as if she couldn't get her breath.
"Lady," he asked, "would you
and that little girl like to step
off yonder with Bobby Lee and
Hiram and join your husband?"
"Yes, thank you," the mother
said faintly. Her left arm
dangled helplessly and she was
holding the baby, who had
gone to sleep, in the other.
"Hep that lady up, Hiram," The
Misfit said as she struggled to
climb out of the ditch, "and
Bobby Lee, you hold onto that
little girl's hand."
"I don't want to hold hands
with him," June Star said. "He
reminds me of a pig."
The fat boy blushed and
laughed and caught her by the
arm and pulled her off into the
woods after Hiram and her
mother.
Alone with The Misfit, the
grandmother found that she
had lost her voice. There was
not a cloud in the sky nor any
sun. There was nothing around
her but woods. She wanted to
tell him that he must pray. She
opened and closed her mouth
several times before anything
came out. Finally she found
herself saying, "Jesus. Jesus,"
meaning, Jesus will help you,
but the way she was saying it,
it sounded as if she might be
cursing.
"Yes'm," The Misfit said as if
he agreed. "Jesus shown
everything off balance. It was
the same case with Him as with
me except He hadn't committed
any crime and they could prove
I had committed one because
they had the papers on me. Of
course," he said, "they never
shown me my papers. That's
why I sign myself now. I said
long ago, you get you a
signature and sign everything
you do and keep a copy of it.
Then you'll know what you
done and you can hold up the
crime to the punishment and
see do they match and in the
end you'll have something to
prove you ain't been treated
right. I call myself The Misfit,"
he said, "because I can't make
what all I done wrong fit what
JOY FEELINGS | DECEMBER ISSUE
247