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Show RIVER Thurmond demurred too. "You know what, Thurmond?" said Ralph. "They've got a table full of cakes and cookies and candy and garbage guaranteed to rot the teeth right out of your head, not to mention punch. If d probably be better if you sat out here and preserved your dental health." So we went into a house filled with nice old white ladies, dressed in pink and white and light blue for Sunday. They looked like aging porcelain dolls. A couple of them got up and left immediately. Thurmond set about looking for the goods. The preacher was a young man with a very pretty young wife: they were both open and friendly, though the young lady looked as if she was in some sort of mild but constant pain. The reverend was genuinely concerned about the violence in Cairo. I felt sorry for him. Teaching Christianity to Caironians would be like trying to convert cannibals-hungry cannibals-to vegetarianism. The brothers finished the sack of the refreshment table looking remarkably refreshed. What they obviously needed was a good dose of sugar to renew their flagging energies. We eased our way out of the house and drove the brothers back home. Ralph gave me a lift back to the point. "This sure is an American town," I said. "How do you mean?" asked Ralph. "When I started traveling around I had the notion that I was 'looking for America.' I'd lived in California for nine years and I wanted to see the real country, the real heartland-and this is it, Cairo." "How do you mean?" asked Ralph again. "Well, look at the landscape-burger palaces and gas stations and supermarkets and liquor stores, lots of asphalt and parking lots. I guess if s really the atmosphere-greed and hate and fear overlaid by boredom and violence." -32- |
