The Color Purple by Alice Walker PDF

The Color Purple Alice Walker To the Spirit: Without whose assistance Neither this book Nor I Would have been Written. Show me how to do like you Show me how to do it. —STEVIE WONDER Preface WHATEVER ELSE The Color Purple has been taken for during the years since its publication, it remains f...

The Color Purple Alice Walker To the Spirit: Without whose assistance Neither this book Nor I Would have been Written. Show me how to do like you Show me how to do it. —STEVIE WONDER Preface WHATEVER ELSE The Color Purple has been taken for during the years since its publication, it remains for me the theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual that I spent much of my adult life, prior to writing it, seeking to avoid. Having recognized myself as a worshiper of Nature by the age of eleven, because my spirit resolutely wandered out the window to find trees and wind during Sunday sermons, I saw no reason why, once free, I should bother with religious matters at all. I would have thought that a book that begins “Dear God” would immediately have been identified as a book about the desire to encounter, to hear from, the Ultimate Ancestor. Perhaps it is a sign of our times that this was infrequently the case. Or perhaps it is the pagan transformation of God from patriarchal male supremacist into trees, stars, wind, and everything else, that camouflaged for many readers the book’s intent: to explore the difficult path of someone who starts out in life already a spiritual captive, but who, through her own courage and the help of others, breaks free into the realization that she, like Nature itself, is a radiant expression of the heretofore perceived as quite distant Divine. If it is true that it is what we run from that chases us, then The Color Purple (this color that is always a surprise but is everywhere in nature) is the book that ran me down while I sat with my back to it in a field. Without the Great Mystery’s word coming from any Sunday sermon or through any human mouth, there I heard and saw it moving in beauty across the grassy hills. No one is exempt from the possibility of a conscious connection to All That Is. Not the poor. Not the suffering. Not the writer sitting in the open field. This is the book in which I was able to express a new spiritual awareness, a rebirth into strong feelings of Oneness I realized I had experienced and taken for granted as a child; a chance for me as well as the main character, Celie, to encounter That Which Is Beyond Understanding But Not Beyond Loving and to say: I see and hear you clearly, Great Mystery, now that I expect to see and hear you everywhere I am, which is the right place. You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy. DEAR GOD, I am fourteen years old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me. Last spring after little Lucious come I heard them fussing. He was pulling on her arm. She say It too soon, Fonso, I ain’t well. Finally he leave her alone. A week go by, he pulling on her arm again. She say Naw, I ain’t gonna. Can’t you see I’m already half dead, an all of these chilren. She went to visit her sister doctor over Macon. Left me to see after the others. He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook. My mama she fuss at me an look at me. She happy, cause he good to her now. But too sick to last long. DEAR GOD, My mama dead. She die screaming and cussing. She scream at me. She cuss at me. I’m big. I can’t move fast enough. By time I git back from the well, the water be warm. By time I git the tray ready the food be cold. By time I git all the children ready for school it be dinner time. He don’t say nothing. He set there by the bed holding her hand an cryin, talking bout don’t leave me, don’t go. She ast me bout the first one Whose it is? I say God’s. I don’t know no other man or what else to say. When I start to hurt and then my stomach start moving and then that little baby come out my pussy chewing on it fist you could have knock me over with a feather. Don’t nobody come see us. She got sicker an sicker. Finally she ast Where it is? I say God took it. He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he can. DEAR GOD, He act like he can’t stand me no more. Say I’m evil an always up to no good. He took my other little baby, a boy this time. But I don’t think he kilt it. I think he sold it to a man an his wife over Monticello. I got breasts full of milk running down myself. He say Why don’t you look decent? Put on something. But what I’m sposed to put on? I don’t have nothing. I keep hoping he fine somebody to marry. I see him looking at my little sister. She scared. But I say I’ll take care of you. With God help. DEAR GOD, He come home with a girl from round Gray. She be my age but they married. He be on her all the time. She walk round like she don’t know what hit her. I think she thought she love him. But he got so many of us. All needing somethin. My little sister Nettie is got a boyfriend in the same shape almost as Pa. His wife died. She was kilt by her boyfriend coming home from church. He got only three children though. He seen Nettie in church and now every Sunday evening here come Mr. _____. I tell Nettie to keep at her books. It be more then a notion taking care of children ain’t even yourn. And look what happen to Ma. DEAR GOD, He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them. Maybe cause my mama cuss me you think I kept mad at her. But I ain’t. I felt sorry for mama. Trying to believe his story kilt her. Sometime he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his light. Now I tell her to marry Mr. _____. I don’t tell her why. I say Marry him, Nettie, an try to have one good year out your life. After that, I know she be big. But me, never again. A girl at church say you git big if you bleed every month. I don’t bleed no more. DEAR GOD, Mr. _____ finally come right out an ast for Nettie hand in marriage. But He won’t let her go. He say she too young, no experience. Say Mr. _____ got too many children already. Plus What about the scandal his wife cause when somebody kill her? And what about all this stuff he hear bout Shug Avery? What bout that? I ast our new mammy bout Shug Avery. What it is? I ast. She don’t know but she say she gon fine out. She do more then that. She git a picture. The first one of a real person I ever seen. She say Mr. _____ was taking somethin out his billfold to show Pa an it fell out an slid under the table. Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw. She more pretty then my mama. She bout ten thousand times more prettier then me. I see her there in furs. Her face rouge. Her hair like somethin tail. She grinning with her foot up on somebody motocar. Her eyes serious tho. Sad some. I ast her to give me the picture. An all night long I stare at it. An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery. She be dress to kill, whirling and laughing. DEAR GOD, I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy sick. But he just ast me what I’m talking bout. I tell him I can fix myself up for him. I duck into my room and come out wearing horsehair, feathers, and a pair of our new mammy high heel shoes. He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway. Mr. _____ come that evening. I’m in the bed crying. Nettie she finally see the light of day, clear. Our new mammy she see it too. She in her room crying. Nettie tend to first one, then the other. She so scared she go out doors and vomit. But not out front where the two mens is. Mr. _____ say, Well Sir, I sure hope you done change your mind. He say, Naw, Can’t say I is. Mr. _____ say, Well, you know, my poor little ones sure could use a mother. Well, He say, real slow, I can’t let you have Nettie. She too young. Don’t know nothing but what you tell her. Sides, I want her to git some more schooling. Make a schoolteacher out of her. But I can let you have Celie. She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first. She ain’t fresh tho, but I spect you know that. She spoiled. Twice. But you don’t need a fresh woman no how. I got a fresh one in there myself and she sick all the time. He spit, over the railing. The children git on her nerve, she not much of a cook. And she big already. Mr. _____ he don’t say nothing. I stop crying I’m so surprise. She ugly. He say. But she ain’t no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain’t gonna make you feed it or clothe it. Mr. _____ still don’t say nothing. I take out the picture of Shug Avery. I look into her eyes. Her eyes say Yeah, it bees that way sometime. Fact is, he say, I got to git rid of her. She too old to be living here at home. And she a bad influence on my other girls. She’d come with her own linen. She can take that cow she raise down there back of the crib. But Nettie you flat out can’t have. Not now. Not never. Mr. _____ finally speak. Clearing his throat. I ain’t never really look at that one, he say. Well, next time you come you can look at her. She ugly. Don’t even look like she kin to Nettie. But she’ll make the better wife. She ain’t smart either, and I’ll just be fair, you have to watch her or she’ll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man. Mr. _____ say How old she is? He say, She near twenty. And another thing—She tell lies. DEAR GOD, It took him the whole spring, from March to June, to make up his mind to take me. All I thought about was Nettie. How she could come to me if I marry him and he be so love struck with her I could figure out a way for us to run away. Us both be hitting Nettie’s schoolbooks pretty hard, cause us know we got to be smart to git away. I know I’m not as pretty or as smart as Nettie, but she say I ain’t dumb. The way you know who discover America, Nettie say, is think bout cucumbers. That what Columbus sound like. I learned all about Columbus in first grade, but look like he the first thing I forgot. She say Columbus come here in boats call the Neater, the Peter, and the Santomareater. Indians so nice to him he force a bunch of ’em back home with him to wait on the queen. But it hard to think with gitting married to Mr. _____ hanging over my head. The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care that I love it. Nettie stood there at the gate holding tight to my hand. I was all dress for first day. You too dumb to keep going to school, Pa say. Nettie the clever one in this bunch. But Pa, Nettie say, crying, Celie smart too. Even Miss Beasley say so. Nettie dote on Miss Beasley. Think nobody like her in the world. Pa say, Whoever listen to anything Addie Beasley have to say. She run off at the mouth so much no man would have her. That how come she have to teach school. He never look up from cleaning his gun. Pretty soon a bunch of white mens come walking cross the yard. They have guns too. Pa git up and follow ’em. The rest of the week I vomit and dress wild game. But Nettie never give up. Next thing I know Miss Beasley at our house trying to talk to Pa. She say long as she been a teacher she never know nobody want to learn bad as Nettie and me. But when Pa call me out and she see how tight my dress is, she stop talking and go. Nettie still don’t understand. I don’t neither. All us notice is I’m all the time sick and fat. I feel bad sometime Nettie done pass me in learnin. But look like nothing she say can git in my brain and stay. She try to tell me something bout the ground not being flat. I just say, Yeah, like I know it. I never tell her how flat it look to me. Mr.come finally one day looking all drug out. The woman he had helping him done quit. His mammy done said No More. He say, Let me see her again. Pa call me. Celie, he say. Like it wasn’t nothing. Mr. _____ want another look at you. I go stand in the door. The sun shine in my eyes. He’s still up on his horse. He look me up and down. Pa rattle his newspaper. Move up, he won’t bite, he say. I go closer to the steps, but not too close cause I’m a little scared of his horse. Turn round, Pa say. I turn round. One of my little brothers come up. I think it was Lucious. He fat and playful, all the time munching on something. He say, What you doing that for? Pa say, Your sister thinking bout marriage. Didn’t mean nothing to him. He pull my dresstail and ast can he have some blackberry jam out the safe. I say, Yeah. She good with children, Pa say, rattling his paper open more. Never heard her say a hard word to nary one of them. Just give ’em everything they ast for, is the only problem. Mr. _____ say, That cow still coming? He say, Her cow. DEAR GOD, I spend my wedding day running from the oldest boy. He twelve. His mama died in his arms and he don’t want to hear nothing bout no new one. He pick up a rock and laid my head open. The blood run all down tween my breasts. His daddy say Don’t do that! But that’s all he say. He got four children, instead of three, two boys and two girls. The girls hair ain’t been comb since their mammy died. I tell him I’ll just have to shave it off. Start fresh. He say bad luck to cut a woman hair. So after I bandage my head best I can and cook dinner—they have a spring, not a well, and a wood stove look like a truck—I start trying to untangle hair. They only six and eight and they cry. They scream. They cuse me of murder. By ten o’clock I’m done. They cry theirselves to sleep. But I don’t cry. I lay there thinking bout Nettie while he on top of me, wonder if she safe. And then I think bout Shug Avery. I know what he doing to me he done to Shug Avery and maybe she like it. I put my arm around him. DEAR GOD, I was in town sitting on the wagon while Mr. _____ was in the dry good store. I seen my baby girl. I knowed it was her. She look just like me and my daddy. Like more us then us is ourself. She be tagging long hind a lady and they be dress just alike. They pass the wagon and I speak. The lady speak pleasant. My little girl she look up and sort of frown. She fretting over something. She got my eyes just like they is today. Like everything I seen, she seen, and she pondering it. I think she mine. My heart say she mine. But I don’t know she mine. If she mine, her name Olivia. I embroder Olivia in the seat of all her daidies. I embrody lot of little stars and flowers too. He took the daidies when he took her. She was bout two month old. Now she bout six. I clam down from the wagon and I follow Olivia and her new mammy into a store. I watch her run her hand long side the counter, like she ain’t interested in nothing. Her ma is buying cloth. She say Don’t touch nothing. Olivia yawn. That real pretty, I say, and help her mama drape a piece of cloth close to her face. She smile. Gonna make me an my girl some new dresses, she say. Her daddy be so proud. Who her daddy, I blurt out. It like at last somebody know. She say Mr. _____. But that ain’t my daddy name. Mr. _____? I say. Who he? She look like I ast something none of my bidniss. The Reverend Mr. _____, she say, then turn her face to the clerk. He say, Girl you want that cloth or not? We got other customers sides you. She say, Yes sir. I want five yards, please sir. He snatch the cloth and thump down the bolt. He don’t measure. When he think he got five yard he tare it off. That be a dollar and thirty cent, he say. You need thread? She say, Naw suh. He say, You can’t sew thout thread. He pick up a spool and hold it gainst the cloth. That look like it bout the right color. Don’t you think. She say, Yessuh. He start to whistle. Take two dollars. Give her a quarter back. He look at me. You want something gal? I say, Naw Suh. I trail long behind them on the street. I don’t have nothing to offer and I feels poor. She look up and down the street. He ain’t here. He ain’t here. She say like she gon cry. Who ain’t? I ast. The Reverend Mr. ___, she say. He took the wagon. My husband wagon right here, I say. She clam up. I thank you kindly, she say. Us sit looking at all the folks that’s come to town. I never seen so many even at church. Some be dress too. Some don’t hit on much. Dust git all up the ladies dress. She ast me Who is my husband, now I know all bout hers. She laugh a little. I say Mr. _____. She say, Sure nuff? Like she know all about him. Just didn’t know he was married. He a fine looking man, she say. Not a finer looking one in the county. White or black, she say. He do look all right, I say. But I don’t think about it while I say it. Most times mens look pretty much alike to me. How long you had your little girl? I ast. Oh, she be seven her next birthday. When that? I ast. She think back. Then she say, December. I think, November. I say, real easy, What you call her? She say, oh, we calls her Pauline. My heart knock. Then she frown. But I calls her Olivia. Why you call her Olivia if it ain’t her name? I ast. Well, just look at her, she say sort of impish, turning to look at the child, don’t she look like a Olivia to you? Look at her eyes, for god’s sake. Somebody ole would have eyes like that. So I call her ole Livia. She chuckle. Naw. Olivia, she say, patting the child hair. Well, here come the Reverend Mr. _____, she say. I see a wagon and a great big man in black holding a whip. We sure do thank you for your hospitality. She laugh again, look at the horses flicking flies off they rump. Horsepitality, she say. And I git it and laugh. It feel like to split my face. Mr. _____, come out the store. Clam up in the wagon. Set down. Say real slow. What you setting here laughing like a fool fer? DEAR GOD, Nettie here with us. She run way from home. She say she hate to leave our stepma, but she had to git out, maybe fine help for the other little ones. The boys be alright, she say. They can stay out his way. When they git big they gon fight him. Maybe kill, I say. How is it with you and Mr. ____? she ast. But she got eyes. He still like her. In the evening he come out on the porch in his Sunday best. She be sitting there with me shelling peas or helping the children with they spelling. Helping me with spelling and everything else she think I need to know. No matter what happen, Nettie steady try to teach me what go on in the world. And she a good teacher too. It nearly kill me to think she might marry somebody like Mr. _____ or wind up in some white lady kitchen. All day she read, she study, she practice her handwriting, and try to git us to think. Most days I feel too tired to think. But Patient her middle name. Mr. _____ children all bright but they mean. They say Celie, I want dis. Celie, I want dat. Our Mama let us have it. He don’t say nothing. They try to get his tention, he hide hind a puff of smoke. Don’t let them run over you, Nettie say. You got to let them know who got the upper hand. They got it, I say. But she keep on, You got to fight. You got to fight. But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive. That’s a real pretty dress you got on, he say to Nettie. She say, Thank you. Them shoes look just right. She say, Thank you. Your skin. Your hair. Your teefs. Everyday it something else to make miration over. First she smile a little. Then she frown. Then she don’t look no special way at all. She just stick close to me. She tell me, Your skin. Your hair, Your teefs. He try to give her a compliment, she pass it on to me. After while I git to feeling pretty cute. Soon he stop. He say one night in bed, Well, us done help Nettie all we can. Now she got to go. Where she gon go? I ast. I don’t care, he say. I tell Nettie the next morning. Stead of being mad, she glad to go. Say she hate to leave me is all. Us fall on each other neck when she say that. I sure hate to leave you here with these rotten children, she say. Not to mention with Mr. ____. It’s like seeing you buried, she say. It’s worse than that, I think. If I was buried, I wouldn’t have to work. But I just say, Never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along. But I only got one thing to give her, the name of Reverend Mr. ____. I tell her to ast for his wife. That maybe she would help. She the only woman I even seen with money. I say, Write. She say, What? I say, Write. She say, Nothing but death can keep me from it. She never write. G-O-D, Two of his sister come to visit. They dress all up. Celie, they say. One thing is for sure. You keep a clean house. It not nice to speak ill of the dead, one say, but the truth never can be ill. Annie Julia was a nasty ’oman bout the house. She never want to be here in the first place, say the other. Where she want to be? I ast. At home. She say. Well that’s no excuse, say the first one, Her name Carrie, other one name Kate. When a woman marry she spose to keep a decent house and a clean family. Why, wasn’t nothing to come here in the winter time and all these children have colds, they have flue, they have direar, they have newmonya, they have worms, they have the chill and fever. They hungry. They hair ain’t comb. They too nasty to touch. I touch ’em. Say Kate. And cook. She wouldn’t cook. She act like she never seen a kitchen. She hadn’t never seen his. Was a scandal, say Carrie. He sure was, say Kate. What you mean? say Carrie. I mean he just brought her here, dropped her, and kept right on running after Shug Avery. That what I mean. Nobody to talk to, nobody to visit. He be gone for days. Then she start having babies. And she young and pretty. Not so pretty, say Carrie, looking in the looking glass. Just that head of hair. She too black. Well, brother must like black. Shug Avery black as my shoe. Shug Avery, Shug Avery, Carrie say. I’m sick of her. Somebody say she going round trying to sing. Umph, what she got to sing about. Say she wearing dresses all up her leg and headpieces with little balls and tassles hanging down, look like window dressing. My ears perk up when they mention Shug Avery. I feel like I want to talk about her my own self. They hush. I’m sick of her too, say Kate, letting out her breath. And you right about Celie, here. Good housekeeper, good with children, good cook. Brother couldn’t have done better if he tried. I think about how he tried. This time Kate come by herself. She maybe twenty-five. Old maid. She look younger than me. Healthy. Eyes bright. Tongue sharp. Buy Celie some clothes. She say to Mr. ____. She need clothes? he ast. Well look at her. He look at me. It like he looking at the earth. It need somethin? his eyes say. She go with me in the store. I think what color Shug Avery would wear. She like a queen to me so I say to Kate, Somethin purple, maybe little red in it too. But us look an look and no purple. Plenty red but she say, Naw, he won’t want to pay for red. Too happy lookin. We got choice of brown, maroon or navy blue. I say blue. I can’t remember being the first one in my own dress. Now to have one made just for me. I try to tell Kate what it mean. I git hot in the face and stutter. She say. It’s all right, Celie. You deserve more than this. Maybe so. I think. Harpo, she say. Harpo the oldest boy. Harpo, don’t let Celie be the one bring in all the water. You a big boy now. Time for you to help out some. Women work, he say. What? she say. Women work. I’m a man. You’re a trifling nigger, she say. You git that bucket and bring it back full. He cut his eye at me. Stumble out. I hear him mutter somethin to Mr. _____ sitting on the porch. Mr. _____ call his sister. She stay out on the porch talking a little while, then she come back in, shaking. Got to go, Celie, she say. She so mad tears be flying every which way while she pack. You got to fight them, Celie, she say. I can’t do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself. I don’t say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don’t fight, I stay where I’m told. But I’m alive. DEAR GOD, Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr. _____ say, Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for—he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa. Harpo ast me, How come you stubborn? He don’t ast How come you his wife? Nobody ast that. I say, Just born that way, I reckon. He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know trees fear man. Harpo say, I love Somebody. I say, Huh? He say, A Girl. I say, You do? He say, Yeah. Us plan to marry. Marry, I say. You not old enough to marry. I is, he say. I’m seventeen. She fifteen. Old enough. What her mama say, I ast. Ain’t talk to her mama. What her daddy say? Ain’t talk to him neither. Well, what she say? Us ain’t never spoke. He duck his head. He ain’t so bad looking. Tall and skinny, black like his mama, with great big bug eyes. Where yall see each other? I ast. I see her in church, he say. She see me outdoors. She like you? I don’t know. I wink at her. She act like she scared to look. Where her daddy at while all this going on? Amen corner, he say. DEAR GOD, Shug Avery is coming to town! She coming with her orkestra. She going to sing in the Lucky Star out on Coalman road. Mr. _____ going to hear her. He dress all up in front the glass, look at himself, then undress and dress all over again. He slick back his hair with pomade, then wash it out again. He been spitting on his shoes and hitting it with a quick rag. He tell me, Wash this. Iron that. Look for this. Look for that. Find this. Find that. He groan over holes in his sock. I move round darning and ironing, finding hanskers. Anything happening? I ast. What you mean? he say, like he mad. Just trying to git some of the hick farmer off myself. Any other woman be glad. I’m is glad, I say. What you mean? he ast. You looks nice, I say. Any woman be proud. You think so? he say. First time he ast me. I’m so surprise, by time I say Yeah, he out on the porch, trying to shave where the light better. I walk round all day with the announcement burning a hole in my pocket. It pink. The trees tween the turn off to our road and the store is lit up with them. He got bout five dozen in his trunk. Shug Avery standing upside a piano, elbow crook, hand on her hip. She wearing a hat like Indian Chiefs. Her mouth open showing all her teef and don’t nothing seem to be troubling her mind. Come one, come all, it say. The Queen Honeybee is back in town. Lord, I wants to go so bad. Not to dance. Not to drink. Not to play card. Not even to hear Shug Avery sing. I just be thankful to lay eyes on her. DEAR GOD, Mr. _____ be gone all night Saturday, all night Sunday and most all day Monday. Shug Avery in town for the weekend. He stagger in, throw himself on the bed. He tired. He sad. He weak. He cry. Then he sleep the rest of the day and all night. He wake up while I’m in the field. I been chopping cotton three hours by time he come. Us don’t say nothing to each other. But I got a million question to ast. What she wear? Is she still the same old Shug, like in my picture? How her hair is? What kind lipstick? Wig? She stout? She skinny? She sound well? Tired? Sick? Where you all children at while she singing all over the place? Do she miss ’em? Questions be running back and forth through my mind. Feel like snakes. I pray for strength, bite the insides of my jaws. Mr. _____ pick up a hoe and start to chop. He chop bout three chops then he don’t chop again. He drop the hoe in the furrow, turn right back on his heel, walk back to the house, go git him a cool drink of water, git his pipe, sit on the porch and stare. I follow cause I think he sick. Then he say, You better git on back to the field. Don’t wait for me. DEAR GOD, Harpo no better at fighting his daddy back than me. Every day his daddy git up, sit on the porch, look out at nothing. Sometime look at the trees out front the house. Look at a butterfly if it light on the rail. Drink a little water in the day. A little wine in the evening. But mostly never move. Harpo complain bout all the plowing he have to do. His daddy say, You gonna do it. Harpo nearly big as his daddy. He strong in body but weak in will. He scared. Me and him out in the field all day. Us sweat, chopping and plowing. I’m roasted coffee bean color now. He black as the inside of a chimney. His eyes be sad and thoughtful. His face begin to look like a woman face. Why you don’t work no more? he ast his daddy. No reason for me to. His daddy say. You here, aint you? He say this nasty. Harpos feeling be hurt. Plus, he still in love. DEAR GOD, Harpo girl daddy say Harpo not good enough for her. Harpo been courting the girl a while. He say he sit in the parlor with her, the daddy sit right there in the corner till everybody feel terrible. Then he go sit on the porch in front the open door where he can hear everything. Nine o’clock come, he bring Harpo his hat. Why I’m not good enough? Harpo ast Mr. ____. Mr. _____ say, Your mammy. Harpo say, What wrong with my mammy? Mr. _____ say, Somebody kill her. Harpo be trouble with nightmares. He see his mama running cross the pasture trying to git home. Mr. ____, the man they say her boyfriend, catch up with her. She got Harpo by the hand. They both running and running. He grab hold of her shoulder, say, You can’t quit me now. You mine. She say, No I ain’t. My place is with my children. He say, Whore, you ain’t got no place. He shoot her in the stomach. She fall down. The man run. Harpo grab her in his arms, put her head in his lap. He start to call, Mama, Mama. It wake me up. The other children, too. They cry like they mama just die. Harpo come to, shaking. I light the lamp and stand over him, patting his back. It not her fault somebody kill her, he say. It not! It not! Naw, I say. It not. Everybody say how good I is to Mr. _____ children. I be good to them. But I don’t feel nothing for them. Patting Harpo back not even like patting a dog. It more like patting another piece of wood. Not a living tree, but a table, a chifferobe. Anyhow, they don’t love me neither, no matter how good I is. They don’t mind. Cept for Harpo they won’t work. The girls face always to the road. Bub be out all times of night drinking with boys twice his age. They daddy puff on his pipe. Harpo tell me all his love business now. His mind on Sofia Butler day and night. She pretty, he tell me. Bright. Smart? Naw. Bright skin. She smart too though, I think. Sometime us can git her away from her daddy. I know right then the next thing I hear, she be big. If she so smart how come she big? I ast. Harpo shrug. She can’t git out the house no other way, he say. Mr. _____ won’t let us marry. Say I’m not good enough to come in his parlor. But if she big I got a right to be with her, good enough or no. Where yall gon stay? They got a big place, he say. When us marry I’ll be just like one of the family. Humph, I say. Mr. _____ didn’t like you before she big, he ain’t gonna like you cause she big. Harpo look trouble. Talk to Mr. ____, I say. He your daddy. Maybe he got some good advice. Maybe not. I think. Harpo bring her over to meet his daddy. Mr. _____ say he want to have a look at her. I see ’em coming way off up the road. They be just marching, hand in hand, like going to war. She in front a little. They come up on the porch, I speak and move some chairs closer to the railing. She sit down and start to fan herself with a hansker. It sure is hot, she say. Mr. _____ don’t say nothing. He just look her up and down. She bout seven or eight months pregnant, bout to bust out her dress. Harpo so black he think she bright, but she ain’t that bright. Clear medium brown skin, gleam on it like on good furniture. Hair notty but a lot of it, tied up on her head in a mass of plaits. She not quite as tall as Harpo but much bigger, and strong and ruddy looking, like her mama brought her up on pork. She say, How you, Mr. _____? He don’t answer the question. He say, Look like you done got yourself in trouble. Naw suh, she say. I ain’t in no trouble. Big, though. She smooth the wrinkles over her stomach with the flats of her hands. Who the father? he ast. She look surprise. Harpo, she say. How he know that? He know. She say. Young womens no good these days, he say. Got they legs open to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Harpo look at his daddy like he never seen him before. But he don’t say nothing. Mr. _____ say, No need to think I’m gon let my boy marry you just cause you in the family way. He young and limited. Pretty gal like you could put anything over on him. Harpo still don’t say nothing. Sofia face git more ruddy. The skin move back on her forehead. Her ears raise. But she laugh. She glance at Harpo sitting there with his head down and his hands tween his knees. She say, What I need to marry Harpo for? He still living here with you. What food and clothes he git, you buy. He say, Your daddy done throwed you out. Ready to live in the street I guess. She say, Naw. I ain’t living in the street. I’m living with my sister and her husband. They say I can live with them for the rest of my life. She stand up, big, strong, healthy girl, and she say, Well, nice visiting. I’m going home. Harpo get up to come too. She say, Naw, Harpo, you stay here. When you free, me and the baby be waiting. He sort of hang there between them a while, then he sit down again. I look at her face real quick then, and seem like a shadow go cross it. Then she say to me, Mrs. ____, I’d thank you for a glass of water before I go, if you don’t mind. The bucket on the shelf right there on the porch. I git a clean glass out the safe and dip her up some water. She drink it down, almost in one swallow. Then she run her hands over her belly again and she take off. Look like the army change direction, and she heading off to catch up. Harpo never git up from his chair. Him and his daddy sit there and sit there and sit there. They never talk. They never move. Finally I have supper and go to bed. I git up in the morning it feel like they still sitting there. But Harpo be in the outhouse, Mr. _____ be shaving. DEAR GOD, Harpo went and brought Sofia and the baby home. They got married in Sofia sister house. Sister’s husband stand up with Harpo. Other sister sneak way from home to stand up with Sofia. Another sister come to hold the baby. Say he cry right through the service, his mama stop everything to nurse him. Finish saying I do with a big ole nursing boy in her arms. Harpo fix up the little creek house for him and his family. Mr. _____ daddy used it for a shed. But it sound. Got windows now, a porch, back door. Plus it cool and green down by the creek. He ast me to make some curtains and I make some out of flower sack. It not big, but it homey. Got a bed, a dresser, a looking glass, and some chairs. Cookstove for cooking and heating, too. Harpo daddy give him wages for working now. He say Harpo wasn’t working hard like he should. Maybe little money goose his interest. Harpo told me, Miss Celie, I’m going on strike. On what? I ain’t going to work. And he don’t. He come to the field, pull two ears of corn, let the birds and weevil eat two hundred. Us don’t make nothing much this year. But now Sofia coming, he always busy. He chop, he hammer, he plow. He sing and whistle. Sofia look half her size. But she still a big strong girl. Arms got muscle. Legs, too. She swing that baby about like it nothing. She got a little pot on her now and give you the feeling she all there. Solid. Like if she sit down on something, it be mash. She tell Harpo, Hold the baby, while she come back in the house with me to git some thread. She making some sheets. He take the baby, give it a kiss, chuck it under the chin. Grin, look up on the porch at his daddy. Mr. _____ blow smoke, look down at him, and say, Yeah, I see now she going to switch the traces on you. DEAR GOD, Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind. He sit out on the porch with Mr. ____. He say, I tell her one thing, she do another. Never do what I say. Always backtalk. To tell the truth, he sound a little proud of this to me. Mr. _____ don’t say nothing. Blow smoke. I tell her she can’t be all the time going to visit her sister. Us married now, I tell her. Your place is here with the children. She say, I’ll take the children with me. I say, Your place is with me. She say, You want to come? She keep primping in front of the glass, getting the children ready at the same time. You ever hit her? Mr. _____ ast. Harpo look down at his hands. Naw suh, he say low, embarrass. Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let ’em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating. He puff on his pipe. Sofia think too much of herself anyway, he say. She need to be taken down a peg. I like Sofia, but she don’t act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. _____ come in the room, she keep right on. If they ast her where something at, she say she don’t know. Keep talking. I think bout this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do to her to make her mind. I don’t mention how happy he is now. How three years pass and he still whistle and sing. I think bout how every time I jump when Mr. _____ call me, she look surprise. And like she pity me. Beat her. I say. Next time us see Harpo his face a mess of bruises. His lip cut. One of his eyes shut like a fist. He walk stiff and say his teef ache. I say, What happen to you, Harpo? He say, Oh, me and that mule. She fractious, you know. She went crazy in the field the other day. By time I got her to head for home I was all banged up. Then when I got home, I walked smack dab into the crib door. Hit my eye and scratch my chin. Then when that storm come up last night I shet the window down on my hand. Well, I say, After all that, I don’t spect you had a chance to see if you could make Sofia mind. Nome, he say. But he keep trying. DEAR GOD, Just when I was bout to call out that I was coming in the yard, I hear something crash. It come from inside the house, so I run up on the porch. The two children be making mud pies on the edge of the creek, they don’t even look up. I open the door cautious, thinking bout robbers and murderers. Horsethieves and hants. But it Harpo and Sofia. They fighting like two mens. Every piece of furniture they got is turned over. Every plate look like it broke. The looking glass hang crooked, the curtains torn. The bed look like the stuffing pulled out. They don’t notice. They fight. He try to slap her. What he do that for? She reach down and grab a piece of stove wood and whack him cross the eyes. He punch her in the stomach, she double over groaning but come up with both hands lock right under his privates. He roll on the floor. He grab her dress tail and pull. She stand there in her slip. She never blink a eye. He jump up to put a hammer lock under her chin, she throw him over her back. He fall bam up gainst the stove. I don’t know how long this been going on. I don’t know when they spect to conclude. I ease on back out, wave to the children by the creek, walk back on up home. Saturday morning early, us hear the wagon. Harpo, Sofia, the two babies be going off for the week-end, to visit Sofia sister. DEAR GOD, For over a month I have trouble sleeping. I stay up late as I can before Mr. _____ start complaining bout the price of kerosene, then I soak myself in a warm bath with milk and epsom salts, then sprinkle little witch hazel on my pillow and curtain out all the moonlight. Sometimes I git a few hours sleep. Then just when it look like it ought to be gitting good, I wakes up. At first I’d git up quick and drink some milk. Then I’d think bout counting fence post. Then I’d think bout reading the Bible. What it is? I ast myself. A little voice say, Something you done wrong. Somebody spirit you sin against. Maybe. Way late one night it come to me. Sofia. I sin against Sofia spirit. I pray she don’t find out, but she do. Harpo told. The minute she hear it she come marching up the path, toting a sack. Little cut all blue and red under her eye. She say, Just want you to know I looked to you for help. Ain’t I been helpful? I ast. She open up her sack. Here your curtains, she say. Here your thread. Here a dollar fur letting me use ’em. They yourn, I say, trying to push them back. I’m glad to help out. Do what I can. You told Harpo to beat me, she said. No I didn’t, I said. Don’t lie, she said. I didn’t mean it, I said. Then what you say it for? she ast. She standing there looking me straight in the eye. She look tired and her jaws full of air. I say it cause I’m a fool, I say. I say it cause I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t. What that? she say. Fight. I say. She stand there a long time, like what I said took the wind out her jaws. She mad before, sad now. She say, All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me. Now if you want a dead son-in-law you just keep on advising him like you doing. She put her hand on her hip. I used to hunt game with a bow and arrow, she say. I stop the little trembling that started when I saw her coming. I’m so shame of myself, I say. And the Lord he done whip me little bit too. The Lord don’t like ugly, she say. And he ain’t stuck on pretty. This open the way for our talk to turn another way. I say, You feels sorry for me, don’t you? She think a minute. Yes ma’am, she say slow, I do. I think I know how come, but I ast her anyhow. She say, To tell the truth, you remind me of my mama. She under my daddy thumb. Naw, she under my daddy foot. Anything he say, goes. She never say nothing back. She never stand up for herself. Try to make a little half stand sometime for the children but that always backfire. More she stand up for us, the harder time he give her. He hate children and he hate where they come from. Tho from all the children he got, you’d never know it. I never know nothing bout her family. I thought, looking at her, nobody in her family could be scared. How many he got? I ast. Twelve. She say. Whew, I say. My daddy got six by my mama before she die, I say. He got four more by the wife he got now. I don’t mention the two he got by me. How many girls? she ast. Five, I say. How bout in your family? Six boys, six girls. All the girls big and strong like me. Boys big and strong too, but all the girls stick together. Two brothers stick with us too, sometime. Us git in a fight, it’s a sight to see. I ain’t never struck a living thing, I say. Oh, when I was at home I tap the little ones on the behind to make ’em behave, but not hard enough to hurt. What you do when you git mad? she ast. I think. I can’t even remember the last time I felt mad, I say. I used to git mad at my mammy cause she put a lot of work on me. Then I see how sick she is. Couldn’t stay mad at her. Couldn’t be mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what. Then after while every time I got mad, or start to feel mad, I got sick. Felt like throwing up. Terrible feeling. Then I start to feel nothing at all. Sofia frown. Nothing at all? Well, sometime Mr. _____ git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways. You ought to bash Mr. _____ head open, she say. Think bout heaven later. Not much funny to me. That funny. I laugh. She laugh. Then us both laugh so hard us flop down on the step. Let’s make quilt pieces out of these messed up curtains, she say. And I run git my pattern book. I sleeps like a baby now. DEAR GOD, Shug Avery sick and nobody in this town want to take the Queen Honeybee in. Her mammy say She told her so. Her pappy say, Tramp. A woman at church say she dying— maybe two berkulosis or some kind of nasty woman disease. What? I want to ast, but don’t. The women at church sometime nice to me. Sometime not. They look at me there struggling with Mr. _____ children. Trying to drag ’em to the church, trying to keep ’em quiet after us get there. They some of the same ones used to be here both times I was big. Sometimes they think I don’t notice, they stare at me. Puzzle. I keep my head up, best I can. I do a right smart for the preacher. Clean the floor and windows, make the wine, wash the altar linen. Make sure there’s wood for the stove in wintertime. He call me Sister Celie. Sister Celie, he say, You faithful as the day is long. Then he talk to the other ladies and they mens. I scurry bout, doing this, doing that. Mr. _____ sit back by the door gazing here and there. The womens smile in his direction every chance they git. He never look at me or even notice. Even the preacher got his mouth on Shug Avery, now she down. He take her condition for his text. He don’t call no name, but he don’t have to. Everybody know who he mean. He talk bout a strumpet in short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin. Singing for money and taking other women mens. Talk bout slut, hussy, heifer and streetcleaner. I cut my eyes back at Mr. ____ when he say that. Streetcleaner. Somebody got to stand up for Shug, I think. But he don’t say nothing. He cross his legs first to one side, then to the other. He gaze out the window. The same women smile at him, say amen gainst Shug. But once us home he never stop to take off his clothes. He call down to Harpo and Sofia house. Harpo come running. Hitch up the wagon, he say. Where us going? say Harpo. Hitch up the wagon, he say again. Harpo hitch up the wagon. They stand there and talk a few minutes out by the barn. Then Mr. _____ drive off. One good thing bout the way he never do any work round the place, us never miss him when he gone. Five days later I look way off up the road and see the wagon coming back. It got sort of a canopy over it now, made out of old blankets or something. My heart begin to beat like furry, and the first thing I try to do is change my dress. But too late for that. By time I git my head and arm out the old dress, I see the wagon pull up in the yard. Plus a new dress won’t help none with my notty head and dusty headrag, my old everyday shoes and the way I smell. I don’t know what to do, I’m so beside myself. I stand there in the middle of the kitchen. Mind whirling. I feels like Who Would Have Thought. Celie, I hear Mr. _____ call. Harpo. I stick my head and my arm back in my old dress and wipe the sweat and dirt off my face as best I can. I come to the door. Yessir? I ast, and trip over the broom I was sweeping with when I first notice the wagon. Harpo and Sofia in the yard now, looking inside the wagon. They faces grim. Who this? Harpo ast. The woman should have been your mammy, he say. Shug Avery? Harpo ast. He look up at me. Help me git her in the house, Mr. _____ say. I think my heart gon fly out my mouth when I see one of her foots come poking out. She not lying down. She climbing down tween Harpo and Mr. ____. And she dress to kill. She got on a red wool dress and chestful of black beads. A shiny black hat with what look like chickinhawk feathers curve down side one cheek, and she carrying a little snakeskin bag, match her shoes. She look so stylish it like the trees all round the house draw themself up tall for a better look. Now I see she stumble, tween the two men. She don’t seem that well acquainted with her feets. Close up I see all this yellow powder caked up on her face. Red rouge. She look like she ain’t long for this world but dressed well for the next. But I know better. Come on in, I want to cry. To shout. Come on in. With God help, Celie going to make you well. But I don’t say nothing. It not my house. Also I ain’t been told nothing. They git halfway up the step, Mr. _____ look up at me. Celie, he say. This here Shug Avery. Old friend of the family. Fix up the spare room. Then he look down at her, hold her in one arm, hold on to the rail with the other. Harpo on the other side, looking sad. Sofia and the children in the yard, watching. I don’t move at once, cause I can’t. I need to see her eyes. I feel like once I see her eyes my feets can let go the spot where they stuck. Git moving, he say, sharp. And then she look up. Under all that powder her face black as Harpo. She got a long pointed nose and big fleshy mouth. Lips look like black plum. Eyes big, glossy. Feverish. And mean. Like, sick as she is, if a snake cross her path, she kill it. She look me over from head to foot. Then she cackle. Sound like a death rattle. You sure is ugly, she say, like she ain’t believed it. DEAR GOD, Ain’t nothing wrong with Shug Avery. She just sick. Sicker than anybody I ever seen. She sicker than my mama was when she die. But she more evil than my mama and that keep her alive. Mr. _____ be in the room with her all time of the night or day. He don’t hold her hand though. She too evil for that. Turn loose my goddam hand, she say to Mr. ____. What the matter with you, you crazy? I don’t need no weak little boy can’t say no to his daddy hanging on me. I need me a man, she say. A man. She look at him and roll her eyes and laugh. It not much of a laugh but it keep him away from the bed. He sit over in the corner away from the lamp. Sometime she wake up in the night and don’t even see. But he there. Sitting in the shadows chewing on his pipe. No tobacco in it. First thing she said, I don’t want to smell no stinking blankety-blank pipe, you hear me, Albert? Who Albert, I wonder. Then I remember Albert Mr. ____ first name. Mr. _____ don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t even hardly eat. He just got her in that little room, watching every breath. What happen to her I ast? You don’t want her here, just say so, he say. Won’t do no good. But if that the way you feel... He don’t finish. I want her here, I say, too quick. He look at me like maybe I’m planning something bad. I just want to know what happen, I say. I look at his face. It tired and sad and I notice his chin weak. Not much chin there at all. I have more chin, I think. And his clothes dirty, dirty. When he pull them off, dust rise. Nobody fight for Shug, he say. And a little water come to his eyes. DEAR GOD, They have made three babies together but he squeamish bout giving her a bath. Maybe he figure he start thinking bout things he shouldn’t. But what bout me? First time I got the full sight of Shug Avery long black body with it black plum nipples, look like her mouth, I thought I had turned into a man. What you staring at? she ast. Hateful. She weak as a kitten. But her mouth just pack with claws. You never seen a naked woman before? No ma’am, I said. I never did. Cept for Sofia, and she so plump and ruddy and crazy she feel like my sister. She say, Well take a good look. Even if I is just a bag of bones now. She have the nerve to put one hand on her naked hip and bat her eyes at me. Then she suck her teef and roll her eyes at the ceiling while I wash her. I wash her body, it feel like I’m praying. My hands tremble and my breath short. She say, You ever have anv kids? I say, Yes ma’am. She say, How many and don’t you yes ma’am me, I ain’t that old. I say, two. She ast me Where they is? I say, I don’t know. She look at me funny. My kids with they grandma, she say. She could stand the kids, I had to go. You miss ’em? I ast. Naw, she say. I don’t miss nothing. DEAR GOD, I ast Shug Avery what she want for breakfast. She say, What yall got? I say ham, grits, eggs, biscuits, coffee, sweet milk or butter milk, flapjacks. Jelly and jam. She say, Is that all? What about orange juice, grapefruit, strawberries and cream. Tea. Then she laugh. I don’t want none of your damn food, she say. Just gimme a cup of coffee and hand me my cigarettes. I don’t argue. I git the coffee and light her cigarette. She wearing a long white gown and her thin black hand stretching out of it to hold the white cigarette looks just right. Something bout it, maybe the little tender veins I see and the big ones I try not to, make me scared. I feel like something pushing me forward. If I don’t watch out I’ll have hold of her hand, tasting her fingers in my mouth. Can I sit in here and eat with you? I ast. She shrug. She busy looking at a magazine. White women in it laughing, holding they beads out on one finger, dancing on top of motocars. Jumping into fountains. She flip the pages. Look dissatisfied. Remind me of a child trying to git something out a toy it can’t work yet. She drink her coffee, puff on her cigarette. I bite into a big juicy piece of home cured ham. You can smell this ham for a mile when you cooking it, it perfume up her little room with no trouble at all. I lavish butter on a hot biscuit, sort of wave it about. I sop up ham gravey and splosh my eggs in with my grits. She blow more and more smoke. Look down in her coffee like maybe its something solid at the bottom. Finally she say, Celie, I believe I could drink a glass of water. And this here by the bed ain’t fresh. She hold out her glass. I put my plate down on the card table by the bed. I go dip her up some water. I come back, pick up my plate. Look like a little mouse been nibbling the biscuit, a rat run off with the ham. She act like nothing happen. Begin to complain bout being tired. Doze on off to sleep. Mr. _____ ast me how I git her to eat. I say, Nobody living can stand to smell home cured ham without tasting it. If they dead they got a chance. Maybe. Mr. _____ laugh. I notice something crazy in his eyes. I been scared, he say. Scared. And he cover up his eyes with his hands. DEAR GOD, Shug Avery sit up in bed a little today. I wash and comb out her hair. She got the nottiest, shortest, kinkiest hair I ever saw, and I loves every strand of it. The hair that come out in my comb I kept. Maybe one day I’ll get a net, make me a rat to pomp up my own hair. I work on her like she a doll or like she Olivia—or like she mama. I comb and pat, comb and pat. First she say, hurry up and git finish. Then she melt down a little and lean back gainst my knees. That feel just right, she say. That feel like mama used to do. Or maybe not mama. Maybe grandma. She reach for another cigarette. Start hum a little tune. What that song? I ast. Sound low down dirty to me. Like what the preacher tell you its sin to hear. Not to mention sing. She hum a little more. Something come to me, she say. Something I made up. Something you help scratch out my head. DEAR GOD, Mr. _____ daddy show up this evening. He a little short shrunk up man with a bald head and gold spectacles. He clear his throat a lot, like everything he say need announcement. Talk with his head leant to the side. He come right to the point. Just couldn’t rest till you got her in your house, could you? he say, coming up the step. Mr. _____ don’t say nothing. Look out cross the railing at the trees, over the top of the well. Eyes rest on the top of Harpo and Sofia house. Won’t you have a seat? I ast, pushing him up a chair. How bout a cool drink of water? Through the window I hear Shug humming and humming, practicing her little song. I sneak back to her room and shet the window. Old Mr. _____ say to Mr. ____, Just what is it bout this Shug Avery anyway, he say. She black as tar, she nappy headed. She got legs like baseball bats. Mr. _____ don’t say nothing. I drop little spit in Old Mr. _____ water. Why, say Old Mr. ____, she ain’t even clean. I hear she got the nasty woman disease. I twirl the spit round with my finger. I think bout ground glass, wonder how you grind it. But I don’t feel mad at all. Just interest. Mr. _____ turn his head slow, watch his daddy drink. Then say, real sad, You ain’t got it in you to understand, he say. I love Shug Avery. Always have, always will. I should have married her when I had the chance. Yeah, say Old Mr. ____. And throwed your life away. (Mr. _____ grunt right there.) And a right smart of my money with it. Old Mr. _____ clear his throat. Nobody even sure exactly who her daddy is. I never care who her daddy is, say Mr. _____. And her mammy take in white people dirty clothes to this day. Plus all her children got different daddys. It all just too trifling and confuse. Well, say Mr. _____ and turn full face on his daddy, All Shug Avery children got the same daddy. I vouch for that. Old Mr. _____ clear his throat. Well, this my house. This my land. Your boy Harpo in one of my houses, on my land. Weeds come up on my land, I chop ’em up. Trash blow over it I burn it. He rise to go. Hand me his glass. Next time he come I put a little Shug Avery pee in his glass. See how he like that. Celie, he say, you have my sympathy. Not many women let they husband whore lay up in they house. But he not saying to me, he saying it to Mr. _____. Mr. ____look up at me, our eyes meet. This the closest us ever felt. He say, Hand Pa his hat, Celie. And I do. Mr. _____ don’t move from his chair by the railing. I stand in the door. Us watch Old Mr. _____ begin harrumping and harrumping down the road home. Next one come visit, his brother Tobias. He real fat and tall, look like a big yellow bear. Mr. _____ small like his daddy, his brother stand way taller. Where she at? he ast, grinning. Where the Queen Honeybee? Got something for her, he say. He put little box of chocolate on the railing. She sleeping, I say. Didn’t sleep much last night. How you doing there, Albert, he say, dragging up a chair. He run his hand over his slicked back hair and try to feel if there’s a bugga in his nose. Wipe his hand on his pants. Shake out the crease. I just heard Shug Avery was here, he say. How long you had her? Oh, say Mr. _____, couple of months. Hell, say Tobias, I heard she was dying. That goes to show, don’t it, that you can’t believe everything you hear. He smooth down his mustache, run his tongue out the corners of his lips. What you know good, Miss Celie? he say. Not much, I say. Me and Sofia piecing another quilt together. I got bout five squares pieced, spread out on the table by my knee. My basket full of scraps on the floor. Always busy, always busy, he say. I wish Margaret was more like you. Save me a bundle of money. Tobias and his daddy always talk bout money like they still got a lot. Old Mr. _____ been selling off the place so that nothing much left but the houses and the fields. My and Harpo fields bring in more than anybody. I piece on my square. Look at the colors of the cloth. Then I hear Tobias chair fall back and he say, Shug. Shug halfway tween sick and well. Halfway tween good and evil, too. Most days now she show me and Mr. _____ her good side. But evil all over her today. She smile, like a razor opening. Say, Well, well, look who’s here today. She wearing a little flowery shift I made for her and no