THE BLUEST EYE BARNES AND NOBLE PATCH

Her hands are large and rough, and when she rubs the Vicks salve on my chest, I am rigid with pain. Once I have generated a silhouette of warmth, I dare not move, for there is a cold place one-half inch in any direction. It takes a long time for my body to heat its place in the bed. I lie down in my underwear, the metal in the black garters hurts my legs, but I do not take them off, because it is too cold to lie stockingless. I trudge off to bed, full of guilt and self-pity. Frieda? Get some rags and stuff that window.'ДЇrieda restuffs the window. How many times do I have to tell you to wear something on your head? You must be the biggest fool in this town. When, on a day after a trip to collect coal, I cough once, loudly, through bronchial tubes already packed tight with phlegm, my mother frowns. Our illness is treated with contempt, foul Black Draught, and castor oil that blunts our minds. How, they ask us, do you expect anybody to get anything done if you all are sick? We cannot answer them. When we catch colds, they shake their heads in disgust at our lack of consideration. When we trip and fall down they glance at us if we cut or bruise ourselves, they ask us are we crazy. They issue orders without providing information. Adults do not talk to us - they give us directions. The others are braced in darkness, peopled by roaches and mice. At night a kerosene lamp lights one large room. It is impossible not to feel a shiver when our feet leave the gravel path and sink into the dead grass in the field.

THE BLUEST EYE BARNES AND NOBLE PATCH

Frieda and I lag behind, staring at the patch of color surrounded by black. The dying fire lights the sky with a dull orange glow. Later we walk home, glancing back to see the great carloads of slag being dumped, red hot and smoking, into the ravine that skirts the steel mill. Grown-ups talk in tired, edgy voices about Zick's Coal Company and take us along in the evening to the railroad tracks where we fill burlap sacks with the tiny pieces of coal lying about. School has started, and Frieda and I get new brown stockings and cod-liver oil.

The bluest eye barnes and noble