Buddies by Nancy L. Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

‘til sundown. We gotta hurry to git home before dark; in time to do chores.” As they went on their way, they had little fear that Banker Tolbert might still be somewhere around to harm them.
    When they arrived safely at their regular departing place, Joey Frank pulled Ernie’s new shoe off and gave it back to him. Ernie pulled his old pair off and gave them to Joey Frank to wear until he could buy a new pair. Joey Frank said, “I’m gonna keep the shoe I didn’t lose. Maybe we could go back over yonder someday an’ find the mate.” Before they said goodbye, Joey Frank smiled at Ernie and said, “Ernie, I’m shore glad about one thang.”
    ‘Yeah? What?”
    “I’m glad I can see you, an’ you can see me; an’ we ain’tdead.”
    “Heck, me too, Joey Frank.”
    Joey Frank put his old shoe under his arm, as they went their separate ways, only a short distance home.
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE  
    Mama was speechless when Joey Frank gave her the fifty dollars telling her that he had found it. She told him that she would put the money away for one week, in the meantime, they should keep their ears open to hear if anyone reported it lost. If no one claimed it, then she would put the money to good use.
    In exactly one week Mama did put the money to good use. She bought meats for Gloria, the main food that Doctor Black said that she needed to recuperate. She bought a calf to replace the one that drowned in the river when Pa died trying to rescue it. Mama planned to fatten the calf for slaughter and cure the meat to preserve it for Gloria in the future.
    Mama also purchased more chickens from their long-timed widowed neighbor Nora Simson. Their flock had thinned out tremendously since the hungry fox came out of the hills and preyed on them at night.
    The next Sunday when the family was on their way home from church, Mama noticed a sign on a farmer’s barn near the road, advertising cottonseed for sale. She told Joey Frank to stop the wagon at the house that was nearby, that she wanted to find out the price he was asking. She explained to her children that she wasn’t going to buy the seed today because it was the Sabbath and not just another ordinary day.
    When Joey Frank pulled into the yard at the small farmhouse, the front door opened, some black children of all ages came out and stood on the porch. In a moment a black woman came out and extended warm, cheerful greetings. Mama and Joey Frank descended the wagon and walked up to the porch, where the woman was standing at the edge. Mama told her that she had seen the sign on the barn and wished to inquire what price they were asking for cottonseed. When the woman told Mama, she could hardly believe her ears. The woman explained the price wouldn’t normally be that cheap. She went on to say that her husband had deserted her and they were moving away to another state to be with family members. Mama asked the lady to save two of the one-hundred-pound bags of seeds, and she would come back the next day to pay for and pick them up. The lady responded by saying she couldn’t, because the seed would be sold on a first-come first-serve basis. Because of her religious convections, Mama didn’t want to make the purchase that day, however she couldn’t pass up the bargain.
    Mama wanted to buy Joey Frank a new pair of shoes with some of the money that she had leftover, but he refused the offer, saying he wanted her to buy some material to make her and Gloria a new dress. He explained that he could wear Ernie’s shoes until the hen’s egg laying season. He could then sell enough eggs to the merchants in Ruby Creek to buy shoes.
    Joey Frank was the happiest boy in the state of Georgia when he asked his Mama if she still planned to get a job, and she answered, “No. What do I need a job for, Joey Frank? We’ve got everything that we need now.”
    In a few days Gloria was able to return to school. Her sharp face was glowing now with pink in her cheeks. On her first day back in