Browse:Too Late Now (Volume 1, entries 872)
Too Late Now
Volume 1, entries 872. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → Consultation Technique. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 872
Dat happened heah once. Dey said he was buried. Two preachers had a diff'rence ovah a church. An' one succeeded de other. Dis fellah dat lost had taken a pin - a wooden peg an' shahpened [sharpened] it, an' whut he did to it aside from dat I don't know; but he took an' he drove it three licks right under dis fellah's doorstep. An' de fellah had taken sick an' grad'lly pined away - kept pining, kept pining. (All you remember is that he just put this peg in the door. And then you say he went to some doctor?) Dis fellah went to a hoodoo doctor and explained it to him.
(What did this hoodoo doctor say to him?)
Tole him, 'Yo' go home an' look under de left-hand corner of yore doorstep, yo'll find a peg driven undah yore step." He say, "Yo's pinned down, say, ''but it's too late now - yo won't git ovah it, but," he say, "yo' take it up. He say, "De first man that comes to see you, after you're home, will be de fellah dat put it dere." Dat's whut chew call pinnin' down or bearin' [burying] jist de same.
The interviewer says door in a recap; the informant account specifies doorstep or step. These locations are kept distinct.