I fought for sleep, hearing Reuben, arrived two days before, go to the door and answer him. Past midnight and the moon beat our bedroom panes and I edged closer to my wife’s warmth and saw with eyes half-shut that my son was standing up in his bed and he was trembling. That was when I heard the horses and the door crash open and my brother holler murder; and they came upon me before I could get out my bed. Black faces and figures, they took my arms and legs and I raged against them; Red Kate had a knife held out and was slashing at them, but one struck her and she fell to the floor; I fought, toppling my boy’s bed so that I heard him wailing as they dragged me out. I bit at their hands and tasted boot-blacking, spit it, howling and hearing a man say, If the bitch says another word, kill her.They flung me from the porch into the yard, where I saw Reuben on his back with a pair of men kicking in his face with their boot-heels before the clubs began to rain on me and I struggled to keep my knees, spitting teeth, until one caught me across my nape and I fell to the dirt.
