The Little Foxes Page #8

- You certainly should.

- Under any name, they're still showing.

If you'd lift me down instead of

sitting there, you wouldn't see them.

Hello.

You might at least help me

pick some up.

Somebody must be gonna make

some mighty fine jelly.

That's right, Simon.

I'll bet Simon was sorry to see

your Uncle Oscar come back from Chicago.

Oscar hasn't been over to our house

since he got back.

He or Uncle Ben.

Not since that night.

I don't like to think about it.

I try not to all the time.

- You never like to think about things.

- There you go again.

Always want somebody else

to do your thinking for you.

I'm tired of having you say that!

It just isn't true.

What do you want me to do?

I think I want you

to go away from here.

"Go away"?

Are you crazy?

What would I do?

Where would I go?

I think you're just trying

not to see me anymore.

- You do?

- Yes, I do.

But you don't have to try,

whether I'm here or not.

I'll tell you what you could do

if you went away.

If you can find someplace where

they pay wages for talking silly...

you could make a fortune.

- Addie, a party! What for?

- Nothing.

I had the sweet butter,

so I made the cakes.

Isn't this nice?

A party just for us.

- Is Mama...

- No, she ain't got back yet.

- Sit down, David.

- Not by me.

I'm not speaking to him.

He's too dull. He's always preaching.

- It doesn't affect your appetite.

- It doesn't affect me in any way.

- I just ignore him.

- Don't be bad friends.

It's so nice here with just us.

- There, David, that's for you.

- Thank you.

- Elderberry's good for the stomach.

- That's what Mama used to say.

Mama used to give it to me

when I was a little girl...

for hiccups.

I don't think people

get hiccups anymore.

- Isn't that funny?

- And nobody gets growing pains no more.

Just like there was some style

in what you got.

One year an ailment's stylish,

and the next year it ain't.

Miss Birdie, that elderberry wine

is gonna give you a headache spell.

I don't think so.

I remember now about the hiccups.

It was my first big party,

at Lionnet.

There I was with hiccups,

and Mama laughing.

Mama always laughed.

A big party, a lovely dress

from Mr. Worth in Paris, France...

and hiccups.

You know, that was the first day

I saw Oscar Hubbard.

We saw him from our window.

He passed and lifted his hat.

And my brother, to tease Mama,

said Mama didn't like the Hubbards...

and wouldn't invite them to the party

because they kept a store.

Then I saw Mama angry

for the first time in my life.

She said that wasn't the reason.

She said she just didn't like people

who made their money...

charging awful interest

to poor, ignorant colored folks...

and cheating them

on what they bought.

Mama was very angry.

Then suddenly

she laughed and said...

"Look, I've frightened Birdie

out of her hiccups. "

And so she had.

They were all gone.

Yes, they got mighty well-off

cheating the poor.

There's people that eats up the whole

Earth and all the people on it...

like in the Bible

with the locust.

Then there's people that

stand around and watch them do it.

Sometimes I think it ain't right

to just stand and watch.

There's something else

in the Bible, Addie.

"Take us the foxes...

the little foxes

that spoil the vines...

for our vines

have tender grapes. "

If we could only go back

to Lionnet.

Everybody would be better there.

They'd be good and kind.

I like people to be kind.

Don't you like people to be kind?

- Yes, I do.

- Yes.

That was the first day

I ever saw Oscar.

Who would have thought...

Do you want to know something?

I don't like Leo.

My very own son,

and I don't like him.

Isn't that funny?

I guess I even like Oscar

more than I like Leo.

Why did you marry Uncle Oscar?

That's no question

for you to ask.

Why not? It's time

she was asking questions.

She's heard enough around here

to ask anything.

- Why did you, Aunt Birdie?

- I don't know.

I thought I liked him,

and he was so kind to me then.

I thought it was because

he liked me too.

But that wasn't the reason.

Ask why he married me.

I can tell you that!

- He's told me often enough.

- Miss Birdie, don't.

My family was good, but the cotton

on Lionnet's fields was better.

Ben Hubbard wanted the cotton,

and Oscar Hubbard married it for him.

He was kind to me then.

He used to smile at me.

He hasn't smiled at me since.

Everybody knew that's

what he married me for.

Everybody but me.

Stupid, stupid me.

You get talking like this,

and you'll surely get a headache.

I've never had a headache

in my life!

You know it as well as I do.

I've never had a headache, Zan.

That's a lie they tell for me.

I drink.

All by myself in my own room,

I drink.

And when they want to hide it,

they say Birdie's got a headache again.

- Aunt Birdie, don't.

- You won't like me anymore.

- I love you. I'll always love you.

- Don't! Don't love me!

Because in 20 years,

you'll just be like me.

They'll do all

the same things to you...

and you'll trail after them

just like me...

hoping they won't be

so mean to you that day...

or say something

to make you feel so bad.

Only you'll be worse off...

because you won't have

my mama to remember.

Aunt Birdie, don't.

Come on now. Let's go home,

just you and me.

Poor Miss Birdie.

- There you are, sir.

- Thank you.

I sure is glad

to see you back again, sir.

- Thank you, Harold.

- Glad to see you back with us again.

- Thank you. How's the family?

- Hello, Mr. Horace.

- How are you feeling?

- Fine.

Hello, Mr. Horace.

- How are you, Mr. Giddens?

- Sam.

- Good to see you, sir.

- Thank you.

- Hello there, Leo.

- Hello, Uncle Horace.

- Glad to see you back again, sir.

- Thank you.

- Good to see you.

- Thank you.

Goodness! "Good to see you.

Good to see you. "

Don't nobody never think up

no new words?

- All right. Come along, son.

- Yes, sir.

First time I seen anybody who wasn't

anxious to grab my silver dollars.

Sam, I want to take a look

at my will.

All right, sir.

Come on, son,

count my money.

You're mighty careless

with other people's money.

- Count it. I'm in a hurry.

- Check this...

Check this for me, Joe.

I've got to see my uncle a minute.

All right.

What's the matter with him?

Yes, what is it?

I want to see you a minute.

Yes? What about?

- It's about Bert Pembrook.

- Yes?

He's one of the standing renters

over at...

I know who Bert Pembrook is.

What about him?

It's his note, sir.

I'm worried about it, Uncle Horace.

What's wrong with the note?

Do you think the crop lien

is sufficient collateral?

All right, Sam,

you can put it back.

I haven't been in the bank

for months.

I don't know anything

about Bert Pembrook's note.

- What's wrong with it?

- Leo seems disturbed about it.

Oh, it's nothing.

I just thought...

He doesn't think the crop lien

is sufficient collateral.

We haven't got a crop lien,

we've got a chattel mortgage.

Bert's made all the payments so far.

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