Chapter One{1}
BRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNG!
An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room. A bed spring creaked. A woman's voice sang out impatiently;
"Carl,shut that thing off!'
A surly grunt sounded above the tiny ring of metal. Naked feet swished dryly across the planks in the wooden floor and the clang ceased abruptly
"Turn on the light, Carl!"
"Awright" came a sleepy mumble
Light flooded the room and revealed a black boy standing in a narrow space between two iron beds,rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. From a bed to his right the woman spoke again
"Noah,get up from there! I got a big washing on my hands today and I want you-all out of here"
Another black boy rolled from bed and stood up. The woman also Rose and stood in her nightgown.
"Turn your head's so I can dress" she said
The two boys averted their eyes and gazed into a far corner of the room. The woman rushed out of her nightgown and put on a pair of stepins. She turned to the bed from which she had risen and called;
"Vera! Get up from there!"
"What time is it, Ma?' asked a muffled, adolescent voice from beneath a quilt
"Get up from there I say!"
"O.K.,Ma"
A brown skinned girl in a cotten gown got up and stretched her arms abover her head and yawned. Sleepily,she sat on a chair and fumbled with her stockings. The two boys kept their faces averted while their mother and sister put on enough clothes to keep them from feeling ashamed; and the mother and sister did the same while the boys dressed . Abruptly,they all paused holding their clothes in their hands , their attention caught by a light tapping in the thinly plastered walls of the room. They forgot their conspiracy against shame and their eyes strayed apprehensively over the floor.
"There he is again,Carl!" The woman screamed and the tiny one room apartment galvanized into violent action. A chair toppled as the woman, halfdressed and in her stocking feet,scrambled breathlessly upon the bed. Her two sons, anxiously under the bed and chairs. The girl ran into a corner,half stopped and gathered the Hem of her slip into both of her hands and held it tightly over her knees
"Oh,Oh!" She wailed
"There he goes!'
The woman pointed a shaking finger. Her eyes were round with fascinated horror
"Where?'
"I don't see 'im!'
"Carl , he's behind the trunk!' the girl whimpered .
"Vera!' the woman screamed. "Get up here on the bed! Don't let that thing bite you!'
Frantically , Beta climbed upon the bed and the woman caught hold of her. With their arms entwined about each other, the black mother and the brown daughter gazed open mouthed at the trunk in the corner
Carl looked round the room widly,then darted to a curtain and swept it aside and grabbed two heavy iron skillets from a well above a gas stove. He whirled and called softly to his brother,his eyes glued to the trunk .
"Noah!'
"Yeah?'
"Here,take this Skillet's
O.K.'
"Now get over by the door"
"O.K'
Noah crouched by the door and held the iron skillet by it's handle ,his arm flexed and poised . Save for the quick, deep breathing of the four people,the room was quiet. Carl crept on tiptoe towards the trunk with the skillet clutched stiffly in his hand his eyes dancing and watching every inch of the wooden floor in front of him. He paused and without moving an eye or muscle ,called
"Noah!'
"Hunh?'
"Put that box in front of the hole so he can't get out!'
"O.K"
Noah ran to a wooden box and shoved it quickly in front of a gaping hole in the molding and then backed again to the door, holding the skillet ready. Carl eased to the trunk and peered behind it cautionsly . He saw nothing. Carefully he stuck out his bare foot and pushed the truck a few inches.
"There he is!' the mother screamed again
A huge black rat squealed and leaped at Carl's trouser leg and snagged it in his teeth hanging on.
"Goddamn!' Carl whispered fiercely , whirling and kicking out his leg with all the strength of his body . The force of his movement shook the rat loose and it sailed throught the air and struck a wall. Instantly it rolled over and leaped again.
Carl dodged and the rat landed against a table leg. With clenched teeth , Carl held the skillet he was afraid to hurl in fearing that he might miss. The rat squeaked and turned and ran in a narrow circle , looking for a place to hide; it leaped again pass Carl and scurried on dry rasping feet to one side of the box and then to the other , searching for the hole . Then it turned and reared upon it's hind legs
"Hit e'm, Carl!'Noah shouted .
"Kill im!"the woman screamed
The rat's belly pulsed with fear. Carl advanced a step an the at emitted a long thin song of defiance,it's black Brady eyes glittering,it's tiny forefeet pawing restlessly.Carl swung the skillet, it skidded over the floor,missing the rat and clattered to a stop against a wall
"Goddamn!
The rat leaped. Carl sprang to one side. The rat stopped under a chair and let out a furious screak. Carl moved slowly backwards towards the door
"Gimme the skillet , Noah!' he asked quietly not taking his eyes from the rat
Noah extended his hand. Carl caught the skillet and lifted it high in the air. The rat scuttled accross the floor and stopped again at the box and searched quickly for the hole; then it reared once more and bared long yellow fangs piping shrilly ,belly quivering.
Carl aimed and let the skillet fly with a heavy grunt. There were a shattering of wood as the box caved in. The woman screamed and hid her face in her hands . Can tiptoed forward and peered
"I got 'im', he muttered , his clenched teeth bared in a smile
"By God,I got 'im".
He kicked the splintered box out of the way and the flat black body of the rat lay exposed ,it's two long yellow tusks showing distinctly. Carl took a shoe and pounded the rat's head crushing it,cursing hysterically :
"You sonofabitch!
The woman on the bed sank to her knees and buried her face in the quilts and sobbed
"Lord,Lord have mercy....'
"Aw Mama's, Vera whimpered bending to her. "Don't cry. It's dead now'
The two brothers stood over the dear rat and spoke In tones of awed admiration
"Gee but he's a big bastard'.
"That sonofabitch could cut your throat"
"He's over a foot long'.
"How in hell do they get so big?'
"Eating garbage and anything else they can get'.
"Look Carl! There's a three inch rip in your pant leg'.
"Yeah he was after me,all right'.
"Please Carl,take 'im out" Vera begged.
"Aw don't be so scary!" Noah said
The woman on the bed continued to do. Carl took a piece of newspaper and gingerly lifted the rat by its tail and held it out at arm's length.
"Carl take 'im out!', Vera begged again
Carl laughed and approached the bed with the dangling rat,swinging it to and fro like a pendulum,enjoying his sister's fear.
"Carl!' Vera gasped convulsively ; she screamed and swayed and closed her eyes and fell headalong across her mother and rolled limpy from the bed to the floor
"Carl for God's sake!' the mother sobbed riding and bending over Vera "Don't do that! Throw that rat out!'
He laid the rat down and started to dress
"Carl help me lift Vera to the bed', the mother said
He paused and turned round
"What's the matter?' he asked feigning ignorance.
"Do what I asked you,will you,boy?'
He went to the bed and helped his mother lift Vera. Vera's eyes were closed. He turned away and finished dressing. He wrapped the rat in a newspaper and went out of the door and down the stairs and put it into a garbage can at the corner of an alley. When he returned to the room his mother was still bent over Vera placing a wet towel upon her head. She straightened and faced him,her cheeks and eyes wet with tears and her lips tight with anger
"Boy sometimes I wonder what make you cat like you do'.
"What I do now?' he demanded belligerently.
"Sometimes you act the biggest fool I ever saw'.
"What you talking about?'
"You scared your sister with that rat and she fainted! Ain't you got no sense at all?'
"Aw I didn't know she was that scary'.
"Noah!' the mother called .
"Yessum'
"Take a newspaper and spread it over that spot'.
"Yessum'.
Noah opened out a newspaper and covered the smear of blood on the floor where the rat had been crushed. Carl went to the window and stood looking abstractedly into the street . His mother glared at his back.
"Carl sometimes I wonder why I birthed you'. She said bitterly
Bigger looked at her and turned away
"Maybe you oughtn't've. Maybe you ought to left me where I was'.
"You shut your sassy mouth!'
"Aw for chrissakes!'Carl said . Lighting a cigarette.
"Noah pick up them skillets and put 'em in the sink', the mother said
"Yessum'.
