place, and it was Mitchell who got me out of it. Those boys came along and started picking on me. There were four of them, and since my brothers werenât around and, at the moment, neither was Mitchell, I suppose they figured they could get away with it.
âJusâ look at that little nigger white boy sittinâ there on the bank got nothinâ tâ do,â said a boy I recognized as R. T. Roberts. âGot nothinâ tâ do but sit there lookinâ at some fool book.â
âWell, if I had me a white daddy who own the place, âspect I wouldnât have nothinâ tâ do neither,â said another.
I glanced up at them, but I said nothing.
âLetâs see jusâ what ya got there, nigger white boy,â said R.T. Then he grabbed the book right out of my hands. Thatâs when I jumped up, but I still said nothing. âNow, letâs see what this here is.â R.T. flipped through the pages.
âGot no pictures,â observed one of the boys.
âWhatâs them words?â asked another, peering over.
âDonât know,â said R.T. âJusâ know they white folksâ words.â Then he looked at me. âWhat ya doinâ usinâ white folksâ words, boy?â he barked at me, imitating the way Iâd heard white men speak to black folks. He and the other boys broke into laughter.
âItâs called English,â I said, breaking my silence. âAnybody wants to read it can learn to read it.â
The boys scoffed at my words. âSo, maybe you want tâ teach us, same as you teachinâ Mitchell, huh?â
I shrugged. âYou want to learn, I will.â
âYeah . . .â sneered another. âWe got our own schools now, and we wanted tâ learn any of that stuff, weâd be goinâ there. Weâd hardly be takinâ any teachinâ from the likes of you. You with yoâ white daddy.â
By now I was tired of folks putting me down because of my daddy. My daddy was a white man and there was nothing I could do about it, so I figured I might as well make use of the fact. âThatâs right,â I said. âIâve got a white daddy, all right, and youâre standing on his land. Maybe youâd like to get off it.â
The boy who had made the remark about my daddy stepped toward me, but R.T. put up his hand and stopped him. âNow wait a minute, wait a minute,â he said. âMaybe this here boy Paul gots a point âbout readinâ. Maybe he can teach us somethinâ. Letâs see now . . . maybe he can teach us how tâ read this hereââ He tore a page from the book and thrust it at me.
âDonât do that!â I cried.
âOr maybe this one here.â Another boy ripped out a second page.
âStop it!â
âYa know somethinâ?â said R.T. âI donât much like this book no ways, seeinâ it ainât got no pictures, and what I donât like, I donât tolerate!â Then he grabbed a handful of pages and tore them from the binding.
With that I threw myself at R.T., punching him with all my might. I had learned how to fight well enough to defend myself, but I certainly wasnât capable of fighting four boys at once, and they let me know that too. They laughed and all of them had a shot at meâthat is, until Mitchell Thomas came along. There was a sudden silence before I even knew Mitchell was there. All I knew was that R.T., who was beating at my face, was suddenly jerked away, and laid out flat to the ground with a thunderous pop. Then I saw Mitchell through the slit of my swollen eye. He stood over R.T. and pointed to me. âNow, anybody want at this boyâll hafta fight me,â he said calmly.
All the boys were silent at first, then one of them laughed nervously. âAh, we was jusâ joshinâ witâ him, Mitchell.â
âYeah,â said another.
Charles Dickens, Matthew Pearl