Page:The Blacker the Berry - Thurman - 1929.djvu/217

 have my feelings hurt.” She stopped for breath. Alva filled in the gap.

“If you ask me,” he said wearily, “I think you’re full of stuff. Let’s take a taxi. I'm too tired to walk.” He hailed a taxi, pushed her into it, and gave the driver the address. Then he turned to Emma Lou, saying something which he regretted having said a moment later.

“How did my friends insult you?”

“You know how they insulted me, sitting up making fun of me ’cause I'm black.”

Alva laughed, something he also regretted later.

“That’s right, laugh, and I suppose you laughed with them then, behind my back, and planned all that talk before I arrived.”

Alva didn’t answer and Emma Lou cried all the rest of the way home. Once there he tried to soothe her.

“Come on, Sugar, let Alva put you to bed.”

But Emma Lou was not to be sugared so easily. She continued to cry. Alva sat down on the bed beside her.

“Snap out of it, won’t you, Honey? You're just tired. Go to bed and get some sleep. You'll be all right tomorrow.”

Emma Lou stopped her crying.

“I may be all right, but I'll never forget the way