along in a
swirl of pink dust. The grandmother recalled the times when there were
no paved roads and thirty miles was a day's journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous
embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the
blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in
a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.
"This place had better turn up in a minute," Bailey said, "or I'm going
to turn around."
The road looked as if no one had traveled on it in months.
"It's not much farther," the grandmother said and just as she said it, a
horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she
turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up,
upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the
newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty
Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's shoulder.
The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the
baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown
into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a
gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver's seat with the
cat -- gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose -- clinging
to his neck like a caterpillar.
As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they scrambled out of the car, shouting, "We've had an ACCIDENT!" The
grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured
so that Bailey's wrath would not come down on her all at once. The
horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she
had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee.
Bailey removed the cat from his neck with both hands and flung it out
the window against the side of a pine tree. Then he got out of the car and
started looking for the children's mother. She was sitting against the side
of the red gutted ditch, holding the screaming baby, but she only had a cut
down her face and a broken shoulder. "We've had an ACCIDENT!" the
children screamed in a frenzy of delight.
"But nobody's killed," June Star said with disappointment as the
grandmother limped out of the car, her hat still pinned to her head but the
broken front brim standing up at a jaunty angle and the violet spray
hanging off the side. They all sat down in the ditch, except the children,
to recover from the shock. They were all shaking.
"Maybe a car will come along," said the children's mother hoarsely
"I believe I have injured an organ," said the grandmother, pressing her
side, but no one answered her. Bailey's teeth were clattering. He had on a
yellow sport shirt with bright blue parrots designed in it and his face was as yellow as the shirt. The grandmother decided that she would not
mention that the house was in Tennessee.
The road was about ten feet above and they could see only the tops of
the trees on the other side of it. Behind the ditch they were sitting in there
were more woods, tall and dark and deep. In a few minutes they saw a c
ภายใน เดอะทาวเวอร์มีห้องมืดนานนับที่หนึ่งและตารางอื่น ๆ และเต้นรำพื้นที่ตรงกลาง พวกเขาทั้งหมดนั่งลงที่ตารางคณะขอให้โชคและภรรยาสามสีแดง ความสูงผู้หญิงสีน้ำตาลไหม้กับผมและเบากว่าผิว ตามา และเอาใบสั่งของพวกเขา แม่เด็กใส่ขนาดตัวเครื่อง และเล่น "วอลซ์เทนเนสซี" และยายที่ว่า ทำนองเพลงนั้นเสมอทำเธอต้องเต้น เธอถาม Bailey ถ้า เขาต้องการเต้นรำ แต่เขา glared ที่เธอ ไม่ได้มีการจัดการแสงแดดตามธรรมชาติเช่นเธอไม่ได้ และเดินทางทำให้เขาประสาท ตาสีน้ำตาลของยายถูกมากสดใส เธอ swayed ศีรษะของเธอจากทางด้านข้าง และ pretended เธอเต้นรำในเก้าอี้ของเธอ ดาวเดือนมิถุนายนกล่าวว่า เล่นสิ่งที่เธอไม่สามารถเคาะเพื่อให้แม่ของเด็กใส่ในขนาดอื่น และเล่นเลขอย่างรวดเร็วและมิถุนายนดาวก้าวออกสู่ฟลอร์เต้นรำ และไม่เคาะประจำของเธอ "Ain ' t เธอน่ารักหรือไม่" แดงสามภรรยา พิงผ่านเคาน์เตอร์"คุณต้องมาเป็นสาวของฉัน" ดาวเดือนมิถุนายนกล่าวว่า "ไม่ฉันแน่นอนไม่ "ฉันจะไม่อยู่ในการตใบวางสำหรับล้าน bucks " และเธอวิ่งกลับไปตาราง "Ain ' t เธอน่ารัก" ผู้หญิงซ้ำ ยืดปากเธอสุภาพ " Arn't คุณละอาย? " hissed เอง สามสีแดงมา และบอกภรรยาให้เลิกเดินเล่นบนตัวนับและรีบขึ้นกับลำดับของคนเหล่านี้ กางเกงของเขา khaki ถึงเพียงhis hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of mealswaying under his shirt. He came over and sat down at a table nearby andlet out a combination sigh and yodel. "You can't win," he said. "You can'twin," and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief."These days you don't know who to trust," he said. "Ain't that the truth?" "People are certainly not nice like they used to be," said thegrandmother. "Two fellers come in here last week," Red Sammy said, "driving aChrysler. It was a old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I letthem fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?" "Because you're a good man!" the grandmother said at once. "Yes'm, I suppose so," Red Sam said as if he were struck with thisanswer. His wife brought the orders, carrying the five plates all at oncewithout a tray, two in each hand and one balanced on her arm. "It isn't asoul in this green world of God's that you can trust," she said. "And Idon't count nobody out of that, not nobody," she repeated, looking at RedSammy. "Did you read about that criminal. The Misfit, that's escaped?" askedthe grandmother. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attact this place right here,"said the woman. "If he hears about it being here, I wouldn't be nonesurprised to see him. If he hears it's two cent in the cash register, Iwouldn't be a tall surprised if he . . ." "That'll do," Red Sam said. "Go bring these people their Co'-Colas,"and the woman went off to get the rest of the order. "A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Everything is gettingterrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more." He and the grandmother discussed better times. The old lady said thatin her opinion Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now.She said the way Europe acted you would think we were made of moneyand Red Sam said it was no use talking about it, she was exactly right.The children ran outside into the white sunlight and looked at the monkeyin the lacy chinaberry tree. He was busy catching fleas on himself andbiting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy. They drove off again into the hot afternoon. The grandmother took catnaps and woke up every few minutes with her own snoring. Outside ofToombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she hadvisited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady. She saidthe house had six white columns across the front and that there was anavenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors oneither side in front where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll inthe garden. She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. Sheknew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an oldhouse, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see itonce again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. "Therewas a secret panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver washidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found . . ." "Hey!" John Wesley said. "Let's go see it! We'll find it! We'll poke allthe woodwork and find it! Who lives there? Where do you turn off at?Hey Pop, can't we turn off there?" "We never have seen a house with a secret panel!" June Star shrieked."Let's go to the house with the secret panel! Hey Pop, can't we go see thehouse with the secret panel!" "It's not far from here, I know," the grandmother said. "It wouldn'ttake over twenty minutes." Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as ahorseshoe. "No," he said. The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see thehouse with the secret panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seatand June Star hung over her mother's shoulder and whined desperatelyinto her ear that they never had any fun even on their vacation, that theycould never do what THEY wanted to do. The baby began to scream andJohn Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feelthe blows in his kidney. "All right!" he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the side of the road. "Will you all shut up? Will you all just shut up for one second? Ifyou don't shut up, we won't go anywhere."
"It would be very educational for them," the grandmother murmured.
"All right," Bailey said, "but get this: this is the only time we're going
to stop for anything like this. This is the one and only time."
"The dirt road that you have to turn down is about a mile back," the
grandmother directed. "I marked it when we passed."
"A dirt road," Bailey groaned.
After they had turned around and were headed toward the dirt road,
the grandmother recalled other points about the house, the beautiful glass
over the front doorway and the candle-lamp in the hall. John Wesley said
that the secret panel was probably in the fireplace.
"You can't go inside this house," Bailey said. "You don't know who
lives there."
"While you all talk to the people in front, I'll run around behind and
get in a window," John Wesley suggested.
"We'll all stay in the car," his mother said.
They turned onto the dirt road and the car raced roughly along in a
swirl of pink dust. The grandmother recalled the times when there were
no paved roads and thirty miles was a day's journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous
embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the
blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in
a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.
"This place had better turn up in a minute," Bailey said, "or I'm going
to turn around."
The road looked as if no one had traveled on it in months.
"It's not much farther," the grandmother said and just as she said it, a
horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she
turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up,
upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the
newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty
Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's shoulder.
The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the
baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown
into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a
gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver's seat with the
cat -- gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose -- clinging
to his neck like a caterpillar.
As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they scrambled out of the car, shouting, "We've had an ACCIDENT!" The
grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured
so that Bailey's wrath would not come down on her all at once. The
horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she
had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee.
Bailey removed the cat from his neck with both hands and flung it out
the window against the side of a pine tree. Then he got out of the car and
started looking for the children's mother. She was sitting against the side
of the red gutted ditch, holding the screaming baby, but she only had a cut
down her face and a broken shoulder. "We've had an ACCIDENT!" the
children screamed in a frenzy of delight.
"But nobody's killed," June Star said with disappointment as the
grandmother limped out of the car, her hat still pinned to her head but the
broken front brim standing up at a jaunty angle and the violet spray
hanging off the side. They all sat down in the ditch, except the children,
to recover from the shock. They were all shaking.
"Maybe a car will come along," said the children's mother hoarsely
"I believe I have injured an organ," said the grandmother, pressing her
side, but no one answered her. Bailey's teeth were clattering. He had on a
yellow sport shirt with bright blue parrots designed in it and his face was as yellow as the shirt. The grandmother decided that she would not
mention that the house was in Tennessee.
The road was about ten feet above and they could see only the tops of
the trees on the other side of it. Behind the ditch they were sitting in there
were more woods, tall and dark and deep. In a few minutes they saw a c
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