Thank You, Ma'am
by Langston Hughes
1 She was a large woman
with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a
2 long strap, and she
carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and
3 she was walking alone,
when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap
4 broke with the single
tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boys weight and the weight of the
5 purse combined caused
him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had
6 hoped, the boy fell on
his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. The large woman simply
7 turned around and
kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down,
8 picked the boy up by
his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.
9 After
that the woman said, "Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here."
She still held him. But
10 she
bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said,
"Now ain’t
11 you
ashamed of yourself?"
12 Firmly
gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, "Yes’m."
13 The
woman said, "What did you want to do it for?"
14 The
boy said, "I didn’t aim to."
15 She
said, "You a lie!"
16 By
that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood
watching.
17 "If
I turn you loose, will you run?" asked the woman.
18 "Yes’m,"
said the boy.
19 "Then
I won’t turn you loose," said the woman. She did not release him.
20 "I’m
very sorry, lady, I’m sorry," whispered the boy.
21 "Um-hum!
And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you
got
22 nobody
home to tell you to wash your face?"
23 "Nom,"
said the boy.
24 "Then
it will get washed this evening," said the large woman starting up the
street, dragging the
25 frightened
boy behind her.
26 He
looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis
shoes and blue jeans.
27 The
woman said, "You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong.
Least I can do
28 right
now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?"
29 "Nom,"
said the being dragged boy. "I just want you to turn me loose."
30 "Was
I bothering you when I turned that corner?" asked the woman.
31 "Nom."
32 "But
you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "If you think
that that contact is not
33 going
to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you,
sir, you are
34 going
to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."
35 Sweat popped out on
the boys face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him
36 around in front of
her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street.
37 When she got to her
door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette
38 furnished room at the
rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy
39 could hear other
roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open,
40 too, so he knew he and
the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the
41 middle of her room.
42 She
said, "What is your name?"
43 "Roger,"
answered the boy.
44 "Then,
Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face," said the woman, whereupon
she turned
45 him
loose--at last. Roger looked at the door, looked at the woman, looked at the
door, and went to
46 the
sink.
47 Let
the water run until it gets warm," she said. "Heres a clean towel."
48 "You
gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.
49 "Not
with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman. "Here
I am trying to get home
50 to
cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe, you aint been to
your supper
51 either,
late as it be. Have you?"
52 "There’s
nobody home at my house," said the boy.
53 "Then
we’ll eat," said the woman, "I believe you’re hungry or been hungry
to try to snatch my
54 pocketbook."
55 "I
wanted a pair of blue suede shoes," said the boy.
56 "Well,
you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes," said
Mrs. Luella Bates 57 Washington Jones.
"You could of asked me."
58 "Mam?"
59 The water dripping
from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long
60 pause. After he had
dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned
61 around, wondering what
next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He
62 could run, run, run,
run, run!
63 The
woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, "I were young
once and I wanted
64things I could not get."
65 There
was another long pause. The boys mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing
he
66 frowned.
67 The
woman said, "Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You
thought I was
68 going
to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasnt going to say
that." Pause.
69 Silence.
"I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son neither tell
God, if he didn’t
70 already
know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb
through
71 your
hair so you will look presentable."
72 In
another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs.
Jones got up
73 and
went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going
to run now,
74 nor
did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy
took care to sit
75 on
the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the
corner other eye,
76 if
she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want
to be mistrusted
77 now.
78 "Do
you need somebody to go to the store," asked the boy, "maybe to get
some milk or
79 something?"
80 "Don’t
believe I do," said the woman, "unless you just want sweet milk
yourself. I was going to
81 make
cocoa out of this canned milk I got here."
82 "That
will be fine," said the boy.
83 She
heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set
the table.
84 The
woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or
anything else that
84 would
embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel
beauty-shop that
86 stayed
open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out,
blondes,
87 red-heads,
and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.
88 "Eat
some more, son," she said.
89 When
they were finished eating she got up and said, "Now, here, take this ten
dollars and buy
90 yourself
some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto
my
91 pocketbook
nor nobody else’s because shoes come be devilish like that will burn your feet.
I got
92 to
get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on
in."
93 She
led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Goodnight!"
Behave yourself, boy!" she
94 said,
looking out into the street.
95 The
boy wanted to say something else other that "Thank you, mam" to Mrs.
Luella Bates
96 Washington
Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back
at the
97 large
woman in the door. He barely managed to say "Thank you" before she
shut the door. And
98 he
never saw her again.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar