Browse:Doctor in Love (Volume 1, entries 842)
Doctor in Love
Volume 1, entries 842. 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 842
Mah own experience. Yo' see, me an' mah wife isn't tugethah now, cause dere wus anothah man. Ah used tuh sell whiskey an' quite natch'ly if yo' sell whiskey yo'll have plenty friends comin' in. He wus a railroad man an' he come dere an' he telled her dat he could do mo' fo' her den ah could. Well, natch'ly, he wus a friend of mine - after he were comin' dere, natch'ly ah had to take him as a friend cause he spent his money dere an' drink his whiskey. He git drunk, ah'd take ca' of 'im from de officers till he git ready tuh go home. He is a man supposed to have been a root doctor. He fixed up a medicine after he git in touch wit mah wife an'dey went tuh lovin' each othah, goin'on, an den dey couldn't git 'long so good, dey wanta git rid of me. Understand. Dey fixed up dis medicine, so dis man [a root doctor I went to] tole me - de doctor tole me, dis othah root doctor tole me dat it wus rattlesnake, de dust of a rattlesnake. It wus boiled into dis tea - de natural tea whut we drink ever' day, an' broom sage [broom sedge], dis grass; broom sage boiled with pokeroot, boiled in a halfa gallon of watah down to a quart [magic of diminishing amount]. After dat, he put it in a bottle till it become to be three days old, den see he give it to my wife tuh give tuh me. Ah were drinkin' dat. If ah come home so sick or tired until ah hardly could walk, she would give me dis medicine befo' ah eat. Ah got tuh de place so dat when ah set down lak long as ah wus [have been] settin' heah [with you], ah would have tuh git up, cause mah whole body would a'been dead - jes' lak yo' know sometime yore han' go tuh sleep, yo' know. Mah whole body would go tuh sleep. An' ah got tuh de place dat ah could not stand to talk to no woman atall - ah didn't have nutin to do wit her or no othah woman. Only one sister an' mah own father, dat's all ah got; an' ah hated dem, ah didn't go by dem. Ah wus dyin'. Ah got to de place ah couldn't work - ah lost a job - mah job. Ah used tuh run a pawn shop - ah lost a job in dere cause ah couldn't make de [pawn tickets, he probably Was going to say]. [He evidently was moon- lighting - working in pawn shop by day and selling bootleg whiskey by night.] Mah sister come an' hunt me one day an' tole me, said, "Lance, yo' oughta do somepin - where yo' sense? Dere somepin wrong wit yo' - yo' nevah been dis way." Ah said, "Well, dere's nutin fo' me tuh do - ah don't want anythin'." She said, "Well, all right, ah'm goin' see 'bout chew mahself." Says, "Dey ain't but two of us left." She goes to dis man an' tell dis man. Dis man come an' tole me, says, "Now, yo' go back home" - ah didn't have tuh tell 'im anythin', said, "an' if yo' go back home an' open yore trunk, look right down in de back of yore collar. Yore white shirt ironed an' pressed an' lay down dere, yo' ain't wearin' it. Dis lady done fold it nice an' it layin' down - de collar right stiff. Look in de bottom of dat an' yo'll find a little package containin' - about dat long - containin' three brand-new wire nails, flathead wire nails, wit de hairpins, three of 'em, an' a little pinch of salt an' eggshell, jes' tied up togethah in dis package, layin' undah a black comb of yore hair [= hair comb] whut yo' use." Say, "Yo' kin hunt fo' it."
(Under the comb?)
De comb - layin' undah de comb. De comb 'bout dat long, see. Dey wus layin' right up an' down de comb an' de comb wus on top an' it wus layin' right up an' down in de back of mah shirt. An' ah went on back home an' ah found it. He said, "Now, when yo' find dat, yo' bring it to me." Ah car'ed it back to him an' he took de package an' opened it an' showed me whut wus in it - see. Den he says, "Ahm goin' tuh keep dis. Now, whenevah she meet wit dis man agin, yo'll see 'em - yo'll be right dere an' see 'em." Ah says, "All right." He said, "But don't hurt either one of dem. Dey'll hurt deyselfs. [This is a device to protect the doctor in case of a shooting or serious disturbance. He also kept the instrument of cunjuration, the package, for the same reason.] So he fixed de comb - he took de comb an' fixed de comb. Dis man [loving informant's wife] went on out on his work to de railroad. An' he [root doctor] says, "In from three tuh nine days, he won't do her no good." So he went on out an' he got his laig cut off up to his thigh. Well, he lived around three weeks an' shortly aftah dat he died. But ah didn't tell him to do dat, but dat's whut he did with it. She's out dere in de world some place now - but me an' her's not togethah. Now, dat whut happened to me.
(Well, who told you about the snake dust thing. Who told you about that?)
De root doctor.
(What did he say?)
How dis othah man had fixed it? Dis othah man fixed it - he cut de snake - killed de rattlesnake an' cut de head off an' parched it till it come tuh be a dust like. Den he put it in dere, see, an' mix it wit dis broom sage.
(But who had fixed this comb and stuff?)
Mah wife an' him.