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Show page 20 you?" "You are Doctor Cato?" There i t was, fine and high-bound, rooted to grow, Doctor Cato. Something money couldn't buy. There i t was. The signs were r i g h t . High John the Conqueror was power. Even if Mollie Rice hadn't told him of the teacher and urged him to help her, he would have done so, her calling him doctor. The word would spread and t h i s pleased him. "Yes, Miss, I'm Cato, doctor of roots and herbs. Was you wanting something?" Edith twisted her handkerchief, bit her l i p , and looked at her lover s i t t i n g gingerly on the upturned n a i l keg. Junior began to feel ashamed, as though naked,and f i l t h y with beggar lice. He f e l t dog-tired, but his eyes roamed over Edith, remembering. Sweet words floated back across his mind, meaning knowledge. Whose words? His mama's? His papa's? Edith's? Yes, soft and easy, her x?ords, like p a r t i c l e s of fresh commeal t r i c k l i n g into a sack at the m i l l , muting a l l the words that had gone before. "Won't you come in, Miss." Edith stepped inside and sat in the cane chair Cato placed for her. "Somebody sent you, maybe?" Cato asked, but without waiting for an answer he picked up High John. "See this?" He held the root toward her. "This a root like no other kind, High John." Edith had heard of it but thought it a legend like John Henry. "Ain't that a locket you got on?" Cato asked. He reached behind him for a piece of yellow string and made a loop of it |