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By Root 3577 0

into the cold wind, looking for an empty flat. At any moment he expected to hear his name shouted; expected to feel his arms being grabbed. He walked five blocks before he saw a two-story flat building with a “For Rent” sign in a window. Smoke bulged out of chimneys and he knew that it was warm inside. He went to the front door and read the little vacancy notice pasted on the glass and saw that the flat was a rear one. He went down the alley to the rear steps and mounted to the second floor. He tried a window and it slid up easily. He was in luck. He hoisted himself through and dropped into a warm room, a kitchen. He was suddenly tense, listening. He heard voices; they seemed to be coming from the room in front of him. Had he made a mistake? No. The kitchen was not furnished; no one, it seemed, lived in here. He tiptoed to the next room and found it empty; but he heard the voices even more clearly now. He saw still another room leading farther; he tiptoed and looked. That room, too, was empty, but the sound of the voices was coming so loud that he could make out the words. An argument was going on in the front flat. He stood with the loaf of bread in his hands, his legs wide apart, listening.

“Jack, yuh mean t’ stan’ there ’n’ say yuh’d give tha’ nigger up t’ the white folks?”

“Damn right Ah would!”

“But, Jack, s’pose he ain’ guilty?”

“Whut in hell he run off fer then?”

“Mabbe he thought they wuz gonna blame the murder on him!”

“Lissen, Jim. Ef he wuzn’t guilty, then he oughta stayed ’n’ faced it. Ef Ah knowed where tha’ nigger wuz Ah’d turn ’im up ’n’ git these white folks off me.”

“But, Jack, ever’ nigger looks guilty t’ white folks when somebody’s done a crime.”

“Yeah; tha’s ’cause so many of us ack like Bigger Thomas; tha’s all. When yuh ack like Bigger Thomas yuh stir up trouble.”

“But, Jack, who’s stirring up trouble now? The papers say they beatin’ us up all over the city. They don’t care whut black man they git. We’s all dogs in they sight! Yuh gotta stan’ up ’n’ fight these folks.”

“’N’ git killed? Hell, naw! Ah gotta family. Ah gotta wife ’n’ baby. Ah ain’t startin’ no fool fight. Yuh can’t git no justice pertectin’ men who kill….”

“We’s all murderers t’ them, Ah tell yuh!”

“Lissen, Jim. Ah’m a hard-workin’ man. Ah fixes the streets wid a pick ’n’ shovel ever’ day, when Ah git a chance. But the boss tol’ me he didn’t wan’ me in them streets wid this mob feelin’ among the white folks…. He says Ah’ll git killed. So he lays me off. Yuh see, tha’ Goddamn nigger Bigger Thomas made me lose mah job…. He made the white folks think we’s all jus’ like him!”

“But, Jack, Ah tell yuh they think it awready. Yuh’s a good man, but tha’ ain’ gonna keep ’em from comin’ t’ yo’ home, is it? Hell, naw! We’s all black ’n’ we jus’ as waal ack black, don’ yuh see?”

“Aw, Jim, it’s awright t’ git mad, but yuh gotta look at things straight. Tha’ guy made me lose mah job. Tha’ ain’ fair! How is Ah gonna eat? Ef Ah knowed where the black sonofabitch wuz Ah’d call the cops ’n’ let ’em come ’n’ git ’im!”

“Waal, Ah wouldn’t. Ah’d die firs’!”

“Man, yuh crazy! Don’ yuh wan’ a home ’n’ wife ’n’ chillun? Whut’s fightin’ gonna git yuh? There’s mo’ of them than us. They could kill us all. Yuh gotta learn t’ live ’n’ git erlong wid people.”

“When folks hate me, Ah don’ wanna git erlong.”

“But we gotta eat! We gotta live!”

“Ah don’ care! Ah’d die firs’!”

“Aw, hell! Yuh crazy!”

“Ah don’ care whut yuh say. Ah’d die ’fo’ Ah’d let ’em scare me inter tellin’ on tha’ man. Ah tell yuh, Ah’d die firs’!”

He tiptoed back into the kitchen and took out his gun. He would stay here and if his own people bothered him he would use it. He turned on the water faucet and put his mouth under the stream and the water exploded in his stomach. He sank to his knees and rolled in agony. Soon the pain ceased and he drank again. Then, slowly, so that the paper would not rustle, he unwrapped the loaf of bread and chewed a piece. It tasted good, like cake, with a sweetish and smooth flavor he had never thought bread could have. As he ate his hunger returned