To Make My Bread by Grace Lumpkin Read Free Book Online

pack slide from his back. He held it in front of him on the ground. Looking up through the hair that dangled in front of his eyes, John saw that the man was afraid of the dogs. And he smiled in himself. Then he looked again straight at the man. For there was something unusual about him, something astonishing. His shoulders had grown all awry. They were not the naturally bowed shoulders of people like Granpap and Emma who have leaned over a plow and hoe or a fireplace all their lives. There was a hump on the left side, like another head covered over with the shirt.
    â€œIt’s Small Hardy, a peddler,” Kirk said, coming back with the dogs in front and the stranger not far behind.
    Small Hardy set his pack on the ground and said Howdy to Granpap.
    â€œSit ye down,” Granpap told him and the man sat on the ground.
    There was a silence.
    â€œCome from far?” Granpap asked.
    â€œFrom the towns,” Hardy said. He wiped his face with a red handkerchief. When he took off his soft hat a wide forehead showed with hair growing far back. The head looked like a hill, bald on one side with trees growing halfway down on the other.
    â€œGoing far?” Granpap asked.
    â€œI’m aiming for Georgy,” the hump-back said. “They tell me you know the best trails.”
    Granpap looked at the peddler suspiciously. The little man looked back. He seemed to be holding in words, as if he liked to talk, but held back because of the company he was in.
    â€œYou want steep trails or easy ones?” Granpap asked and he watched Hardy.
    â€œGive me the easy ones,” Hardy said. Granpap seemed to be satisfied.
    â€œStay the night,” he told the peddler.
    â€œIf it won’t put you out,” Small Hardy said.
    â€œEmma,” Granpap called. Emma and Bonnie were already standing in the door. Emma answered.
    â€œThe stranger’s staying,” Granpap said.
    â€œHe’s welcome,” Emma spoke up, “to what we have.”
    John wished to feel the pack on the ground by Small Hardy. It had the most curious shapes. And Small Hardy with the hump and his bulging pockets was like another pack himself, full of mysterious and unknown things. John edged closer to them. Perhaps he could reach out and touch.
    Just then Georgy, the puppy he and Bonnie loved, came trotting into the front yard.
    â€œYours?” Hardy turned around and asked John. The question was so unexpected John drew back from the little man, who was only trying to make himself pleasant.
    â€œYes,” John said, looking at Hardy from under his lids.
    â€œWant to sell?”
    â€œSell?”
    â€œI could use the skin,” Hardy said, smiling.
    Without answering John picked up the puppy and carried him into the house. He hated the little man, who showed up evil wanting to skin his dog. Yet John was still curious about the packs and hung around the door watching. But he held the dog in his arms. Presently the men came in from the yard and gathered around the fire.
    When supper was over Emma cleared away the dishes. Granpap and the stranger sat in chairs near the fire, the others on the floor. Emma, who had waited as usual, sat at the table having her own supper.
    â€œGot something in the pack?” Granpap asked.
    Small Hardy had been waiting for this. He pushed back his chair and pulled the pack along the floor. Emma, seeing what was going on, left her corn bread and lit the lamp. There was a little oil left in the bottom.
    The hump-back drew his pack to the place where the dim light shone on the floor. He leaned over untying various strings and as he leaned his hump stood up from his back like a mountain peak from a ridge. Emma stooped over him. The others stayed back in the shadows. Only John edged closer along the floor, always keeping the pack between him and the man who had wanted to skin Georgy. Bonnie, the sleepy head, was dozing in a corner by the fire.
    There was some red calico in the pack. It was a