"A letter came today," Mama said, "Bell is sending her boy Louin here to go huntin with you."
"The hell you say!" Dad said. "We ain't heard hide nor hair of her in five years." Dad got up from the table. "Got to go clean some bee gums."
He did that a lot when something didn't suit him. Talking about Bell never did.
"That baby sister of yourn was powerful headstrong, "Aunt Nica said to him as he went out the door, "even while she wus a young'un."
"She's your sister too," Mama said to Aunt Nica. "Don't forge--"
"Where does Aunt Bell live, anyway?" I said.
"She went to Charlotte to work when she was barely grown," Mama said. "Never came back."
A lot of people go off to them cotton mill towns. I'd even heard Dad say he might have to, if times got really hard.
"Where is Charlotte?" My younger sister said.
"It's a far piece off," Mama said. "Your Dad reasoned that Bell ought to come home as soon as she had enough money to get on her feet like other folks."
"Well, how old is this boy Louin?" I said.
"He ain't no boy," Mama said, "he's a right smart older than you--I believe he's twenty past."
"When does he get here?" I said.
"He's coming on the bus when it runs day after tomorrow."