CHAPTER 6

UH-OH. My eyes opened and I could see the sun behind the branch of a
Christmas tree.

I jumped up, folded my blanket inside my suitcase, hid it and started running
the six or seven blocks down to the mission.

I turned the corner and said, "Whew!" There were still people lined up waiting.
I started walking along the line. The end was a lot farther away than I thought.
The line turned all the way around two corners, then crossed over one street
before I saw the last person. Shucks. I walked up to get behind him.

He said, "Line's closed. These here fouls are the last ones." He pointed at a man standing next to a woman who was carrying a baby.

I said, "But sir ...I'

He said, "But nothing. Line's closed. These here folks are the last ones."

It was time to start lying. If I didn't get any food now I'd have to steal
something out of someone's garbage or I wouldn't be able to eat until the
mission opened for supper.

I said, "Sir, I--"

The man raised his hand and said, "Look, kid, everybody's got a story and
everybody knows the rules. The line closes at seven o'clock. How's it fair to
these people who been here since five o'clock that you can sleep until" -- he
looked at his wristwatch--"until seven-fifteen, then come busting down here
expecting to eat? You think you got some kind of special privilege just 'cause
you're skinny and raggedy? Look in the line, there's lots of folks look just like
you, you ain't the worst.

"Supper starts at six P.M., but you see how thing’s is, if you plan on getting fed
you better be in line by four. Now get out of here before 1 get rough with you."
Shucks, being hungry for a whole day is about as bad as it can get. I said. "But
..."

He reached in his pocket and pulled something out that looked like a heavy
black strap and slapped it across his hand. Uh-oh, here we go again.
He said. "That's it, no more talk, you opened your mouth one time too many.
You rotten kids today don't listen to no one, but I'm a show you something
that'll improve your hearing.'' He slapped the strap on his hand and started
walking toward me.

I was wrong when I said being hungry for a day is about as bad as it can get,
being hungry plus having a big knot on your head from a black leather strap
would be even worse.

I backed away but only got two steps before I felt a giant warm hand wrap
around my neck from behind. I looked up to see whose doggone hand was so
doggone big and why they'd put it around my neck.

A very tall, square-shaped man in old blue overalls looked down at me and
said, "Clarence, what took you so long?"

I got ready to say, "My name's not Clarence and please don't choke me, sir, I'll

leave” but as soon as I opened my mouth he gave my head a shake and said, "I
told you to hurry back, now where you been?" He gave me a shove and said,
get back in line with your momma."

I looked up and down the line to see who was supposed to be my momma when a woman pointed her finger at her feet and said, "Clarence, you get over here right now." There were two little kids hanging on to her skirt.

I walked over to where she was and she gave me a good hard smack on the
head. Shucks, for someone who was just pretending to be my momma she sure
did slap me a good one.

I said, "Ow!"

The big square man who'd grabbed my neck looked at the man with the strap
and said, "Boy had to go use the capper, told him not to waste time, but like
you said, these kids today don't listen to nobody."

The strap man looked at the size of the man who called me Clarence and
walked back to the end of the line.

When the overall man got back in line I said, "Thank you, sir, I really tried to
get…" But he popped me in the back of the head, hard, and said, "Next time
don't be gone so long."

The two little kids busted out laughing and said, "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah,
Clarence got a lickin', Clarence got a lickin'."
I told them, "Shut up, and don't call me…" Then both my pretend poppa and
my pretend momma smacked my head. She looked at the people direct behind us and said, "Mercy, when they get to be this age ..."

The people weren't too happy about me taking cuts in the line, but when they
looked at how big my pretend daddy was and they saw how hard him and my
pretend momma were going upside my head they decided they wouldn't say
anything.

I was grateful to these people, but I wished they'd quit popping me in the head,
and it seems like with all the names in the world they could've come up with a
better one for me than Clarence.

I stood in line with my pretend family for a long, long time. Everybody was
very quiet about standing in line, even my pretend brother and sister and all the
other kids. When we finally got around the last comer and could see the door
and folks going in it seemed like a bubble busted and people started laughing
and talking. The main thing people were talking about was the great big sign
that was hanging over the building.

It showed a gigantic picture of a family of four rich white people sitting in a car
driving somewhere. You could tell it was a family 'cause they all looked
exactly alike. The only difference amongst them was that the daddy had a big
head and a hat and the momma had the same head with a woman's hat and the girl had two big yellow pigtails coming out from above her ears. They all had big shiny teeth and big shiny eyes and big shiny cheeks and big shiny smiles. Shucks, you'd need to squint your eyes if that shiny family drove anywhere near you.

You could tell they were rich 'cause the car looked like it had room for eight or
nine more people in it and 'cause they had movie star clothes on. The woman
was wearing a coat with a hunk of fur around the neck and the man was
wearing a suit and a tie and the kids looked like they were wearing ten-dollar-a-piece jackets.

Writ about their car in fancy letters it said, THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE
AMERICA TODAY!

My pretend daddy read it and said, "Uh-uh-uh, well, you got to give them
credit, you wouldn't expect that they'd have the nerve to come down here and
tell the truth."

When we finally got into the building it was worth the wait. The first thing you
noticed when you got inside was how big the place was, and how many people were in it and how quiet it was. The only sound you could hear was when someone scraped a spoon across the bottom of their bowl or pulled a chair in or put one back or when the people in front of you dragged their feet on the floor moving up to where they were spooning out the food.

After we'd picked up our spoons and bowls a lady dug a big mess of oatmeal
out of a giant pot and swopped it down into our bowls. She smiled and said, "I
hope you enjoy?"

Me and my pretend family all said, "Thank you, ma'am". Then a man put two
pieces of bread and a apple and a big glass of milk on your tray and said,
"Please read the signs to your children. Thank you."

We all said "Thank you, sir." Then we walked past some signs someone'd stuck
up on the wall.

One said, PLEASE DO NOT SMOKE, another said PLEASE EAT AS
QUICKLY AND QUIETW AS POSSIBLE, another one said, PLEASE BE
CONSIDERATE AND PATIENT--CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF--YOUR
NEIGHBORS WILL BE EATING AFTER YOU, and the last one said, we
ARE TERRIBLY SORRY BUT WE HAVE NO WORK AVAILABLE.

My pretend daddy read the signs to my pretend brother and sister and we all sat at a long table with strangers on both sides of us.

The oatmeal was delicious! I poured some of my milk into it so it wouldn't be
so lumpy and mixed it all together.

My pretend mother opened her pocketbook and took out a little brown
envelope. She reached inside of it and sprinkled something on my pretend
brother's and sister's oatmeal, then said to them, "I know that's not as much as
you normally get, but I wanted to ask you if you minded sharing some with
Clarence."

They pouted and gave me a couple of dirty looks. My pretend mother said,
"Good," and emptied the rest of the envelope over my oatmeal. Brown sugar!
Shucks, I didn't even mind them calling me Clarence anymore. I said "Thank
you, Momma, ma'am."

She and my pretend daddy laughed and he said, "It took you long enough to
catch on, Clarence." He acted like he was going to smack me again but he
didn't.

After we'd finished all our food we put our bowls up and I thanked my pretend
family again, I asked them, "Are you going to be coming back for supper?"
My pretend momma said, "No, dear, we only come here mornings. But you
make sure you get here plenty early, you hear?"

I said, "Yes, Momma, I mean, ma'am". I watched them walking away. My
pretend brother looked back at me and stuck out his tongue, then reached up
and took my pretend mother's hand. I couldn't really blame him, I don't think I'd
be real happy about sharing my brown sugar and my folks with any strange
kids either.