The Gallant South- Part Two

Chapter VIII- March 16-20, 1913

           Eveline had always liked staying at Mama Elsie's house. It was a beautiful old house with the prettiest yard in the whole city. Eveline found herself getting lost in the woods for hours and hours on end, just wandering around, coming upon fields she'd never seen before, a creek, a little grove filled with flowers. Of course, not all the trees were full of leaves yet, but it was still beautiful.
        The first morning after she'd been dropped off was warm and sunny. When she woke up and went downstairs, Mama Elsie was already cooking breakfast. The windows and doors were open with screens to protect them from the bugs outside, filling the entire house with a breeze.
        "Mornin', Eveline," Mama Elsie greeted. "How 'ya feelin'?"
        "Same," Eveline replied, sitting down at the table. "You need any help?"
        "Nah, I'm almost finished here," Mama Elsie replied. "You got any plans for today?"
        "Just writing," Eveline replied. "'Cept I can't write on paper anymore 'cause my hands shake too badly. So I've just been typin'."
        "Why are yer hands shakin'?" Mama Elsie asked, confused. "You got arthritis or somethin'?"
        "No," Eveline replied. "I don't know what it is," she replied, taking a giant sip of coffee. Mama Elsie crossed her arms. "It's prolly all that coffee yer drinkin'. That ain't doin' nothin' good for 'ya."
        "Better than taking adrenaline," Eveline replied, mostly to herself.

        Now that Nielsen had no reason to arrest her, Eveline decided to take a walk through the city. Of course, it was dangerous to go alone, but she didn't have Cora to go with her. And besides, what was going to happen in broad daylight?
        What she could not escape, of course, was the jeering and staring from all sorts of people when she went by. And of course, the praise from others. Eveline didn't pay them any mind until a group of boys stopped up the sidewalk so she couldn't get past. When she tried walking into the road to go around them, one of them pushed her back onto the sidewalk.
        "I'd like to finish my walk," she said nonchalantly.
        "We don't like yer kind around here. With all them speeches an' essays," one of them said.
        "All kinds of people dislike all kinds of different things. Now unless you have a compelling argument, I'd suggest you move along," Eveline replied, still nonchalantly.
        "We ain't movin," another one of the boys said. "'Less you quit it with all them protests."
        "Well I don't plan on that," Eveline replied with a sigh. Can't even walk down the damn street, she thought.
        "Well then we don't plan on movin'. So what, we gonna stand here all day?"
        "I guess so," Eveline replied, lighting a cigarette.
        "You better drop that attitude o' yers," one of them drawled. "'Fore things start gettin' nasty."
        "So that's it. Violence. That's your answer to everything," Eveline replied.
        "You quit it!" one of them shouted. "You quit it and git on outta here!"
        "What's going on here?" called a voice. Eveline turned to find Alice strolling towards them. Eveline almost sighed, but then remembered Alice was on her side in altercations like this.
        "This damned bitch won't git outta here, is what," one of the boys replied.
        "I happened to have been going for a walk when you decided to block an entire sidewalk, regardless of whether there are people out here or not," Eveline explained.
        "Y'all get out of here," Alice said calmly to the boys. "Don't start something you won't be able to control. Miss Eveline is entitled to her opinion just as you're entitled to your own. No need to attack her over it. Now move along."
        "We ain't goin' nowhere," one of the boys drawled. "And if we gotta hit two ladies, so be it."
        Alice stalked up to the boy that had spoken and grabbed his collar. "We're gonna keep walking, and y'all aren't going to bother us. Now I'd get off that high horse of yours before something happens to you, alright?" she asked in a tone that was so calm it scared even Eveline.
        "Get yer hands offa me," the boy seethed. Alice didn't. "We're gonna keep walking. You're gonna leave. Got it?"
        He tried to swing his fist up at Alice, but she swung her knee up into his gut, punched him in the face, and he was down. The other boys stepped back.
        "Wanna fight us now?" she asked. Eveline grinned as the boys started to walk away, making excuses about how they had to go home.