Browse:Delapidated House (Volume 1, entries 859)
Delapidated House
Volume 1, entries 859. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → THE DOCTORS THEMSELVES: BIRTH TO DEATH: DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 859
[Some doctors live in delapidated houses. I have described my finding on a public dump the tin-can-covered hut of Doctor Dog Face - see Introduction. But delapidated house, isolation, queer looks, while occasionally true - these are part of the hoodoo mythology:] Well, de story about de black cat bone - well, people say dat's de bone yo nevah git. Yo' often hear folks say dey got a black cat bone [see pp.74-97 and Index]. Well, now, a ole lady - ah wus reared in her yard, she lived nex' do' tuh me. If yo' had de time tuh go tuh see these things yo' could appreciate it mo'. Any time yo' kin find a person that kin work roots, dey say de root-workin'. Dey always lives in a ole delapidated house with beasts an' cats an' ev'rything imaginable but tuh modern civilization. An' de ole lady she re'lly would - ev'ry time Friday came on de 13th, she killed de cats. She killed three cats. She nevah killed a cat till Friday come on de 13th. An' she killed those cats, skin 'em an' dry 'em, an' she gi' me a bone an' tole me dat ah have luck off it, say, "Slong [so long] as yo' keep dis bone, yo'll have luck." An' says, "Yo' won't have luck when yo lose [it] an' ah'll fall out wit chew." An' she fell out wit me because ah sol' her some hay. Mah daddy runned de hay farm an' ah sol' her some hay one week an' she wus tuh pay me Satiday an' didn't pay me an' that Friday she wanted some mo' hay. She lived de third do' from me [the preceding she lived nex' do' tuh me is one of those elastic expressions like I had every doctor in town] an' tole me tuh throw off six bales, an' say's she'll pay me tuhmorro'. Ah said, "Yo' haven't paid fo' dis hay an' ah'm not goin' let chew have no mo'." An' ah put it on de wagon an' ah wouldn't let her have any mo'. An' she tole me from dat day to dis yo' goin' have bad luck. Well, she give me a black cat bone. She give me de black cat bone an' she Wrapped it up an' she say, "Any time a person goin' do somepin fo' yo' an' can't let yo' see whut dey do, dey ain't no good." She put salt, peppah an' vinegar on it an' wrapped it up, an' went in de corner an' spit in de corner three times an' took it an' put it in de bottom of her shoe, an' did her han' lak dat fo' or five times an' rubbed herself, an' took it back out of her shoe an' rubbed it an' give it to me.
[My question is lost by turning machine off accidentally or too quickly.]
No suh, rubbed her fingahs lak dat an' did lak that, an' lift up her arm [cf. No. 264, p.77] an' did lak dat, an' den give it back to me. (Well, she got this bone right out of the cat? Some bone of the cat when she killed these cats?) See, she had a lot of 'em [bones] an' see she dries 'em an' keep 'em up dere an' when people come she sells 'em.