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Show case 16 He clutched the root in his right f i s t , did a erotesque dance of triumph, then sacked up a l l his gear and walked out of the swampy area /into a small stretch of pine woods. MoHie Rice, ancient toothless neighbor, in the woods looking for lightwood knots, started talking a mile a minute: she was going to send Miss Edith McFall, a nice school teacher, to Cato for a love potion to hold Junior Weems. Cato laid his mattock aside, pulled a wad of broxim paper from his damp sack and let MoHie peer at his treasure. Edith McFall sat at her desk in the rural school halfway between Cato's shack and town. Edith taught the lower three grades, a Mrs. Feeny the fourth, fifth and sixth. Edith pressed her hands to her temple, controlling a desire to kick over her desk and scream. She was plain, angular, near-sighted, with no inclination for social a c t i v i t y (there x^7asn,t much social activity other than Sunday attendance at a church of our town and an occasional PTA meeting). In a region x^here early marriage is the general r u l e , Edith's shyness and r e t i r i n g ways doomed her, u n t i l Junior We ems stopped by the school one day to borrow her car. She had been alone at her desk during recess when be walked in, respectful, bowing his curly head, smiling. He was in a pickle, h i s car had broken down, he said, and he was in a hurry to get into town to get a doc for his sick mother. Edith waved h i s proffered money aside, fished in her purse and thrust her car keys into his hand. Junior had only to deliver his bootleg whiskey, but he took |
