NEGRO YOUTH SPEAKS
169
JANE
Come here!
[Presently Alec, a youth of twenty, appears. He is in his shirt sleeves and is wearing a slouch hat. She hands him the bucket.]
Get me a bucket of water.
[Taking the bucket, Alec goes out to the right and Jane comes back to the table. Looking towards the kitchen.]
Come on, children, Ah ain't got all day to wait.
[Her two daughters, Annie, eighteen, and Ruth, fourteen, enter from the kitchen. Both are pretty girls but shabbily dressed. ANNIE is carrying a small market basket.]
[Taking money from her pocket and giving it to Annie.]
Be sure and don't forget the coffee.
[Looking closely at Annie.]}}
What's the matter with you, gal? You ain't smiled in the last two days.
ANNIE
Nothin'.
JANE
It must be somethin'. You ain't been actin' like that all the time. It's enough for me and Alec to be goin' around with heavy hearts. You'-all ain't old enough to have no troubles yet.
ANNIE
[Looking away.]
Ain't nothin' the matter with me.
JANE
All right, go on; and don't forget to hurry back.
[They go out. She stands in the doorway watching them and shaking her head.]
[To Alec as he returns with the bucket of water and is on his way to the kitchen with it.]
When you get done cuttin' the wood come in and Ah'll have a good cup o' coffee for you.
