A Thousand Never Evers Read Online Free Page B

kitchen where Elmira’s crouching behind the refrigerator. I turn myself into a shadow under the drying rack. A shadow’s shadow. From my hiding place, I peer out at Uncle Bump. He’s in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, still as a boulder.
    “Hand ’em over!” the sheriff roars at Uncle Bump.
    Elmira shrieks, picks up her oven, and rushes outside. I want to bolt into the yard behind her. But I can’t leave Uncle Bump. I can’t leave him here alone.
    “Please!” I beg him.
    And wouldn’t you know it, without a moment’s hesitation, Uncle Bump unhooks the keys from his belt loop. But he doesn’t hand them to the sheriff. He gives them to the mayor. Then he pulls me out from under the drying rack, lifts my television set, and together we rush out of the chaos. Out of the mess.
    While we scramble across the big house yard, my heart aches. While we trudge down Magnolia Row, my tears sting. And while we cross the railroad, I imagine the tracks turn upright like jailhouse bars to lock us on the Negro side of town.

    Later, after we set down our gifts and wipe away our tears, me, Elmira, and Uncle Bump head over to First Baptist Church. We slip into the front-row pew while Reverend Walker stands at the pulpit, asking all kinds of questions.
    “Who has the will now?”
    “The lawyer in Jackson,” Uncle Bump says.
    “What’s the lawyer’s name?”
    The three of us rack our brains up, down, and sideways, but not one of us can remember.
    Then the reverend shrugs. “I reckon it doesn’t much matter,” he says. “Even if we could track him down, a white city lawyer won’t care what we’ve got to say.”
    When I get back home, I wait and wait for Elias. I’ve got to tell him all that’s going on. He’ll find a way to make the sheriff stop bullying us. He’ll hatch a plan to get the mayor to share the garden.
    But now that both Uncle Bump and me have lost our jobs, Elias is working extra hours to try to help us get by. And tonight, by the time he comes through the door, the sky’s dark as eggplant.
    He mutters hello to Mama and me. Then he grabs a hunk of hoop cheese and stumbles into the bedroom. I follow him there, while Mama lights the stove to heat up his supper.
    Elias lies down on his bed.
    I know soon as I tell him what happened today at the big house, he’ll get real quiet. Then he’ll get real mad. Then he’ll turn into a preacher before my very eyes and start yammering on about things like mercy and justice.
    “Get this!” I say. I sit on the edge of my bed while, step by step, I describe just what happened today.
    My brother doesn’t say anything at all.
    “Ain’t you mad?” I ask.
    “I am,” he says. But Elias sounds more tired than anything.
    So I wait a while longer but he doesn’t start preaching. Instead, he lets out a snore that scares me half to death. My poor brother! I walk over to his bed, pull his sneakers off his feet, and set them on the floor. Then I go back to the kitchen and tell Mama to put away his supper and save it for tomorrow.

CHAPTER 4

    July 1, 1963, Morning
     
    Ever since we got chased out the big house, I’ve been jumping rope triple time, Uncle Bump’s been holed up in his shed playing the most dreary tunes on his harmonica, Elmira’s been burning sage to clear out our bad luck, and the reverend’s been thinking how we can get our share of the garden back. Needless to say, with everyone so glum, it sure came as a relief to have something to laugh about this morning.
    Now get this: Elias and me were sound asleep when we heard someone shouting bloody murder. We both scrambled bleary-eyed to look out our bedroom window. And there she was, Delilah’s mama, our next-door neighbor, storming across the yard, a dripping piece of plastic wrap in her hand. “Delilah Montgomery!” she screamed. “Lord help you!” Elias and me both split a rib.
    A few days back, Delilah told me she was going to teach her mother to get a sense of humor. “You