![]() ![]() Some of ’em been in de ’Glades fuh years. Not so bad dere, but man, dis muck is too low and dat big lake is liable tuh bust.” He say hurricane warning out in Palm Beach. You ain’t seen de bossman go up, is yuh? Well all right now. You and Janie wanta go? Ah wouldn’t give nobody else uh chawnce at uh seat till Ah found out if you all had anyway tuh go.” Tea Cake came out throwin’ laughter over his shoulder into the house. One of the Bahaman boys stopped by Tea Cake’s house in a car and hollered. A thousand buzzards held a flying-meet and then went above the clouds and stayed. ![]() Several people took fright and picked up and went in to Palm Beach anyway. That night the palm and banana trees began that long distance talk with rain. Several times during the night Janie heard the snort of big animals like deer. The men killed a few, but they could not be missed from the crawling horde. Snakes, rattlesnakes began to cross the quarters. By the time the people left the fields the procession was constant. Some possums slunk by and their route was definite. Some rabbits scurried through the quarters going east. Even before the sun gave light, dead day was creeping from bush to bush watching man. The winds, to the tiniest, lisping baby breath had left the earth. It was hot and sultry and Janie left the field and went home. Another night of Stew Beef making dynamic subtleties with his drum and living, sculptural, grotesques in the dance. You couldn’t have a hurricane when you’re making seven and eight dollars a day picking beans. Beans running fine and prices good, so the Indians could be, must be, wrong. The next day, more Indians moved east, unhurried but steady. Hurricane coming.”Įverybody was talking about it that night. This time she asked where they were all going and at last one of the men answered her. About an hour later another party appeared and went the same way. They were headed towards the Palm Beach road and kept moving steadily. She had seen Indians several times in the ’Glades, in twos and threes, but this was a large party. The men walking in front and the laden, stolid women following them like burros. So she was home by herself one afternoon when she saw a band of Seminoles passing by. Often now, Tea Cake and Janie stayed up so late at the fire dances that Tea Cake would not let her go with him to the field. Many of the Americans learned to jump and liked it as much as the “Saws.” So they began to hold dances night after night in the quarters, usually behind Tea Cake’s house. They quit hiding out to hold their dances when they found that their American friends didn’t laugh at them as they feared. Since Tea Cake and Janie had friended with the Bahaman workers in the ’Glades, they, the “Saws,” had been gradually drawn into the American crowd. ![]()
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