I should have got back to the quarter no later than six o’clock, but just as we knocked off, the tractor went dead on me. My heart jumped in my throat because I didn’t know how long it was going to take me to get the tractor fixed. Freddie and them didn’t know either, and since they had already heard about what Marcus was supposed to do, they didn’t want to hang around the fields too late and they started out for home. I started to leave with them and come back to fix the tractor later, but I told myself that fixing the tractor was my work just like driving it.
It took me an hour to get the tractor running again. The sun was already down when I finally hit the road. I didn’t have any lights on the tractor, but still I drove her fast as she could go. I knew it was getting close to seven o’clock, and I knew Marcus was getting ready to leave. I wanted to be there to say good-bye to him. No matter what a person does, there ought to be somebody on his side at the last moment. And what had Marcus done that was so wrong? Yes, he had killed—yes, yes—but didn’t they give him the right to kill? I had been thinking about this in the field all evening and I had said to myself, “Yes, yes; it’s not Marcus, it’s them. Marcus was just the tool. Like Hotwater was the tool—put there for Marcus to kill. Like Bonbon was the tool—put there to work Marcus. Like Pauline was a tool, like Louise was a tool.…” So I didn’t blame Marcus any more. Yes, in a way I did, because I still didn’t think it was right to kill. And I didn’t think it was right to go free after killing. But what could I do against this big thing that said Yes. I couldn’t do a thing. Bonbon had said, “We is nothing but little people. They make us do what they want us to do and they don’t tell us nothing.” So why blame Marcus? Why blame him? No, I didn’t blame Marcus any more. I admired Marcus. I admired his great courage. And that’s why I wanted to hurry up and get to the front. That’s why my heart had jumped in my throat when the tractor went dead on me—I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to tell him how much I admired what he was doing. I wanted to tell him how brave I thought he was. He was the bravest man I knew, the bravest man I had ever met. Yes, yes, I wanted to tell him that. And I wanted to tell Louise how I admired her bravery. I wanted to tell them that they were starting something—yes, that’s what I would tell them; they were starting something that others would hear about, and understand, and would follow. “You are both very brave and I worship you,” I was going to say. And I was going to shake Marcus’s hand, and I was going to kiss Louise on the jaw—that’s if she let me. And I was going to ask them to let me buy candy for Tite. Yes, I would buy a big bag of candy so she would always remember that there was somebody on her side when she went away.
I didn’t slow up at all from the time I left the field until I came in the quarter. Soon as I crossed the railroad tracks, I could see how dark and quiet the quarter was. There wasn’t a light on in any house. There wasn’t a child playing anywhere. Nobody sat out on the gallery waiting for supper to be done. Not even a speck of smoke came from any of the kitchen chimleys. The whole place was so dark and quiet, it looked like everybody had moved away. But they hadn’t moved away, they had locked themselves inside the houses. All of them had heard what Marcus was supposed to do and all of them were afraid. It was the same fear that made me hate Marcus at first. It was fear for myself and all the rest. The fear was still in me, but I didn’t blame Marcus for it any more. Because it wasn’t Marcus who was doing this; it was the big people.
I drove through the quarter just as fast as I had driven from the field. There wasn’t any need to go slow now, because everybody was inside. When I came up to my house, I saw Marcus’s door wide open. I stopped the tractor and ran in to see if he was there. His suitcases were gone, so I knew he had left already. I ran back out and got on the tractor. Maybe I would catch him at the other house. I thought I saw the small red light of a car way up the quarter, and I drove the tractor fast as it could go. Then I saw the red light turn out of the quarter, and I thought I had missed Marcus for sure now. I felt a big lump in my throat because I wanted to see him before he got away. Seeing how all the people had locked themselves inside, I felt more proud of Marcus now than I ever did. I wanted to tell Louise how proud I was of her, too.
Then I saw somebody running toward me. It was getting very dark now and I couldn’t tell who it was until he was right on the tractor. Then I recognized Sun Brown. He acted like he didn’t see the tractor. If I hadn’t ducked out of his way, he might have run right into me.
“Sun?” I hollered at him. “Sun? What’s the matter? Sun? Sun?”
He kept running. He was running like a man who was very tired. He could hardly move his legs, and still he was running.
I was coming up to Bonbon’s house now. I saw a car parked before the gate. As I came closer, I saw it was the ’41 Ford Marcus was supposed to leave in. The front door on the driver’s side was opened. The rear door on the other side was opened, too. I stopped the tractor and jumped down. I looked in the back of the car and I saw a pasteboard box on the seat. I looked toward the house. The house was dark. But I thought I saw somebody sitting on the steps. I went up to the gate to get a closer look. Yes, somebody was sitting on the steps. I pulled the gate open and went in the big yard. I thought the dog was going to start barking at me, but he never did. Later, I learned that Louise had locked the dog in the kitchen when Marcus came there to get her and Tite. I went up to the small gate, and I saw it was Bonbon sitting on the steps with Tite in his arms. Laying on the ground to the left of the steps was Marcus. I pulled the gate open and went in the yard. The front of Marcus’s clothes was black with blood. I knelt down beside him to brush some dirt from his face, and that’s when I noticed Louise crawling from under the house. Louise wore a light-color dress, and her face was black. The little girl’s face was black, too, who laid in Bonbon’s arms. Louise’s right hand was up to her mouth—no, not the hand, the tip of her fingers. She didn’t see anybody but Marcus. I’m not sure she saw him either—she just knew where he was. She knelt down ’side me, without seeing me, gazing down at Marcus all the time. Then she brought her right hand slowly from her mouth and touched his face. She touched it lightly, almost not touching it at all. She touched his hair and his ear just as lightly. Then she touched his face like that again.
“You hurt, Marky-poo?” she said softly. “You hurt?”
I started to pull her away from him, but I changed my mind. It wasn’t because Bonbon was sitting there—I didn’t care about Bonbon. I didn’t care if he killed me just like he had killed Marcus. I didn’t pull her away from him because this was going to be their last time together.
“You hurt, Marky-poo?” she said again. “You hurt?”
She laid her face against his. She didn’t say another word long as I was there; she didn’t even cry.
The reason why Sun had been running in the road was because he had seen it all. This is what he saw.