The Help by Kathryn Stockett Read Free Book Online Page B

the North Pole next to Santy Claus where nobody’s heard Hilly’s lies about me.
    “…and if I were you I wouldn’t want to clean this big house either.”
    I look at her square on. Now that’s just excusing herself a little too much, pretending Minny ain’t getting the job cause Minny don’t want the job.
    “When you hear me say I don’t want a clean this house?”
    “It’s alright, five maids have already told me it’s too much work.”
    I look down at my hundred-and-sixty-five-pound, five-foot-zero self practically busting out of my uniform. “Too much for me?”
    She blinks at me a second. “You…you’ll do it?”
    “Why you think I drove all the way out here to kingdom come, just to burn gas?” I clamp my mouth shut. Don’t go ruirning this now, she offering you a jay-o-bee. “Miss Celia, I be happy to work for you.”
    She laughs and the crazy woman goes to hug me, but I step back a little, let her know that’s not the kind of thing I do.
    “Hang on now, we got to talk about some things first. You got to tell me what days you want me here and…and that kind a thing.” Like how much you paying.
    “I guess…whenever you feel like coming,” she says.
    “For Miss Walters I work Sunday through Friday.”
    Miss Celia chews some more on her pink pinky-nail. “You can’t come here on weekends.”
    “Alright.” I need the days, but maybe later on she’ll let me do some party serving or whatnot. “Monday through Friday then. Now, what time you want me here in the morning?”
    “What time do you want to come in?”
    I’ve never had this choice before. I feel my eyes narrow up. “How bout eight. That’s when Miss Walters used to get me in.”
    “Alright, eight’s real good.” Then she stands there like she’s waiting for my next checker move.
    “Now you supposed to tell me what time I got to leave.”
    “What time?” asks Celia.
    I roll my eyes at her. “Miss Celia, you supposed to tell me that. That’s the way it works.”
    She swallows, like she’s trying real hard to get this down. I just want to get through this before she changes her mind about me.
    “How bout four o’clock?” I say. “I work eight to four and I gets some time for lunch or what-have-you.”
    “That’s just fine.”
    “Now…we got to talk bout pay,” I say and my toes start wriggling in my shoes. It must not be much if five maids already said no.
    Neither one of us says anything.
    “Now come on, Miss Celia. What your husband say you can pay?”
    She looks off at the Veg-O-Matic I bet she can’t even use and says, “Johnny doesn’t know.”
    “Alright then. Ask him tonight what he wants to pay.”
    “No, Johnny doesn’t know I’m bringing in help.”
    My chin drops down to my chest. “What you mean he don’t know?”
    “I am not telling Johnny.” Her blue eyes are big, like she’s scared to death of him.
    “And what’s Mister Johnny gone do if he come home and find a colored woman up in his kitchen?”
    “I’m sorry, I just can’t—”
    “I’ll tell you what he’s gone do, he’s gone get that pistol and shoot Minny dead right here on this no-wax floor.”
    Miss Celia shakes her head. “I’m not telling him.”
    “Then I got to go,” I say. Shit. I knew it. I knew she was crazy when I walked in the door —
    “It’s not that I’d be fibbing to him. I just need a maid—”
    “A course you need a maid. Last one done got shot in the head.”
    “He never comes home during the day. Just do the heavy cleaning and teach me how to fix supper and it’ll only take a few months—”
    My nose prickles from something burning. I see a waft of smoke coming from the oven. “And then what, you gone fire me after them few months?”
    “Then I’ll…tell him,” she say but she’s frowning at the thought. “Please, I want him to think I can do it on my own. I want him to think I’m…worth the trouble.”
    “Miss Celia…” I shake my head, not believing I’m already arguing with