Palindrome

CHAPTER 22

They spoke in a patois no white person could understand, even though they were alone together at the old slave quarters. There were elements of both Gullah and Geechee, spoken by inhabitants of islands farther north in Georgia and South Carolina, but much of the dialect was peculiar to the slaves on Cumberland and their descendants, and now only Buck Moses and his grandson James spoke it. "Big changes coming," Buck said. "What kind of changes, Granddaddy?"

"A big wind going to blow through Cumberland. Everything change. I'm glad I ain't going to be alive to see it."

"You're not going to die, Granddaddy. You outlived four wives and everybody else on this island. I don't think you're ever going to die."

Buck Moses grinned toothlessly. "Tell you the truth, I just about believe that myself till right recent." His face grew sober again. "But I'm going to die, just like everybody else. I'll outlive your daddy, though."

It took James a moment to sort out who his grandfather meant, and then he was shocked. Buck had never spoken of this before. "You knowed, didn't you?" Buck asked.

"Maybe," James replied, still cautious of speaking about it.

"He won't never say it to you," Buck said, sipping the hot tea he had made from herbs.

"Not to your face. But he'll let you know. I knowed him since he was a baby; he won't let it pass. Could mean trouble for you."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Angus a rich man. He got a lot of kinfolk. Folks don't let go of money easy, and ain't going to be nobody to help you on this island."

"They going to think I want his money?"

"You crazy if you don't." Buck snorted. "You just like everybody else, you got to eat, got to have a roof. You going to need it."

"I can make my way," James said, offended. "You taught me all my life how to live off this island. If I can't make it on the mainland, I'll hunt my living here."

"Maybe, maybe not," Buck said. "They maybe don't want you here when they know you his son. They maybe run you off."

"They got to find me first," James said. Buck laughed out loud.

"That's right, they got to find you. You give 'em a hunt, eh?"

"Yessir." James was quiet for a moment. "Granddaddy, anybody else know about this?"

"Folks got eyes. Germaine might be guessing, Hamish and Keir, too."

"They like me, don't they?"

"Sure, boy, but you don't know folks when they fighting over money. Keir won't do nothing to hurt you. I don't know about Hamish and Germaine. Hamish funny sometime."

"What's the matter with those fellows?" James asked. "How come they don't like each other?"

"Those boys lovez each other; that's why they like they are."

"But you can't talk about one of them to the other one, or he'll walk off. That don't be the way folks act when they love one another."

"There's a reason," Buck said.

"What reason? What could be so bad they won't even know one another?"

"I know. I'm the only one who know. Sometime I think them boys don't know theirselves. But I know."

"Tell me, then."

"I ain't going to tell nobody," Buck said vehemently. "I'm taking it to my grave. But they going to come face to face before long, and I just hope…" His voice trailed off.

"Hope what, Grandaddy?"

"I ain't talking about it no more," Buck said. He finished off his tea. "I'll tell you something. When Angus die, you go see Miz Elizabeth."

"How come?"

"Angus in love with her. He do her right, she do you right."

"But Granddaddy, he's what-sixty or seventy years older than Miz Elizabeth."

"Don't make no difference. I know Angus; I knowed him since he was born. He like a pretty woman. Ain't been one around here for a long time, and he lonesome."

"Don't make no sense to me." James sighed.

"You listen to me, boy. When Angus die, you go see Miz Elizabeth. She help you."

"If you say so, Grandaddy."

Buck Moses got up and walked to the window. "Big wind coming to Cumberland," he said.