Arkansas State press., 1942-06-05
'@NatiVe Son"
BY Richard Wright

round the basement, turning his
head like an animal with eyes and
ears alert, searching to see If any
thing was amiss, The room was
exactly as he had left it last
night, He walked about, looking
closer. All at once he stopped,
his eyes widening. Directly in
front of him he saw small piece
of blood stained news paper lying
in the livid reflection cast by the
cracks in the door of the furnace.
Had Peggy seen that? He ran to
the light and turned it out and
ran back and looked at the piece
of paper, He could barely see it.
1t meant that Peggy had not seen
it. How about Mary? Had she
burned? He turned the light back
en- and picked up the piece Of
paper, He glanced to the left
and hight to see if any one was
watching, then opened the fur
mace door and peercd in, his eyes
filled with the vision Of Mary and
her bloody throat. The inside OF
the furnace breathed and CULVER
ed in the grip of fiery Goals. But
there was no sign Of the body,
even though the hody's image
lowered before his eyes, between
his eyes and the bed of Goals burn
ing holly. Like the oblong mound
of fresh clay of newly made
grave, the red Goals revealed the
bent outline of Mary's body. He
had the feeling that if he simply
touched that red ohlong mound
with his finger it would cave in
and Mary's body would come into
full view, unburnt. The Goals
had the appearance Of having
burnt the body beneath, leaving the
glowing embers formed into
shell of red holiness with a hol-
lowed spaced In the center, keep
ing still in the embrace Of the
quiveling Goals the huddled shape
off Mary's body. He blinked his
eyes and became aware that ne
still held the piece Of paper in his
| and. lie lifted it to the level
Of the door and the draft sucked
it from his fingers; he watched
it fly into the red trembling heat,
smoke, turn black, blaze then
vanish. He shut the fan; there
was no danger Of scent now.
He shut the door and pulled the
lever for more coal, The rafting
Of the tiny Jumps against the
tin sides Of, the chute came loud
" to his ears as the oblong mound
Of red fire turned gradually black
and blazed from the faLwisc
Speeding of coal whirling into the
furnace. He shut off the lever
and stood up; things were all
right so far. AS long as no ono
poked around in that fire, things
would he all right. He himself
did not want to poke in it, for
fear that some part of Mary was
still there. If things could go op
like this until afternoon, Mary
would be burned enough to make
him safe. He turned and looked
at the trunk again. On. He must
rot forget! He had to put those
Communist pamphlets in his room
right away. He ran back OF the
furnace, up the steps to his room
and placed the pamphlets smooth
" and neatly In a corner OF MS
dresser drawer. Yes, they would
have to be stacked neatly. No one
must think that he had read them.
He went back to the basement
and stood uncertainty in front OF
the furnace. He felt that he had
left something undone, something
that would tn ray him. Maybe
he ought to shake the ashes down
Yes, The fire must not BECOME 80
with cinders Il at 1t would
not burn. At the moment he stoop-
ed to grasp the protruding handle
Ct the lower biz to shake 1t 70
and fro, a vivid image Of NAry's
face as he had seen it upon the
bed in the blue light Of the room
Q cleaned at him from the smolder-
ing embers, ana hs rose, abruptly,
eiddy and hystelicai with guilt.
He had to get out into the AIR,
AWAY from this basement whose
very walls sseNed to loom closer
about him each second, making IT
difficulty for him to breathe.
Continued next Week.