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 E. Edmund Kim · Hyung-Jun Im
Dong Soo Lee · Keon Wook Kang

Atlas and Anatomy of

PET/MRI, PET/CT and
SPECT/CT

123
Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MRI,
PET/CT and SPECT/CT
Atlas and Anatomy
of PET/MRI, PET/CT
and SPECT/CT

E. Edmund Kim, MD, MS

Department of Radiological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at Irvine,
Irvine, CA, USA

Hyung-Jun Im, MD, PhD

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Dong Soo Lee, MD, PhD

Department of Nuclear Medicine and Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical
Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Keon Wook Kang, MD, PhD

Department of Nuclear Medicine and Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea
E. Edmund Kim, MD, MS Hyung-Jun Im, MD, PhD
Department of Radiological Sciences Department of Nuclear Medicine
School of Medicine Seoul National University
University of California at Irvine Seoul, Republic of Korea
Irvine, CA, USA
Keon Wook Kang, MD, PhD
Dong Soo Lee, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine and Cancer
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Department Research Institute
of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Seoul National University
Sciences Seoul, Republic of Korea
Seoul National University
Seoul, Republic of Korea

ISBN 978-3-319-28650-1 ISBN 978-3-319-28652-5 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-28652-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016935407

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,
computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not
imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and
regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed
to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland
 Preface

Since we published Sectional Anatomy: PET/CT and SPECT/CT in 2007, there has been a
significant increase in the use of hybrid imaging in clinical practice and also reports of higher
sensitivity and specificity than those of the single imaging modality, thus making the integrated
approach a more accurate imaging test.
The precise lesion localization within the anatomic context, which frequently is critical,
may not be possible in PET or SPECT. It is not easy to consider three dimensions in our mind’s
eye and view the relationship of the pathology with surrounding normal organs in axial, coro-
nal, and sagittal imaging. With gradual improvement of instruments as well as software for
attenuation corrections, we have used new PET/CT and SPECT/CT images and also added
PET/MRI images.
In all hybrid imaging, a good workflow is paramount for cost-effectiveness in clinical prac-
tice. Since data acquisition on emission systems can only be dynamic or static, the major varia-
tions of imaging protocols are on the anatomic imaging side. This atlas intends to provide
educational information on sectional anatomy and illustrate common pathologies for trainees
and practitioners in the fields of nuclear medicine, radiology, oncology, neurology, cardiology,
and general medicine.

E. Edmund Kim, MD, MS

Hyung-Jun Im, MD, PhD
Dong Soo Lee, MD, PhD
Keon Wook Kang, MD, PhD

v
 Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to all our colleagues at the Seoul National University Hospital as well
as the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and also sincere thanks to our wives
and children who support our works. We appreciate Mr. Lee Klein and his assistants at Springer
who helped in the creation of this book.

vii
 Contents

1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR................................................................................... 1

1.1 Brain.................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Head and Neck .................................................................................................... 22
1.2.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 22
1.2.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 28
1.3 Chest ................................................................................................................... 32
1.3.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 32
1.3.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 49
1.4 Abdomen ............................................................................................................. 54
1.4.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 54
1.4.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 58
1.4.3 Case 3 ...................................................................................................... 73
1.4.4 Case 4 ...................................................................................................... 73
1.4.5 Case 5 ...................................................................................................... 93
1.4.6 Case 6 ...................................................................................................... 101
1.4.7 Case 7 ...................................................................................................... 101
1.4.8 Case 8 ...................................................................................................... 108
1.5 Pelvis ................................................................................................................... 115
1.5.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 115
1.5.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 135
1.5.3 Case 3 ...................................................................................................... 135
1.6 Musculoskeletal System...................................................................................... 164
1.6.1 Case 1 ...................................................................................................... 164
1.6.2 Case 2 ...................................................................................................... 164
1.6.3 Case 3 ...................................................................................................... 182
References .................................................................................................................... 196

2 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/CT .................................................................................... 199

2.1 FDG..................................................................................................................... 199
2.1.1 Brain/Head and Neck .............................................................................. 199
2.1.2 Chest ....................................................................................................... 230
2.1.3 Abdomen ................................................................................................. 266
2.1.4 Others ...................................................................................................... 330
2.2 Non-FDG ............................................................................................................ 359
2.2.1 11C-Acetate ............................................................................................ 359

ix
x Contents

2.2.2 11C-methionine....................................................................................... 371

2.2.3 11C-PIB .................................................................................................. 385
2.2.4 18F-FP-CIT ............................................................................................. 400
2.2.5 18F-Flumazenil ....................................................................................... 416
2.2.6 66Ga-Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic Acid (RGD)....................................... 422
2.2.7 68Ga-DOTA-TOC ................................................................................... 432
References .................................................................................................................... 440

3 Atlas and Anatomy of SPECT/CT ............................................................................... 443

3.1 Tumors ................................................................................................................ 443
3.1.1 Hepatocellular Carcinoma ...................................................................... 443
3.1.2 Liver Metastases ..................................................................................... 444
3.1.3 Neuroendocrine Tumor ........................................................................... 445
3.1.4 Neuroblastoma ........................................................................................ 468
3.1.5 Paraganglioma......................................................................................... 468
3.1.6 Thyroid Cancer ....................................................................................... 470
3.1.7 Parathyroid Adenoma ............................................................................. 492
3.1.8 Mesothelioma.......................................................................................... 506
3.1.9 Bone Tumor ............................................................................................ 507
3.1.10 Bone Metastases...................................................................................... 510
3.2 Bone .................................................................................................................... 520
3.2.1 Trauma .................................................................................................... 520
3.2.2 Degenerative Disease .............................................................................. 531
3.2.3 Avascular Necrosis (AVN) ...................................................................... 538
3.3 Others .................................................................................................................. 550
3.3.1 Gastrointestinal Bleeding ........................................................................ 550
3.3.2 Abscess ................................................................................................... 560
3.3.3 Ectopic Thyroid ...................................................................................... 561
3.3.4 Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) ...................................................................... 561
3.3.5 Central Venous Line Obstruction ............................................................ 563
3.3.6 Lymph Node............................................................................................ 564
3.3.7 Lung (V/Q).............................................................................................. 570
3.3.8 Accessory Spleen .................................................................................... 571
3.3.9 Adrenal Hyperplasia ............................................................................... 583
References .................................................................................................................... 585

Index .................................................................................................................................. 589

 Contributors

Jamilla Gomez, MD National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Quezon City, Philippines

Hyung-Jun Im, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Keon Wook Kang, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine and Cancer Research
Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

E. Edmund Kim, MD, MS Department of Radiological Sciences, School of Medicine,

University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

Yong-il Kim, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital,
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Dong Soo Lee, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine and Department of Molecular
Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic
of Korea

Sohyun Park, MD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital,

Seoul, Republic of Korea

Min Young Yoo, MD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital,
Seoul, Republic of Korea

xi
 1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR

After the huge success of hybrid positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/
CT), there has been a continuous effort to develop a hybrid positron emission tomography/
magnetic resonance image (PET/MR) machine. Recently, a magnetic field–compatible PET
component has been developed by a substituting photomultiplier tube (PMT) for an avalanche
photodiode (APD) or silicon multiplier (SiPM). This enables development and commercializa-
tion of PET/MR. Commercial simultaneous PET/MR is now seeking clinical validation. A
simultaneous PET/MR system has several intrinsic advantages over a PET/CT system, includ-
ing a lower radiation dose, higher soft tissue resolution of anatomic images, and the possibility
of using a novel multifunctional PET/MR probe. In addition, there is the potential for the
simultaneous acquisition of an anatomic image and PET. PET/MR has a higher soft tissue
resolution than PET/CT; therefore the image reader should be well trained in reading normal
anatomy and abnormal findings in MR for the proper reading of PET/MR. There are many MR
books and atlases available to help understand and read MR images; however, there are few
PET/MR atlases. This chapter includes typical PET/MR cases of patients with malignant
tumors in the area of the brain, head and neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and musculoskeletal
system. In each case, pathologic findings and essential surrounding normal structures for inter-
pretation are indicated and named [1–4].

1.1 Brain
1.1.1 Case 1
A male patient, age 75, presented with worsening dizziness and weakness in both legs for 1
month. A tumorous condition in the brain was suspected on brain CT and therefore
18
F-Fludeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/MR was used.
Brain FDG PET/MR revealed a well-enhanced mass with intense metabolic activity involv-
ing the body of the corpus callosum. There was no abnormal lesion with increased metabolic
activity in the rest of the imaged body. Primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma was
suspected, and stereotaxic biopsy revealed a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma [5, 6] (Figs. 1.1,
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8).

1.1.2 Case 2
A 74-year-old female patient suffering from a tingling sensation in her right hand and aphasia
for 10 days was examined. A tumorous condition in the brain was suspected on brain CT, and
FDG PET/MR was performed.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 1

E.E. Kim et al., Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MRI, PET/CT and SPECT/CT, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-28652-5_1
2 1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR

Fig. 1.1 (1) Primary central nervous system lymphoma

Brain FDG PET/MR revealed multiple round-shaped enhancing hypermetabolic nodules

with peritumoral edema in the left frontal parietal lobes and cerebellum that were appeared to
be metastases. In whole-body FDG PET/MR, hypermetabolic bone spinal lesions were found
in C7 and L5, suggesting bone metastases. Also, an infiltrative lesion with increased metabolic
activity was found in the sigmoid colon. Subsequent colonoscopy and colonoscopic biopsy
revealed sigmoid colon cancer. The metastatic lesions were considered to have originated from
the colon cancer [7] (Figs. 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.20,
and 1.21).
1.1 Brain 3

Fig. 1.2

(1) Right postcentral gyrus (3) Left postcentral gyrus

(2) Left precentral gyrus (4) Falx cerebri
4 1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR

Fig. 1.3

(1) Left superior frontal gyrus (3) Left postcentral gyrus

(2) Left precentral gyrus (4) Peritumoral edema
1.1 Brain 5

Fig. 1.4

(1) Left superior frontal gyrus (4) Peritumoral edema (6) 

Primary central nervous system lym-
(2) Left precentral gyrus (5) 
Primary central nervous system lym- phoma in right frontal white matter
(3) Left postcentral gyrus phoma in right parietal white matter
6 1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR

Fig. 1.5

(1) Left superior frontal gyrus (4) Peritumoral edema (6) 

Primary central nervous system lym-
(2) Left precentral gyrus (5) Primary central nervous system lymphoma phoma involving corpus callosum
(3) Left postcentral gyrus involving right parietal white matter
1.1 Brain 7

Fig. 1.6

(1) Left lateral ventricle (4) Peritumoral edema (6) 

Primary central nervous system lym-
(2) Left precentral gyrus (5) Primary central nervous system lymphoma phoma involving posterior corpus
(3) Left postcentral gyrus involving posterior corpus callosum callosum
8 1 Atlas and Anatomy of PET/MR

Fig. 1.7

(1) Left caudate nucleus (3) Left insular cortex (5) Left lateral ventricle trigone
(2) Left putamen (4) Left thalamus (6) Corpus callosum (splenium)
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keen edge glanced to one side and with as straight an aim as if it
had two good eyes, jumped between two of his toes. How it stung!
The blood poured out. But Breeze’s chief thought was of how Big
Sue would scold him. Hopping on a heel across the yard to the door-
step he called pitifully for Maum Hannah.
“Great Gawd!” she yelled out when she saw the bloody tracks on the
white sand. “What is you done, Breeze? Don’ come in dis house an’
track up dis floor! Wha’ dat ail you’ foot?”
She made him lie flat on the ground and hold his foot up high, then
taking a healing leaf from a low bush, growing right beside her door,
she pressed it over the cut and held it until it stuck, then tied it in
place. That was all he needed, but he’d have to keep still to-day.
Maybe two or three days.
By ten o’clock Big Sue was outside the yard where Zeda stirred the
boiling washpots. Onion-flavored eel-stew scented the air. The stout
meeting benches had been brought in from under the house, two for
each quilt. The quilting poles leaned in a corner waiting to be used.
The older, more settled women came first. Each with her needle,
ready to sew. The younger ones straggled in later, with babies, or
tiny children, who kept their hands busy. They were all kin, and
when they first assembled the room rang with, “How you do,
cousin?” “Howdy, Auntie!” “How is you, sister?”
Leah, April’s wife, had on somewhat finer clothes than the other
women. The bottom of her white apron was edged with a band of
wide lace, and she wore a velvet hat with a feather in it over her
plaid headkerchief. But something ailed her speech. The words broke
off in her mouth. Her well-greased face looked troubled. Her round
eyes sad.
“How you do, daughter?” Maum Hannah asked her kindly. “You look
so nice to-day. You got such a pretty hat on! Lawd! Is dem teeth you
got in you’ mouth? April ought to be proud o’ you.”
But instead of smiling Leah’s face looked ready to cry. “I ain’ well,
Auntie. My head feels too full all de time. Dese teeth is got me
fretted half to death. Dey’s got my gums all sore, an’ dey rattles
when I tries to walk like dey is gwine to jump down my throat. I can’
eat wid ’em on to save life. De bottom ones is meaner dan de top
ones. I like to missed and swallowed ’em yestiddy.”
“How come you wears ’em if dey pesters you so bad?”
“April likes ’em. E say dey becomes me. E paid a lot o’ money fo’
dem, too. E took me all de way to town on de boat to git ’em. But
dey ain’ no sati’faction.” She sighed deep. “An’ de blood keeps all de
time rushin’ to my head ever since I was salivate.”
Maum Hannah listened and sympathized with a doleful, “Oh-oh!”
while Leah complained that the worst part was she couldn’t enjoy
her victuals any more. She’d just as soon have a cup and saucer in
her mouth as those teeth. It made no difference what she ate, now,
everything tasted all the same.
“Fo’ Gawd’s sake take ’em off an’ rest you’ mouth to-day!” Maum
Hannah exhorted her. “You may as well pleasure you’self now and
den. April ain’ gwine see you. Not to-day!”
“Somebody’d tell him an’ dat would vex him,” Leah bemoaned.
But Maum Hannah took her by the arm and looked straight in her
eyes. “Honey,” she coaxed, “Gawd ain’ gwine bless you if you let
April suffer you dis way. You an’ April all both is too prideful. Take
dem teeth off an’ rest you’ mouth till dis quiltin’ is over. It would fret
me if you don’t.”
Screening her mouth with both hands Leah did rid her gums of the
offending teeth, but instead of putting them in her apron pocket she
laid them carefully in a safe place on the high mantel-shelf.

The room buzzed with chatter. How would such a great noisy
gathering ever get straightened out to work? They were as much
alike as guinea fowls in a flock, every head tied up turban-fashion,
every skirt covered by an apron.
Big Sue welcomed every one with friendliest greetings, and although
her breath was short from excitement, she talked gaily and laughed
often.
A sudden hush followed a loud clapping of her hands. The closest
attention was paid while she appointed Leah and Zeda captains of
the first quilts to be laid out. Zeda stepped forward, with a jaunty
toss of her head, and, shrugging a lean shoulder, laughed lightly.
“Big Sue is puttin’ sinner ’gainst Christian dis mawnin’!”
Leah tried to laugh, her tubby body, bulky as Big Sue’s, shook
nervously, as her giggling rippled out of her mouth, but her eyes
showed no mirth at all.
“You choose first, Leah. You’s de foreman’s wife.”
Leah chose Big Sue.
“Lawd,” Zeda threw her head back with a laugh, “Yunnuh two is so
big nobody else wouldn’ have room to set on a bench ’side you.”
The crowd tittered, but Big Sue looked stern.
“Do, Zeda! You has gall enough to talk about bigness? T’ank Gawd,
I’m big all de way round like I is.” She cast a wry look toward Zeda,
then turned her head and winked at the crowd. But Zeda sucked her
teeth brazenly. She was satisfied with her shape. She might not look
so nice now, but her bigness would soon be shed. Just give her a
month or two longer.
“You ought to be shame, wid grown chillen in you’ house, an’ a
grown gal off yonder to college.”
“When I git old as you, Big Sue, den I’ll stay slim all de time. Don’t
you fret.” Zeda laughed, and chose Gussie, a skinny, undersized,
deaf and dumb woman, whose keen eyes plainly did double duty.
When Zeda looked toward her and spoke her name, Gussie pushed
through the crowd, smiling and making wordless gurgles of pleasure
for the compliment Zeda had paid her by choosing her first of all.
“I take Bina next!” Leah called out.
“Bina’s a good one for you’ quilt. E’s a extra fine Christian.”
“You better be prayin’ you’se’f, Zeda,” Bina came back.
“Who? Me? Lawd, gal, I does pray.” Zeda said it seriously, and her
look roved around the room. “Sinners is mighty sca’ce at dis quiltin’.
Who kin I choose next?” She searched the group.
“Don’ take so long, Zeda,” Big Sue chided. “Hurry up an’ choose. De
day is passin’. You an’ Gussie is de only two sinners. You’ ’bliged to
pick a Christian, now.”
“Den I’ll take Nookie. E’s got swift-movin’ fingers.”
The choosing went on until eight women were picked for each quilt,
four to a side. Then the race began.
The two quilt linings, made out of unbleached homespun, were
spread on the clean bare floor, and covered over with a smooth layer
of cotton.
“How come you got such nice clean cotton to put in you’ quilt?” Zeda
inquired with an innocent look across at Big Sue.
When Big Sue paid her no heed, she added brazenly, “De cotton
April gi’ me fo’ my quilt was so trashy and dark I had to whip em wid
pine-tops half a day to get de dirt out clean enough to use.”
Still Big Sue said nothing.
“You must be stand well wid April.” Zeda looked at Big Sue with a
smile.
Big Sue raised her shoulders up from doubling over, and in a tart
tone blurted out, “You talks too much, Zeda. Shut you’ mouth and
work.”
“Who? Me?” Zeda came back pleasantly. “Great Gawd! I was praisin’
de whiteness of de cotton, dat was all.”
Two of the patch-work covers that Big Sue had fashioned with such
pains, stitch by stitch, square by square, were opened out wide and
examined and admired.
“Which one you want, Zeda? You take de first pick.”
“Lawd, all two is so nice it’s hard to say.”
Gussie pointed to the “Snake-fence” design, and Zeda took it,
leaving the “Star of Bethlehem” for Leah. Both were placed over a
cotton-covered lining on the floor, corner to corner, edge to edge,
and basted into place. Next, two quilting poles were laid lengthwise
beside each quilt, and tacked on with stout ball thread. The quilts
were carefully rolled on the poles, and the pole-ends fastened with
strong cords to the side-walls. All was ready for the quilting.
Leah’s crew beat fixing the quilt on the poles, but the sewing was
the tedious part. The stitches must be small, and in smooth rows
that ran side by side. They must also be deep enough to hold the
cotton fast between the top and the lining.
Little talking was done at first. Minds, as well as eyes, had to watch
the needles. Those not quilting in this race stood around the hearth
puffing at their pipes, talking, joking, now and then squealing out
with merriment.
“Yunnuh watch dem pots,” Big Sue cautioned them. “Make Breeze
keep wood on de fire. Mind now.”
The quilts were rolled up until the quilting poles met, so the sewing
started right in the middle, and as the needles left neat stitches, the
poles were rolled farther apart, until both quilts were done to the
edges. These were carefully turned in and whipped down, with
needles running at full racing speed. Zeda’s crew finished a full yard
ahead. The sinners won. And how they did crow over the others!
Deaf and dumb Gussie did her best to boast, but her words were
stifled in dreadful choked noises that were hard to bear.
Big Sue put the wild ducks on to roast. They were fat and tender,
and already stuffed full of oyster dressing, the same dressing she
fixed for the white folks. She said the oysters came from near the
beach where the fresh salt tide made them large and juicy.
What a dinner she had! Big Sue was an open-handed woman, for
truth.
Some of the farm-hands stopped by on their way home for the noon
hour. Coming inside they stood around the fireplace, grinning, joking
and smoking the cigarettes they rolled with deft fingers.
Everybody was given a pan and spoon. Zeda and Bina helped Big
Sue pass around great dishpans of smoking food, and cups of water
sweetened with molasses. For a time nothing was said except the
exclamations that praised the dinner. Indeed it might have been a
wedding feast but for the lack of cake and wine.
The wild ducks, cooked just to a turn, were served last. Their red
blood was barely curdled with heat, yet their outsides were rich and
brown. Lips smacked. Spoons clattered. Mouths too full dropped
crumbs as they munched.
A grand dinner.
“Take you’ time, an’ chaw,” Big Sue bade the guests kindly. “You got
plenty o’ time to finish de rest o’ de quilts befo’ night.”

As soon as the edge was taken off their appetites they fell to talking.
Big Sue did not sit down to eat at all, so busy was she passing
around the pans of hot food, and urging the others to fill themselves
full.
As more men came by and stopped, the noise waxed louder, until
the uproar of shouting and laughter and light-hearted talk seethed
thick. When all were filled with Big Sue’s good cheer, they got up
and went out into the yard to smoke, to catch a little fresh air, and
to wash the grease off their fingers. The pans and spoons and tin
cups were stacked up on the water-shelf out of the way where
they’d wait to be washed until night.
The quilting was the work in hand now, and when the room was in
order again, and the women rested and refreshed, Big Sue called
them in to begin on the next set of quilts.
April went riding by on the sorrel colt, on his way back to the field,
and Big Sue called him to come in and eat the duck and hot rice she
had put aside specially for him. But he eyed her coolly, rode on and
left her frowning.
Zeda laughed, and asked Big Sue if April was a boy to hop around at
her heels? Didn’t she know April had work to do? Important work.
The white people made him plantation foreman because they knew
they could trust him to look after their interests. He not only worked
himself, but he kept the other hands working too.
Leah sat silent, making short weak puffs at her pipe.
Maum Hannah’s deep sigh broke into the stillness.
“I ever did love boy-chillen, but dey causes a lot o’ sorrow. My
mammy used to say ev’y boy-child ought to be killed soon as it’s
born.”
“How’d de world go on if people done dat?” Bina asked.
“I dunno. Gawd kin do a lot o’ strange t’ings.”
This made them all stop and think again.
The kettle sang as steam rushed out of its spout. The flames made a
sputtering sound. The benches creaked as the women bent over and
rose with their needles. Bina sat up straight, then stretched.
“If all de mens was dead, you could stay in de chu’ch, enty, Zeda?”
Bina slurred the words softly.
Zeda came back, “Don’ you fret ’bout me, gal. Jake ain’ no more to
me dan a dead man.”
“Yunnuh stop right now! Dat’s no-manners talk. Jake’s a fine man, if
e is my gran. I know, by I raise em. When his mammy died an’ left
em, Jake an’ Bully and April was all three de same as twins in my
house.” Maum Hannah spoke very gravely. Presently she got up and
went into the shed-room. She came back smiling, with a folded quilt
on her arm. “Le’s look at de old Bible quilt, chillen. It’ll do yunnuh
good.”
She held up one corner and motioned to deaf and dumb Gussie to
hold up the other so all the squares could be seen. There were
twenty, every one a picture out of the Bible. The first one, next to
Gussie’s hand, was Adam and Eve and the serpent. Adam’s shirt was
blue, his pants brown, and his head a small patch of yellow. Eve had
on a red headkerchief, a purple wide-skirted dress; and a tall black
serpent stood straight up on the end of its tail.
The next square had two men, one standing up, the other fallen
down—Cain and Abel. The red patch under Abel was his blood,
spilled on the ground by Cain’s sin. Maum Hannah pointed out Noah
and the Ark; Moses with the tables of stone; the three Hebrew
children; David and Goliath; Joseph and Mary and the little baby
Jesus; and last of all, Jesus standing alone by the cross. As Maum
Hannah took them one by one, all twenty, she told each marvelous
story.
The quilters listened with rapt attention. Breeze almost held his
breath for fear of missing a word. Sometimes his blood ran hot with
wonder, then cold with fear. Many eyes in the room glistened with
tears.
The names of God and Jesus were known to Breeze, but he had
never understood before that they were real people who could walk
and talk. Maum Hannah told about God’s strength and power and
wisdom, how He knew right then what she was doing and saying.
He could see each stitch that was taken in the quilts, whether it was
small and deep and honest, or shallow and careless. He wrote
everything down in a great book where He kept account of good and
evil. Breeze had never dreamed that such things went on around
him all the time.
Yet the quilt was made out of pictures of the very things Maum
Hannah told. Nobody could doubt that all she said was the truth. In
the charmed silence, her words fell clear and earnest. The present
was shut out. Breeze’s mind went a-roaming with her, back into the
days when the world was new and God walked and talked with the
children He had so lately made. As she spoke Breeze shivered over
those days that were to come when everybody here would be either
in Hell or Heaven. It had to be one or the other. There was no place
to stop or to hide when death came and knocked at your door. She
pointed to Breeze. That same little boy, there in the chimney corner,
with his foot tied up, would have to account for all he did! As well as
Breeze could understand, Heaven was in the blue sky straight up
above the plantation. God sat there on His throne among the stars,
while angels, with harps of gold in their hands, sang His praises all
day long. Hell was straight down. Underneath. Deep under the
earth. Satan lived there with his great fires for ever and ever a-
burning on the bodies of sinners piled high up so they could never
crumble.
Maum Hannah herself became so moved by the thought of the
sufferings of the poor pitiful sinners in Hell, that her voice broke and
tears dimmed her eyes, and she plead with them all:
“Pray! Chillen! Pray!
“Do try fo’ ’scape Hell if you kin!
“Hell is a heat!
“One awful heat!
“We fire ain’ got no time wid em!
“Pray! Chillen! Pray! For Gawd’s sake, pray!
“When de wind duh whip you
“An’ de sun-hot duh burn you
“An’ de rain duh wet you,
“All dem say, Pray! Do try fo’ ’scape Hell if you kin!”
On the way home through the dusk Breeze stopped short in his
tracks more than once, for terror seized him at the bare rustle of a
bird’s wing against a dry leaf. When the gray shadow of a rabbit
darted across the path and the sight of a glowworm’s eye gleamed
up from the ground, Big Sue stopped too. And breathing fast with
anxiety, cried out:
“Do, Jedus! Lawd! Dat rabbit went leftward. A bad luck t’ing! Put
dem t’ings down! Chunk two sticks behind em. Is you see anyt’ing
strange, Breeze?” She sidled up close to him and whispered the
question.
Breeze stared hard into the deepening twilight. The black shadows
were full of dark dreadful things that pressed close to the ground,
creeping slowly, terribly. The tree branches rocked, the leaves
whispered sharply, the long gray moss streamed toward them.
“Le’s run, Cun Big Sue.” Breeze leaped with a quick hop ahead, but
her powerful hand clutched his shoulder. “Looka here, boy! I’ll kill
you to-night if you leave me. No tellin’ what kind o’ sperits is walkin’.
I kin run when I’s empty-handed, but loaded down wid all dese
t’ings a snail could ketch me! You git behind me on de path.”
The black smoke rising out of the chimney made a great serpent
that stood on the end of its tail. For a minute Breeze was unable to
speak. His heart throbbed with heavy blows, for not only did that
smoke serpent lean and bend and reach threateningly, but
something high and black and shapeless stood in front of Big Sue’s
cabin, whose whitewashed walls behind it made it look well-nigh as
tall as a pine tree. It might be the Devil! Or Death! Or God! He gave
a scream and clung to Big Sue as the figure took a step toward
them.
“Yunnuh is late!” April’s voice boomed out.
“Lawd!” Big Sue fairly shouted. “I was sho’ you was a plat-eye. You
scared me half to death! Man! I couldn’ see no head on you no
matter how hard I look. How come you went inside my house with
me not home?”
April grunted. “You better be glad! I had a hard time drivin’ a bat out
o’ you’ house.”
“A bat!” Big Sue shrieked with terror. “How come a bat in my house?
A bat is de child of de devil.”
April declared the bat had squeaked and grinned and chattered in
his face until he mighty nigh got scared himself.
“Lawd! Wha’s gwine happen now? A bat inside my house! An’ look
how de fire’s smokin’!”
She hurried Breeze off to bed in the shed-room whose darkness was
streaked with wavering firelight that fell through the cracks in the
wall. Fear kept him awake until he put his head under the covers
and shut out all sight and sound and thought.
He was roused by a knock on the front door. Big Sue made no
answer, and another knock made by the knuckles of a strong hand
was followed by a loud crying, “Open dis door, I tell you! I know
April’s right in dere!” This was followed by the thud of a kick, but no
answer came from inside. Breeze could not have spoken to save his
life, for sheer terror held him crouched under the quilts and his
tongue was too weak and dry to move.
Where in God’s world was Big Sue? The first of those knocks should
have waked her. Sleep never did fasten her eyelids down very tight,
yet with all this deafening racket, she stayed dumb. Had she gone
off and left Breeze by himself? The voice calling at the door sounded
like a woman’s voice at first, but now it deepened with hoarse fury
and snarled and growled and threatened, calling Big Sue filthy
names. Breeze knew then for certain it was some evil thing. His flesh
crept loose from his bones. His blood ran cold and weak. He realized
Big Sue was not at home. Maybe she was dead, in her bed! The
thought was so terrible that in desperation he lifted up his head and
yelled:
“Who dat?”
At once the dreadful answer came.
“Who dat say ‘who dat’?” Then a silence, for Breeze could utter no
other word.
Outside the wind caught at the trees and thrashed their leaves, then
came inside to rustle the papers on the cabin’s walls, and whisper
weird terrible things through the cracks. The thing that had knocked
on the door was walking away. Its harsh breathing was hushed into
sobs and soft moans that made Breeze’s heart sink still deeper with
horror.
For a minute every noise in the world lulled. Nothing stirred except
the ghastly tremor that shook Breeze’s body from his covered-up
head to the heels doubled up under his cold hips.
A sudden fearful battering in company with despairing howls,
crashed at the door! It would soon break down! There was no time
to waste putting on clothes! Hopping up into the cold darkness,
Breeze eased the back door open and slipped into the night.
The horrible door-splitting blows went right on. Thank God,
somebody was coming. Running, with a torch. Breeze forgot that
snakes were walking, and leaped through the bushes over ground
that felt unsteady to his flying feet. His heart swelled with joy and
relief, for the man hurrying toward the cabin lighting his way with a
fat lightwood torch was Uncle Bill. Twice Breeze opened his mouth to
call out, but the only sound he could make was a whispered—“Uncle
Bill—Uncle Bill!”
Following the torch’s light he could see a black woman cutting the
door down with an ax. Who in God’s name would dare do such a
thing? Uncle Bill walked right up to her and shook her soundly by the
shoulder.
“What is you a-doin’, Leah? Is you gone plumb crazy? Gi’ me dat ax!”
He jerked the ax from her hands and she began shrieking afresh,
and trying to push him back. But she couldn’t budge him one inch.
Holding her off, with his free hand he made a proper, polite knock,
although the door was split and the dim firelight shone through its
new-made cracks.
“Dis is me, Bill, Miss Big Sue,” he called out, a stern note deepening
his voice.
Leah shrilled out harshly. “You better open dis door! You low-down
black buzzard hussy! You wait till I gits my hands on you’ throat! You
won’ fool wid my husband no mo’ in dis world!”
Fully dressed and quite calm Big Sue appeared. She answered with
mild astonishment:
“Why, Leah! How come you makin’ all dis fuss? You must want to
wake up de whole plantation? You ought to be shamed. I never see
such a no-manners ’oman!”
“Whe’s April?” Leah howled. “Whe’s April, I tell you? Don’ you cut no
crazy wid me to-night! I’ll kill you sho’ as you do!”
“Fo’ Gawd’s sake, Leah! Shut you’ mouth! I dunno nuttin’ ’bout April.
You is too sickenin’! Always runnin’ round to somebody’s house a-
lookin’ fo’ April!”
“Yes, I look fo’ em. You had em here too! See his hat yonder on de
floor right now! You fat black devil!” Seizing Big Sue’s kerchiefed
head with both hands Leah tried to choke her, but Big Sue wrenched
herself loose and with a wicked laugh raised one fat leg and gave
Leah a kick in the middle of her body that sent her backward with a
slam against the wall.
“You’d choke me, would you? I’ll tear de meat off you’ bones!” Big
Sue screamed, but Leah crumpled sidewise and fell flat on the floor,
her eyes lifeless, her face stiffened.
Big Sue had roused into fury. She staggered forward and bent over
and rained blows with both fists on Leah’s silent mouth, until Uncle
Bill grappled her around her huge waist and dragged her to the
other side of the room.
Big Sue bellowed. “You’d choke me, enty? You blue-gummed pizen-
jawed snake! Gawd done right to salivate you an’ make you’ teeth
drop out.”
For all the signs of life she gave, Leah may as well have been dead.
She lay there on the floor, limp and dumb, even after Uncle Bill took
the bucketful of water from the shelf and doused her with it. She
didn’t even catch her breath. Uncertain what to do, Uncle Bill knelt
over her and called her name.
“Leah! Leah! Don’t you die here on dis floor. Leah! Open you’ eyes. I
know good and well you’s playin’ ’possum.”
Except for the fire’s crackling and the low chirping of one lone
cricket, the stillness of death was in the room.
“Put on you’ shirt and pants, Breeze. Run tell April Leah is done faint
off. E must come here quick as e kin.”
The darkness of the night was terrible as Breeze ran through it
toward the Quarters. A cedar limb creaked mournfully as the wind
wrung it back and forth. Its crying was like sorrowful calls for aid.
Breeze tried to hurry, to make his legs run faster, but they were
ready to give way and fall. His feet stumbled, his throat choked until
he could scarcely breathe. His brain wheeled and rattled inside his
skull. How horrible Death is!
A few stars twinkled bright away up in the sky, but the waving tree-
tops made a thick black smoke that covered the yellow moon. High-
tide glistened in the darkness, all but ready to turn by now. Leah’s
soul would go out with it if something wasn’t done to help her.
Lord how awful her eyeballs were, rolled back so far in her head!
Jesus, have mercy! The thought of them made Breeze senseless
with terror. Tears gushed from his own eyes and blinded him.
April was not at home, and Breeze raced back, but already Leah was
coming to. She lay on the floor, her fat face, black as tar against the
whiteness of the pillow under it now, was set and furrowed. Her
toothless jaws moved with mute words, as if she talked with some
one the others could not see. She kept fumbling with the red charm-
string tied around her neck, as her dull eyes rolled slowly from one
face to the other.
Breeze longed to fling himself on the bed and cover up his head, but
Big Sue sat storming and panting with fury. Leah ought to be
ashamed of herself, running over the country at night trying to bring
disgracement on her.
“Whyn’t you answer Leah when e knocked?” Uncle Bill asked her.
Big Sue jumped at him angrily. “How’d I know Leah wasn’ some
robber come to cut my throat? Just ’cause Leah is married to de
foreman an’ livin’ in a bigger house dan my own, an’ wearin’ finer
clothes, dat don’ gi’ em no right to break down my door wid a’ ax!
No. Leah ain’ no white ’oman even if e do buy medicine out de sto’.
No wonder e got salivate. Gawd done right to make dat medicine
loosen all Leah’s teeth an’ prize ’em out so e ain’ got none to be a-
bitin’ people up wid. T’ank Gawd! Bought ones can’ bite. I wish all e
finger-nails would drop off! E toe-nails too! Leah’s a dangerous
’oman. E ain’ safe to be loose in dis country. No. Leah’d kill you quick
as look at you!”
 XIV
CHURCH

Sunday morning rose with a pale clear sky, and a sun that glittered
bright and hot as it mounted.
Big Sue was already up when Breeze waked. She was fussing
around, cooking dinner to take to church, fixing a basket, and China
dishes to hold it. Her best clothes, and Breeze’s, were laid out on
chairs to be put on. They must be ready when Uncle Bill came for
them in his new buggy. He had to go ahead of time, for he had
charge of the communion as well as of the Bury League which would
be organized when the service was over and the dinner eaten. The
head man of the Bury League had come to preach and to form a
Society to Bury. Big Sue baked rising bread yesterday in the Big
House kitchen stove. The brown loaves, uncovered, sat in a row on
the shelf, waiting to be wrapped up. They’d turn to Jesus’ own body
when the preacher prayed over them, and blessed them. Blackberry
wine, in the two big demijohns in the corner of the shed-room,
would turn into Jesus’ blood. Breeze couldn’t make it out in his head
exactly, but Big Sue said it was so. Breeze had picked the
blackberries that made the wine, and he’d bought the white flour for
the bread from the store. How could they turn to Jesus? But Big Sue
said prayer can do anything. Anything! When a fine preacher like the
Bury League leader prays. Not everybody knows how to pray right,
but he did. Yes, Lord, he did!
Before taking time to swallow down a mouthful of bread for
breakfast, Breeze and Big Sue put the demijohns on the front porch,
ready to go to church. They packed up all the fine dinner in one box,
and the communion bread in another, so when she was dressed in
her Sunday clothes, she’d have nothing to do but sit still and wait
and rest.
How different she looked with her body pulled in tight with a great
corset full of steel bands! Like a cotton bale pressed too small. The
frills of her petticoat were lace-trimmed. Over them, hiding them
carefully, was her new purple sateen dress.
She sat down on the porch with a pan of breakfast in her lap and
began to eat. Breeze was back in the shed-room dressing when he
heard her laugh and scramble to her feet to say in her company
manners voice:
“How you do dis mawnin’, Reverend?”
Breeze peeped through the open door in time to see her draw a foot
adroitly behind her in a low curtsey to a strange man who answered
in a familiar voice:
“Quite well, thank you, Mrs. Good-wine. How you do this morning?”
“Not so good,” she said sweetly. “Bad luck’s been a-hangin’ round de
plantation lately.”
“Bad luck ought not to pester a lady who can fix frog legs like the
ones you sent us last night for supper. They were elegant.”
Breeze stood still and listened. He knew that voice, sure as the
world. The Bury League preacher was his own stepfather. Hurrying
into his clothes he tipped across the room to the window to see
better, but Big Sue’s antics held his eyes. She was down on her
knees, shaking all over in the drollest way, with laughter that took
her breath. Her company manners were gone. Between gasps and
shouts she gurgled, “Great Gawd! You ought o’ seen dem frogs dis
mawnin’. Dat fool Breeze didn’ kill em! He cut off dey hind legs an’
turned dem loose in de back yard! I liken to a broke my foot jumpin’
when I missed an’ stepped slam on one!”
“Who did you say done it?” The Reverend was disturbed. The
greenish cast of his long-tailed coat and derby hat spread over his
swarthy face, and he sat down so suddenly on the steps that Big
Sue’s roars hushed and her company manners came back.
Scrambling to her feet and casting a fierce look toward the window
where Breeze stood, she sympathized:
“I’m too sorry. No wonder you’s sick! Eatin’ de legs of a livin’ frog!
But dey’s dead now. I made Breeze knock ’em in de head a while
ago. Breeze is a crazy boy. When I git home to-night, I’m gwine gi’
em de heaviest lickin’ ever was. I ain’ gwine leave a whole piece o’
hide on em. No, suh! I’m gwine bust his crust, sure as you’ bawn.”
“Whe’d you git dat boy? Is he you’ own?” The Reverend’s voice was
weakly.
“No, Lawd. My son, Lijah, is got plenty o’ sense. Breeze is a li’l’ boy I
got f’om Sandy Island to stay wid me, by I was so lonesome in de
night by myself.”
The Reverend took a handkerchief out of the pocket in the tail of his
long coat and wiped the sweat off his face, then he leaned his head
on his hand. Big Sue was anxious.
“Would you like a li’l’ sweetened water, suh?”
He shook his head.
“How ’bout a li’l’ cookin’ soda? Dat might settle you.” He didn’t need
a thing. He must go now. He and Miss Leah were to talk over the
hymns so she could lead the choir. He was subject to spells of
swimming in the head, but they didn’t last long.
His mention of Leah’s name changed Big Sue’s tone altogether. She
laughed out.
“Lawdy, I bet Leah’ll strut to-day. April took em to town an’ bought
em some teeth. Dey don’ fit good like you’ own, dough. Leah
wouldn’ trust to chaw wid ’em, not fo’ nothin’. I don’ blame em,
dough. I’d hate to broke ’em if dey was mine. Leah is sho’ tryin’ to
look young dese days. E natural hair is white as cotton, but e
polishes em wid soot an’ lark.”
Except for Big Sue’s displeasure about the frogs, Breeze would have
told her that the Reverend was his mother’s husband who
disappeared the day his grandfather cut the big pine, but the boy’s
one wish was to have her forget him, and maybe she’d forget the
licking she promised to lay on his hide.
When Uncle Bill drove up to the door with one of the biggest pertest
mules from the barnyard hitched to a one-horse wagon, Big Sue,
instead of praising the beast’s fresh-clipped mane and tail, looked
doubtfully at the cloth strings tying the harness in many places.
“If de mule gits to kickin’ or either runnin’, how you gwine rule em?”
she asked anxiously, but Uncle Bill laughed at her fears and helped
her to the seat in front, putting the basket of dinner and the
communion bread and wine back where Breeze sat on the floor.
At first the mule could not be moved out of a slow walk, but when
the wagon crossed over a root in the road and the wheels made a
creak and a bump, the mule jumped so that one demijohn turned
over, its stopper flew out and some of the wine spilled. Big Sue
scolded Breeze for letting it happen and told him to steady the jugs
the rest of the way. She couldn’t. She couldn’t even bend with her
corset on. It cut her wind and had her so heated she had to take off
her big sailor hat and fan herself to catch air.
The wagon wheels ground slowly along in the deep sandy ruts.
White clouds of dust rose above the slow-moving hoofs of mules and
oxen that toiled along, pulling buggies and wagons and carts
crowded with black people going to Heaven’s Gate Church. Other
church-goers were walking, many of the women in their stocking
feet, carrying their shoes in their hands along with their dinner
baskets. Well-greased faces shone, everybody saluted everybody
else, some with simple bows, others with bows beneath upraised
arms.
Heaven’s Gate Church stretched its whitewashed length from the
road clear back to the picnic tables made of clean new boards nailed
together and fastened to wide-spreading trees whose shade made
the grounds cool and darkened. The sweep of the open well was
kept busy drawing water. The churchyard swarmed with people
hurrying about like a nest of ants before summer rain. Women
crowded behind the church, putting on shoes, fixing hair, smoothing
crumpled dresses and aprons. Big Sue sucked her teeth at the sight
of Leah who was strutting, sure enough. Big Sue grumbled bitterly
because Leah was not only the choir leader to-day, but chairman of
the lemonade committee. Leah had no judgment. The last time she
fixed the lemonade, she had it sour enough to cut your very heart-
strings. Leah pushed herself. She gave nobody else a chance. No
wonder she got salivated.
The chain of wagons and buggies and carts that had stretched along
the road crowding out people on foot, now filled the churchyard
completely. Every low tree limb, every bush, held a tethered beast.
Oxen chewed cuds. Mules dozed, roused to switch off gnats and
stinging flies with close-clipped tails, then dozed again.
Every bench inside the long low whitewashed church was finally
packed with people, waiting respectfully until the time came for the
Reverend to get up in the pulpit and preach God’s word. He was
very different from Reverend Salty, the kind old preacher who had
lately died and left the congregation of Heaven’s Gate Church like
sheep without a shepherd.
Reverend Salty was fat and easy to laugh, but this Reverend was
slim and tall and solemn. He was so educated that he could read
scripture right out of the Book. No word could trip his nimble
tongue, but he said he had to wear glasses because he had strained
his eyes searching the scriptures day and night to find out how to
lead the people.
As he adjusted his glasses, carefully placing the curve of the gold
frames behind his small ears, Maum Hannah, who sat next to Breeze
on the front bench of the Amen corner, boomed right out with an
earnest, “T’ank Gawd for life, son! T’ank Gawd! Praise be to His
blessed name! I too glad I could git here to hear you read Gawd’s
book dis day!”
The Reverend cleared his throat and stared sternly at her, but when
his eyes slipped a glance at Breeze, they turned quickly to another
direction. Big Sue in the choir on the other side of the pulpit shook
her head, but Maum Hannah was wiping her joyful tears on an apron
string, and she saw nothing until Uncle Bill’s old Louder trotted in
and lay down near her feet, then she smiled and welcomed him with
a gentle, “I glad you come to pray, Louder.”
The first scripture lesson told how Moses led the Children of Israel
over Jordan on their journey toward Canaan, the promised land. The
Reverend stopped, and took off his fine glasses with fingers that
trembled, and it seemed to Breeze the preacher looked more at him
than at Maum Hannah. Getting a white fresh-ironed pocket
handkerchief out of his pants pocket, he unfolded it and made little
delicate wipes at the corners of both his eyes. He polished each
spectacle glass, cleared his throat and coughed until his voice was
clear, then he read the second lesson. April, who had come in late,
listened intently. Lord, how the man could read. He used to read at
meeting on Sandy Island sometimes. He read now, about charity,
which he said meant love, and as the familiar words fell clear on
Maum Hannah’s ears, the beauty of them stirred her heart. Her eyes
closed, her body rocked from side to side. She murmured low praise
to God, then louder words of encouragement to the preacher. “Tell
de people, son! Don’ hold back! You’s a stranger in a strange land,
but you’s a child of Gawd! Read em, son, read em!” she crooned.
“Read de word of Gawd. Let de people hear all wha’ Jedus say! We
got to love ev’ybody! Sinners an’ all! Love de sinners! Hate de sin!”
Old Reverend Salty had never objected to Maum Hannah’s taking a
part in the service, but this preacher was new. He didn’t understand
that Maum Hannah’s heart was so moved that she had to speak out.
He got more and more nervous and fretted. Every now and then he
turned his head to one side and cast a disapproving frown toward
her, but she was too happy to notice that anything was wrong.
When he began lining out the hymn:
“Come ye that love the Lord
 And let your joy be known,”
Uncle Bill leaned close and whispered in the old woman’s ear, “You
mustn’ talk out loud, Auntie. Dis preacher is used to town ways.”
Leah raised the tune, and her strong voice, swelled by the
congregation, made it hard to hear what Uncle Bill said. Maum
Hannah gave him a puzzled questioning look, and her old lips
haltingly inquired:
“Enty?”
Whole stanzas were sung before she joined in with the great volume
of harmony. Did Uncle Bill say she mustn’t talk out loud because the
preacher was used to town ways! Breeze nodded. That was exactly
what Uncle Bill said. Maum Hannah sighed, and mumbled. She didn’t
mean any disrespect. His beautiful reading had moved the spirit in
her and stirred her heart so deep, her tongue could not lie dumb in
her mouth. She’d try not to talk out loud again.
When the hymn was done Reverend stepped to the side of the pulpit
to say he would add something new to the service. The Ten
Commandments. People must understand what the laws of God are
before they can keep them rightly. He would read them, one at a
time, and at the end of each the congregation must pray.
“Do, Lord, help us to keep this law.”
“Does everybody understand?”
A roar of answers came back, “Yes suh, we understan’ good, suh!”
but Maum Hannah shook her head and objected in clear distinct
words, “No, son, dat’s how de white folks pray! Gawd ain’ used to
we prayin’ dat way!”
April smiled, but Uncle Bill was worried. “Hush, Auntie! You’ll git de
preacher all tangled up.”
She gave up. Her eyes fell. Her hands caught at each other and held
fast. The thin-veined, blue-nailed fingers, knotted at every joint,
twisted into a tight uneasy grip, then sank into a fold of her white
apron. Tears ran out from under her shut eyelids.
The preacher opened the Bible, and turned the leaves over for the
right place. When it lay under his eyes he began a solemn,
“‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’!”
When he raised his eyes to the congregation Uncle Bill led a ragged
wave of voices into a loud, “Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!”
The preacher smiled and nodded approval, then bent over the Book
to read the next commandment. It was a long one. The people
didn’t know exactly when it ended, but he started them off, and they
responded with an eager rush, “Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!”
The Reverend lost his place, his long forefinger had to help his eyes
find it, but presently he began with a loud, “‘Remember the Sabbath
day’!” He read on and on. The congregation listened breathlessly for
the end, and when his voice fell, every soul broke into the crashing
prayer, “Do Lawd, help us to keep dis law!” April frowned.
Maum Hannah’s head dropped, her chin was on her breast, her eyes
were shut tight, her lips moving in whispers. Breeze could tell she
was praying alone, quite apart from the preacher and the
congregation which had strangely become two beings: one, a lone,
black, shiny-skinned, shiny-eyed man in the pulpit, repeating God’s
commandments, in the high sing-song, and clapping his hands for
the people to respond; and the congregation, now knitted into a
many-mouthed, many-handed, many-eyed mass, that swayed and
rocked like one body from side to side, crying to God in an agonized,
“Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!” A shrill voice screamed out of
the rumbling body, “Hallelujah! I feel de sperit!” A chill crept over
Breeze. He felt something strange himself. He couldn’t hear his own
voice in the flood of shouted praying, but he knew he was one with
the rest. The preacher’s tall form swayed this way and that, his long
slew-feet patted the floor. He was like a tree rocked by a strong
wind.
“Honour thy father and thy mother,” he chanted. His upheld hands
opened and clenched into straining fists, but the congregation was
too full to wait for the rest. Their fierce, full-throated cry rang out,
“Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!”
“Thou shalt kill!” His voice swelled and thickened with hoarseness,
his arms swung about.
“Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!”
The preacher’s tongue was twisted by his fervor, the ears of the
congregation deafened by their own shouting.
“Thou shalt commit adultery!” he yelled.
“Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!” they yelled back.
Breeze’s blood seethed hot, his heart beat wildly, the whole church
full of people boiled with commotion. Shouts of praise to God broke
into the din and tumult of prayer.
“Thou shalt steal!” came like wind on a flame and the congregation’s
answer sprang hot from the heart, “Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis
law!”
Maum Hannah jerked up her head and listened. Her hands wavered
apart, then reached out toward the preacher. She got to her feet and
waved her arms, “You got em wrong, son! Wrong! Great Lawd, don’
say em dat way!”
Nobody paid her any attention but Uncle Bill, and he pulled her by
the arm and made her sit down, “Wait, Auntie! It ain’ time to shout
yet. Set down till after de sermon.” Then he joined in with the
others, whose words lost in feeling, surged back and forth,
throbbing, thundering, until the old church trembled and shook.
“Thou shalt bear false witness against thy neighbor!”
The preacher’s flashing eyes blazed with fire, as they gazed at the
people, his shortened breath panted his words, and the
congregation burst into prayer, “Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!”
From his seat in the Amen corner Breeze could see every face.
Standing out by itself, April’s bold daring countenance was lit with a
cool sneering smile.
The Ten Commandments were all said, but the preacher knew
others.
“Thou shalt be a father to the fatherless!”
“Do, Lawd, help us to keep dis law!” The holy spirit filled the close-
packed swaying crowd.
“Thou shalt be a husband to the widow!”
The ever-rising tide of prayer rolled into a flood that swallowed every
soul but April. He sat upright. Unmoved. Passionless. When the
preacher’s ranting halted to give out a hymn, April got up and
walked down the aisle, and on out of the door. A no-mannered
brazen thing for anybody to do. Every eye gazed at him, the
preacher stared, but Uncle Bill hurriedly raised the hymn.
The congregation sang it as the preacher lined it out two lines at a
time. When it was finished, then he opened the Bible and took his
text. “Hold fast and repent!” He read it twice and closed the Book,
then shut his eyes and prayed in silence before he asked the
question:
“Does all o’ you members fast?” Throughout the church a solemn
silence fell, then a great cry answered:
“Sho’! Sho’! Yes, suh.”
“You can not pray rightly without fasting.”
“No, suh! It’s de Gawd’s truth.”
“The longer you fast, the better you can repent!”
“Yes, brother! You right!”
“The longer you fast, the quicker your sins will be forgiven!”
“Praise His name! Hallelujah!” Leah led the women of the choir into
a low humming tune.
“Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights!”
“Yes, Gawd!” The choir’s humming swelled and spread to the women
of the congregation.
“He got stronger and stronger as He fasted.”
“Yes, suh!” Bodies rocked and swayed to the mournful tune.
“He got strong as the devil!” The preacher’s eyes flashed bright
behind his glasses, but Maum Hannah jumped forward at such
reckless words.
“He beat the devil at his own game!” The Reverend shouted as he
shook his clenched fists.
“Glory! Hallelujah!” The congregation cried loud above the women’s
solemn wordless chanting.
“Yunnuh hold fast! Get strong like Jesus!” The preacher stamped on
the floor.
“Yes, Gawd! Praise His name!” The women were getting to their feet
and patting time.
“God’ll feed you on the bread of life!”
“Do, Master!” Maum Hannah cried out so clear, that he looked at her
and caught Breeze’s eye. The holy spirit left him all of a sudden.
Maybe he thought of the frog legs, maybe of old Breeze, but he
stopped short and cleared his throat and fumbled with the leaves of
the book. He presently said the time had come for making their
offerings. They must sing an old hymn, and the people must come
forward and lay their gifts on God’s holy altar, which was a small
pine table in front of the pulpit. They crushed into the aisle, an array
of gaudy dresses, weaving in and out among the dark men. Both
aisles were choked with singing people. Waves of hot breath smote
Breeze in the face. Sunday shoes squeaked. Outside in the
churchyard a mule brayed long and loud. Coins rolled and clinked
against one another on the table. One rolled on the floor and fell
through a crack, lost, as Uncle Bill gave Breeze a brownie to carry
up.
The hymn was all sung, and the preacher went behind the pulpit
again. In a high voice he declared that the stay of Jesus on earth
was divided into four parts: the birth, the life, the death and the
resurrection. “Which was the biggest part? Which, brethren? Speak
out!” he urged them, for the congregation was hushed with interest.
“De resurrection!” Uncle Bill shouted.
“De life!” somebody else chimed.
“No, son!” Maum Hannah stood up. “No! De birthin’ was. If his
mammy didn’ birth em Jedus couldn’ live or either die. No, suh! De
birthin’ was de biggest part.”
But the preacher wasn’t listening. He blared out his answer to his
own question:
“The resurrection of Jesus took the sting out of death! Brethren!
Sisters! The resurrection brought angels to the tomb! The
resurrection showed Heaven in the sky!”
Breeze’s head ached as the sermon went on. His neck hurt. His feet
went to sleep.
When it was at last ended, sinners were invited to come up to the
mourner’s bench and kneel for prayer, the preacher plead with them
not to wait and be damned, but to come up and promise God they’d
seek forgiveness for their sins until He gave them some sign by
which they’d know they were saved. A multitude thronged forward
and fell on their knees, sobbing and calling on Jesus for mercy.
The preacher begged God to look down. To come near and bring His
holy spirit to save these souls. Breeze’s heart beat hammer strokes
against his breast. He wanted to be saved too. He wanted to go
kneel with the rest of the sinners. The fear of Hell, and timidity,
combined, shook his knees, and broke him out in a cold sweat. All
his blood felt frozen, leaking through his skin as he staggered
forward and knelt down, and shut his eyes, and tried his best to
pray.
A rough hand gripped his shoulder, and Big Sue whispered harshly in
his ear, “Is you gone plum crazy, Breeze? Git up an’ go on back an’
set down. Don’t you jerk ’way from me! You ain’ got no business
seekin’! If you miss an’ find peace an’ git religion you couldn’ bat ball
on Sunday wid li’l’ young Cap’n when he come! Not if you’s a
Christian! Git up! You don’ know nothin’ ’bout prayin!”
Breeze got up sheepishly and went to his seat, but he thought
bitterly; Big Sue didn’t care if he burned in Hell. Many a time she
had told him how those wicked, hell-bent buckras spent Sundays in
sin. Riding horses. Singing reels. Dancing and frolicking on God’s
day. Young Cap’n played ball, baseball, under the trees, on the holy
Sabbath, just as if it were the middle of the week. Big Sue said God
didn’t like people to even pick a flower on Sunday. And now she
wanted him to have sin right along with those brazen white people.
She didn’t care how much he burned in Hell. It wasn’t right. It
wasn’t fair. When he got bigger he was going to pray, no matter
what Big Sue said.
The prayer for the sinners was done, and the sinners went to their
seats. The deacons passed the Lord’s Supper; small squares of
bread piled up on a plate, and water glasses full of blackberry wine.
Each member took a crumb and a sip, no more.
Maum Hannah’s fingers shook and fumbled over the bread and a
tiny crumb fell off the plate in her lap. A bit of Jesus’ own body.
Broken for the sins of men. As soon as Maum Hannah stood up, it
would fall on the floor and be trampled under foot. Why not get it
and eat it? Nobody’d know.
Breeze watched it. Once it seemed to move toward him, to creep
nearer to his fingers. The congregation was singing. Their voices
rose, some high, some low, Maum Hannah’s and Uncle Bill’s with the
rest.
Nobody was looking. Why not take that crumb and taste it?
Breeze’s unsteady, frightened fingers stole sidewise, following the
apron’s folds until they got in reach of the bit of bread. They closed
over it and eased back to safety, then they slowly, slyly thrust it into
Breeze’s mouth.
It fell on his tongue which kept still, trying to get its flavor. But it was
small. Too small. It melted quickly and slipped down his throat
before Breeze could stop it. A bit of Jesus’ own precious body. The
preacher said it was that. Poor Jesus. Sold by His friend to bad
people who killed Him, hung Him on a cross. He let them do it. He
wanted to show God how sorry He was to see poor sinners going
down to Hell. Hopping. Burning. Weeping. Gnashing their teeth for
ever and ever. Jesus was a good man to do that. Breeze’s heart was
rapt with pity. His body quivered. Tears ran down his cheeks in
floods. God must have a a hard heart to let Jesus suffer so bad.
“Nee-ro my Gawd, to thee—
Nee-ro to thee——”
the congregation sang. Old Louder raised up his head and bayed,
like his heart ached too. Nobody noticed him but Maum Hannah who
leaned and patted his head. “Hush, Louder. Keep quiet. Pray easy,
son. Easy.”
The service was finally over, the benediction said, people crowded
the aisles, poured out through the wide-open doors, slowly, quietly,
until the church was empty and its yard full.
An empty hogshead, got from the store, was half filled with water
from the spring at the picnic grounds. Lemons were cut and
squeezed and added. A great cloth bag full of sugar was poured in.
A great block of ice was stripped out of its sack and washed clean of
sawdust, and dumped into the barrel with the lemons and sugar and
water.
Maum Hannah disapproved again, and some of the old people sided
with her. She said ice wasn’t a healthy thing. But the fine stylish
town preacher said she was mistaken. Once, a long time ago, people
used to think ice was not healthy, but everybody knows better now.
In town people never drink lemonade without ice. Never.
Uncle Bill was worried because the ice’s coldness seemed to soak up
the sugar. The lemonade didn’t taste at all right. There was no more
sugar to put in unless they sent all the way to the store, and this
was Sunday. It would be a sin to buy sugar on Sunday.
The men on the lemonade committee were arguing about what to
do, when the Reverend, who had been walking around through the
crowd shaking hands with the people and patting the children’s
heads, came up with Leah, who was smiling and talking and putting
on many fine airs. The preacher said he was sure, Leah, Mrs. Locust,
knew all about lemonade. She could tell exactly if they’d have to
send for more sugar or not. Just give her a taste. She’d decide for
them.
Zeda laughed out. Big Sue muttered something, but both stood
aside to make room for Leah, who giggled happily, and stepped up
to the barrel.
The Reverend took up the long clean hickory paddle Uncle Bill had
used to mix it, and leaning over, gave it a vigorous stirring. He must
have stirred too hard, for the cold air rose up out of the barrel into
Leah’s nose, and before she had time even to turn her head, she
gave one loud sneeze and all her white teeth flew out of her mouth
right into the barrel of lemonade.
It was a bad time. Leah said she’d have to have her teeth back right
now. But they were mixed up with all those hundreds of lemon skins
and that big block of ice. Every man on the committee took a hand
at stirring for them, but the teeth rose up and grinned, then hid
deep in the bottom of the lemonade before anybody could snatch
them out. The preacher said pour the whole hogshead of lemonade
out on the ground! The idea! Breeze felt relieved when the
committee was firm. Leah would have to wait. The lemonade would
soon be low in the barrel. The people were thirsty. They’d drink it up
in a hurry. Leah didn’t argue but went off one side and began