*Interview with Mandy*
--_Daphne L.E. Curtis, Fairhope, Alabama_
"Howdy Miss. We is sure got a purty day fer de scrubbin' job. Hit will
dry as fas' as we turns hit loose.
"Now jes' look a yonder, ef she ain't got gold-fishes an' ever'thing
heart could wish!--Is they got ary increases?--Yassum,--dat's good;
mebby so you can sell some.
"Me got chillun?--well I is borned three head uv em, but dey all died
right now; didn't live a minute.
"Then I 'dopted me a baby boy. A little bitty girl borned him, an' she
didn't want him,--he was in her way. She said she'd kill him, an' I
didn't want her to git in no trouble, so I tooken him.
"But sho's you bawn I is sorry I done dat t'ing,--dat nigger so
triflin', he is goin' on fourteen now, an' he ain't no help to me at
all. He only come home when he hongry, an' that's plenty often.
"An' dis yere husbin' whut I is got now, he 'spicions me 'bout other
men's all de time, and de boy an' him togedder, keeps ever't'ing riled
up mos'ly, twell I'll be glad effen you was to say, you need me to sleep
on your place.
"Go to school? Yassum I sho did. I had three months a year for three
years, and a extra month onc't, that my mammy paid for. Dat made ten
months for me. I was de forwardest chile my mammy had. When dey was any
readin' to do my mammy sont fer me.
"Sis Kate kin turn off more work then I kin, but I can mek more cotton.
Oncet I won a contest wid a man an' made 480 pounds. Dey gimme a hundred
pounds for doin' it.
"Me and Taylor, he's my other husband, the one that died, we used to fo'
mek bales near 'bout every year, but dis yer husband whut I got now, he
don't do nothin' but jalous me, look lak he'd know I didn' want no man,
but jes' fer company; an' dat boy I brung up, he jus' runs nights 'twell
I am jes' plumb skeered. So one night I sont for my sister's boy, she is
my dead brother's wife, an' Miss, dat rascal, he would steal my las'
dime look like. Miss he would steal de har offen your haid could he jus'
git a holt, so I jes' sont him back. I talk to him nice befo' I sont
him, but hit didn' do no good so I up an' sont him.
"Then Miss Nellie (she that keeps the fillin' station) tooken him an' he
stole a whole ginger ale an' a coky coly, an' she cotch him wid em.
No'am he didn't git 'em open, effen he had uv, he would uv drunk 'em
both, he would fo' sure.
"An' him tellin' folks he married a rich widow. Huh, Mr. Corte he say,
'Mandy you is getting yo'se'f messed for sho'.' He did so Miss, an' he
done tole de truf' fo' God, he sho did. I is sho messed up wid 'em bofe.
"But Miss, hit was de bigges' cullud weddin', you ever see, an' me as
black as I is. Dey was three tables for de white folks, an' I don' know
how many cakes, an' Miss Bessie give me my marryin' dress, an' Mister
Harry he give me a dollar, an' him? O yessum, he been married befo', he
is got eight head uv chillun. His fust wife's bringin' em up, up in
Dallas County, an' him carryin' on like he is down here.
"I allus wanted chillun, a house plum full of 'em, en I done los' all I
could mek, so now effen I could of had me some widout 'em I never would
of had ary husban' a tall. No'am.
"Me dance? No'am I is j'ined to de Church. Miss Emily she showed me some
white folks dancin' oncet, but I thought they was gettin' too closet
togedder. In my day they used to swing corners.
"House parties, yassum I is served a many of em. That's what breaks you
down, though; day an' night an' day an' night.
"Well, good bye Miss, I sure do thank you for my dollar, an' my cup, an'
ever'thing. I is shore enjoyed my day wid you. Me an' you is real good
frien's now, ain't we? Hits been jes' like a partyin'.
"Now I'll be gettin' to Sis Katie's, she will mo'n likely want me to
carry her Lodge dues up. An Miss, please you ast the bus man, wid yo'
telephone, please sir wait for me jes' a minute."