Mules
and Men is available from Barnes
& Noble Online. .
Mules and Men
Chapter 1
As I crossed the Maitland-Eatonville township line I could see a group on the store porch. I was delighted. The town had not changed. Same love of talk and song. So I drove on down there before I stopped. Yes, there was George Thomas, Calvin Daniels, Jack, and Charlie Jones, Gene Brazzle, B. Moseley and "Seaboard." Deep in a game of Florida-flip. All of those who were not actually playing were giving advice - "bet straightening" they called it.
"Hello, boys," I hailed them as I went into neutral.
They looked up from the game and for a moment it looked as if they had forgotten me. Then B. Moseley said,"Well, if it ain't Zora Hurston!" Then everybody crowded around the car to help greet me.
"You gointer stay awhile, Zora?"
"Yep. Several months."
"Where you gointer stay?"
"With Mett and Ellis, I reckon."
"Mett" was Mrs. Armetta Jones, an intimate friend of mine since childhood and Ellis was her husband. Their house stands under the huge camphor tree on the front street.
"Hello, heart-string," Mayor Hiram Lester yelled as he hurried up the street. "We heard all about you up North. You back home for good, I hope."
"Nope, Ah come to collect some old stories and tales and Ah know y'all know plenty of 'em and that's why Ah headed straight for home."
"what you mean, Zora, them big old lies we tell when we're jus' sittin' around here on the store porch doin' nothin'?" asked B. Moseley.
"yeah, those same ones about Ole Massa, and colored folks in heaven, and - oh, y'all know the kind I mean."
Mules and Men is available from Barnes & Noble Online. .