The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck [152]
The tractors which throw men out of work, the belt lines which carry loads, the machines which produce, all were increased; and more and more families scampered on the highways, looking for crumbs from the great holdings, lusting after the land beside the roads. The great owners formed associations for protection and they met to discuss ways to intimidate, to kill, to gas. And always they were in fear of a principal—three hundred thousand—if they ever move under a leader—the end. Three hundred thousand, hungry and miserable; if they ever know themselves, the land will be theirs and all the gas, all the rifles in the world won’t stop them. And the great owners, who had become through the might of their holdings both more and less than men, ran to their destruction, and used every means that in the long run would destroy them. Every little means, every violence, every raid on a Hooverville, every deputy swaggering through a ragged camp put off the day a little and cemented the inevitability of the day.
The men squatted on their hams, sharp-faced men, lean from hunger and hard from resisting it, sullen eyes and hard jaws. And the rich land was around them.
D’ja hear about the kid in that fourth tent down?
No, I jus’ come in.
Well, that kid’s been a-cryin’ in his sleep an’ a-rollin’ in his sleep.
Them folks thought he got worms. So they give him a blaster, an’ he died. It was what they call black-tongue5 the kid had. Comes from not gettin’ good things to eat.
Poor little fella.
Yeah, but them folks can’t bury him. Got to go to the county stone orchard.
Well, hell.
And hands went into pockets and little coins came out. In front of the tent a little heap of silver grew. And the family found it there.
Our people are good people; our people are kind people. Pray God some day kind people won’t all be poor. Pray God some day a kid can eat.
And the associations of owners knew that some day the praying would stop.
And there’s the end.
Chapter 20
THE FAMILY, on top of the load, the children and Connie and Rose of Sharon and the preacher were stiff and cramped. They had sat in the heat in front of the coroner’s office in Bakersfield while Pa and Ma and Uncle John went in. Then a basket was brought out and the long bundle lifted down from the truck. And they sat in the sun while the examination went on, while the cause of death was found and the certificate signed.
Al and Tom strolled along the street and looked in store windows and watched the strange people on the sidewalks.
And at last Pa and Ma and Uncle John came out, and they were subdued and quiet. Uncle John climbed up on the load. Pa and Ma got in the seat. Tom and Al strolled back and Tom got under the steering wheel. He sat there silently, waiting for some instruction. Pa looked straight ahead, his dark hat pulled low. Ma rubbed the side of her mouth with her fingers, and her eyes were far away and lost, dead with weariness.
Pa sighed deeply. “They wasn’t nothin’ else to do,’’ he said.
“I know,’’ said Ma. “She would a liked a nice funeral, though. She always wanted one.’’
Tom looked sideways at them. “County?’’ he asked.
“Yeah,’’ Pa shook his head quickly, as though to get back to some reality. “We didn’ have enough. We couldn’ of done it.’’ He turned to Ma. “You ain’t to feel bad. We couldn’ no matter how hard we tried, no matter what we done. We jus’ didn’ have it; embalming, an’ a coffin an’ a preacher, an’ a plot in a graveyard. It would of took ten times what we got. We done the bes’ we could.’’
“I know,’’ Ma said. “I jus’ can’t get it outa my head what store she set by a nice funeral. Got to forget it.’’ She sighed deeply and rubbed the side of her mouth. “That was a purty nice fella in there. Awful bossy, but he was purty nice.’’
“Yeah,’’ Pa said. “He give us the straight talk, awright.’’
Ma brushed her hair back with her hand. Her jaw tightened. “We got to git,’’ she said. “We got to find a place to stay. We got to get work an’ settle down. No use a-lettin’ the little fellas go hungry. That wasn’t never Granma’s way. She always et a good meal at a funeral.