Arkansas State press., 1942-01-30
FRIDAY. JAN. 30. 1912

. st' - ss'leH AHdlk dust
from has trousers and walked a
little distance away Zig ~ =ts-
mach burned ana hazy black
cloud lowered a moment before
his eyes, and left. Mixed images
Of violence ran like sand through
his mind, dy and fast, vanishing.
He could slap Gus with his knife;
he could trip him; h" could kick
him - could trip him up and
send hun sprawlIng on his face.
He could do a lot of things to
Gus for making HIM feel this way.
Come on, G H. Gus said.
"Whare we goine?'
Lets walk
20. X"
what we gonna do?' Jack
asked "Meet here at three?9
"SWe' Bigger said. "Didn't
we Just decide?
"IH be here" Gus said with
his back turned,
When Gus and G II. had gene
Bigger sat down and felt eaId
sweat ON his skin. 1t was planned
row and he would have to go thru
with it, His teeth gritted ana
the last image he had seen of Gus
going through the door fingered in
his mind, He could have taken one
If the cue sticks and gripped it
hard and swung it at the back of
Gus head, feeling the impact Of
the hard wood cracking against
the bottom of the skull The tight
feeling was still il him and he
antw that il would remain until
they were actually doing the job,
until they were i'll the store tax
ing the money,
you and Gus sure don't get
along none, Jack, shaking his
head
Bigger turned and looked at
Jack; he had forgotten that Jack
was still there.
"Aw, that yellow black bastard"
Bigger said.
He all right" Jack said
Hes scared Bigger sad.
"To make him ready fer a job,
you have to make him scared two
! ways. You have to make him
more scared Of what'll happen to
him if he don't do the job than
Of whatll harpen to him if he
pulls the job
IL we going to Blum's today,
we oughtn't fuss like this Jack
| said. 1--WE got a job on our hands,
a real job"
"Sure. SIRE, | know Bigger
said,
Bigger felt an urgent need to
hide his growing and deepening
feeling of hysteria; he had to get
rid Of IT or else he would stfec.nah,
to it, He longed for a stimulus
powerful enough to focus his at
tention and drain off his energies.
He wanted to run. Or listen to
some swing music, Or laugh or
Joke. Or read Real Detective
Story Magazine. Or go to a NOV
lie. Or visit Bessie. All that
morning he had lurked behind his
curtain of indifference and look
ed at things, swapping and glar-
ing at whatever had tried to make
him come out into the open. But
now he was out; the thought of
! the jib at Blum's and the tilt he
had had with Gus had shared him
INTO things and his self trust was
! gene. Confidence could only come
again now through action so viol-
emit that it would make him forget
, These were the rhythms of his
life; Indifference and violence;
periods Of abstract brooding and
periods of intense desire; moments
Of silence and moments Of anger;
/ like water ebbing and flowing
from the tug of far away, in
visible force. Being this way was
a need Of his as dear as eating
He was like 2 strange plant bloom
,ng in the day and willing at mite;
but the sun that made it bloom
and the cold darkness that made
it wilt were never seen. 1t was
his own sun and darkness, pri-
waite and personal sun and dark
ness, He was bitterly proud OF
his swiftly changing moods and
boosted when he had to suffer
the results of them. 1t was the
way he was, he would say, he
could not help it, he would say
End his head would wag, And 1t
was his sulIen stare and the VOL
ent action that followed that made
Gus and Jack and G, II. hate and
fear him as much as he hated
end feared himself.
where you want to go?' Jack
asked Pm tired of setting
Lets walk" Bigger said.
They went to the front door
Bigger raused and looked round
the poolroom with a wild and eN-
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