The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck [104]
Ruthie said solemnly, “Grampa’s down under there.’’ And Winfield looked at her with horrified eyes. And then he ran away to the fire and sat on the ground and sobbed to himself.
Pa half filled the hole, and then he stood panting with the effort while Uncle John finished it. And John was shaping up the mound when Tom stopped him. “Listen,’’ Tom said. “ ’F we leave a grave, they’ll have it open in no time. We got to hide it. Level her off an’ we’ll strew dry grass. We got to do that.’’
Pa said, “I didn’ think a that. It ain’t right to leave a grave unmounded. ’’
“Can’t he’p it,’’ said Tom. “They’d dig ’im right up, an’ we’d get it for breakin’ the law. You know what I get if I break the law.’’
“Yeah,’’ Pa said. “I forgot that.’’ He took the shovel from John and leveled the grave. “She’ll sink, come winter,’’ he said.
“Can’t he’p that,’’ said Tom. “We’ll be a long ways off by winter. Tromp her in good, an’ we’ll strew stuff over her.’’
When the pork and potatoes were done the families sat about on the ground and ate, and they were quiet, staring into the fire. Wilson, tearing a slab of meat with his teeth, sighed with contentment. “Nice eatin’ pig,’’ he said.
“Well,’’ Pa explained, “we had a couple shoats, an’ we thought we might’s well eat ’em. Can’t get nothin’ for them. When we get kinda use’ ta movin’ an’ Ma can set up bread, why, it’ll be pretty nice, seein’ the country an’ two kags a’ pork right in the truck. How long you folks been on the road?’’
Wilson cleared his teeth with his tongue and swallowed. “We ain’t been lucky,’’ he said. “We been three weeks from home.’’
“Why, God Awmighty, we aim to be in California in ten days or less.’’
Al broke in, “I dunno, Pa. With that load we’re packin’, we maybe ain’t never gonna get there. Not if they’s mountains to go over.’’
They were silent about the fire. Their faces were turned downward and their hair and foreheads showed in the firelight. Above the little dome of the firelight the summer stars shone thinly, and the heat of the day was gradually withdrawing. On her mattress, away from the fire, Granma whimpered softly like a puppy. The heads of all turned in her direction.
Ma said, “Rosasharn, like a good girl go lay down with Granma. She needs somebody now. She’s knowin’, now.’’
Rose of Sharon got to her feet and walked to the mattress and lay beside the old woman, and the murmur of their soft voices drifted to the fire. Rose of Sharon and Granma whispered together on the mattress.
Noah said, “Funny thing is—losin’ Grampa ain’t made me feel no different than I done before. I ain’t no sadder than I was.’’
“It’s just the same thing,’’ Casy said. “Grampa an’ the old place, they was jus’ the same thing.’’
Al said, “It’s a goddamn shame. He been talkin’ what he’s gonna do, how he gonna squeeze grapes over his head an’ let the juice run in his whiskers, an’ all stuff like that.’’
Casy said, “He was foolin’, all the time. I think he knowed it. He knowed it. You fellas can make some kinda new life, but Grampa, his life was over an’ he knowed it. An’ Grampa didn’ die tonight. He died the minute you took ’im off the place.’’
“You sure a that?’’ Pa cried.
“Why, no. Oh, he was breathin’,’’ Casy went on, “but he was dead. He was that place, an’ he knowed it.’’
Uncle John said, “Did you know he was a-dyin’?’’
“Yeah,’’ said Casy. “I knowed it.’’
John gazed at him, and a horror grew in his face. “An’ you didn’ tell nobody?’’
“What good?’’ Casy asked.
“We—we might of did somepin.’’
“What?’’
“I don’ know, but——’’
“No,’’ Casy said, “you couldn’ a done nothin’. Your way was fixed an’ Grampa didn’ have no part in it. He didn’ suffer none. Not after fust thing this mornin’. He’s jus’ stayin’ with the lan’. He couldn’ leave it.’’
Uncle John sighed deeply.
Wilson said, “We hadda leave my brother Will.’’ The heads turned toward him. “Him an’ me had forties side by side. He’s older’n me. Neither one ever drove a car. Well, we went in an’ we sol’ ever’thing. Will, he bought a car, an’ they give him a kid to show ’im how to use it. So the afternoon ’fore we’re gonna start, Will an