Flannery OConnor - The Complete Stories

IT IS trying on liberals in Dilton.

After the Democratic White Primary, Rayber changed his barber. Three weeks before it, while he was shaving him, the barber asked, Who you gonna vote for?

Darmon, Rayber said.

You a nigger-lover?

Rayber started in the chair. He had not expected to be approached so brutally. No, he said. If he had nut been taken off-balance, he would have said, I am neither a Negronor a whitelover. He had said that before to Jacobs, the philosophy man, andto show you how trying it is for liberals in DiltonJacobsa man of his educationhad muttered, Thats a poor way to be.

Why? Rayber had asked bluntly. He knew he could argue Jacobs down.

Jacobs had said, Skip it. He had a class. His classes frequently occurred, Rayber noticed, when Rayber was about to get him in an argument.

I am neither a Negronor a white lover, Rayber would have said to the barber.

The barber drew a clean path through the lather and then pointed the razor at Rayber. Im tellin you, he said, there aint but two sides now, white and black. Anybody can see that from this campaign. You know what Hawk said? Said a hunnert and fifty years ago, they was runnin each other down eatin each otherthrowin jewel rocks at birdsskinnin horses with their teeth. A nigger come in a white barber shop in Atlanta and says, Gimme a haircut. They throwed him out but it just goes to show you. Why listen, three black hyenas over in Mulford last month shot a white man and took half of what was in his house and you know where they are now? Settin in their county jail eatin like the President of the United Statesthey might get dirty in the chain gang; or some damn nigger-lover might come by and be heart-broke to see em pickin rock. Why, lemme tell you thisaint uothin gonna be good again until we get rid of them Mother Hubbards and get us a man can put these niggers in their places. Shuh.

You hear that, George? he, shouted to the colored boy wiping up the floor around the basins.

Sho. do, George said.

It was time for Rayber to say something but nothing appropriate would come. He wanted to say something that George would understand. He was startled that George had been brought into the conversation. He remembered Jacobs telling about lecturing at a Negro college for a week. They couldnt say Negroniggercoloredblack. Jacobs said he had come home every night and shouted, NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER out the back window. Rayber wondered what Georges leanings were. He was a trim-looking boy.

If a nigger come in my shop with any of that haircut sass, hed get it cut all right. The barber made a noise between his teeth. You a Mother Hubbard? he asked.

Im voting for Darmon, if thats what you mean, Rayber said.

You ever heard Hawkson talk?

Ive had that pleasure, Rayber said.

You heard his last one?

No, I understand his remarks dont alter from speech to speech, Rayber said curtly.

Yeah? the barber said. Well, this last speech was a killeroo! Ol Hawk let them Mother Hubbards have it.

A good many people, Rayber said, consider Hawkson a demagogue. He wondered if George knew what demagogue meant. Should have said, lying politician.

Demagogue! The. barber slapped his knee and whooped. Thats what Hawk said! he howled. Aint that a shot! Folks, he says, them Mother Hubbards says Im a demagogue. Then he rears back and says sort of soft-like, Am I a demagogue, you people? Alld they yells, Naw, Hawk, you aint no demagogue! And he comes forward shouting, Oh yeah I am, Im the best damn demagogue in this state! And you should hear them people roar! Whew!

Quite a show, Rayber said, but what is it but a

Mother Hubbard, the barber muttered. You been taken in by em all right. Lemme tell you sornethin He reviewed Hawksons Fourth of July speech. It had been another killeroo, ending with poetry. Who was Darmon? Hawk wanted to know. Yeah, who was Darmon? the crowd had roared. Why, didnt they know? Why, he was Little Boy Blue, blowin his horn. Yeah. Babies in the meadow and niggers in the corn. Man! Rayber should have heard that one. No Mother Hubbard could have stood up under it.

Rayber thought that if the barber would read a few.

Listen, he didnt have to read nothin. All he had to do was think. That was the trouble with people these daysthey didnt think, they didnt use their horse sense. Why wasnt Rayber thinkin? Where was his horse sense?

Why am I straining myself? Rayber thought irritably.

Nossir! the barber said. Big words dont do nobody no good. They dont take the place of thinkin.

Thinking! Rayber shouted. You call yourself thinking?

Listen, the barber said, do you know what Huwk told them people at Tilford? At Tilford Hawk had told them that he liked niggers fine in their place and if they didnt stay in that place, he had a place to put em. How about that?

Rayber wanted to know what that had to do with thinking.

The barber thought it was plain as a pig on a sofa what that had to do with thinking. He thought a good many other things too. which he told Rayber. He said Rayber should have heard the Hawkson speeches at Mullins Oak, Bedford, and Chickerville.

Rayber settled down in his chair again and reminded the barber that he had come in for a shave.

The barber started back shaving him. He said Rayber should have heard the one at Spartasville. There wasnt a Mother Hubbard left standin, and all the Boy Blues got their horns broke. Hawk said, he said, that the time had come when you had to sit on the lid with

I have an appointment, Rayber said. Im a hurry. Why should he stay and listen to that tripe?

As much rot as it was, the whole asinine conversation stuck with him the rest of the day and went through his mind in persistent detail after he was in bed that night. To his disgust, he found that he was going through it, putting in what he would have said if hed had an opportunity to prepare himself. He wondered how Jacobs would have handled it. Jacobs had a way about him that made people think he knew more than Rayber thought he knew. It was not a bad trick in his profession. Rayber often amused himself analyzing it. Jacobs would have handled the barber calmly enough. Rayber started through the conversation again, thinking how Jacobs would have done it. He ended doing it himself.

The next time he went to the barbers, he had forgotten about the argument. The barber seemed to have forgotten it too. He disposed of the weather and stopped talking. Rayber was wondering what was going to be for supper. Oh. It was Tuesday. On Tuesday his wife had canned meat. Took canned meat and baked it with cheeseslice of meat and a slice of cheeseturned out stripedwhy do we have to have this stuff every Tuesday?if you dont like it you dont have to

You still a Mother Hubbard?

Raybers head jerked. What?

You still for Darmon?

Yes, Rayber said and his brain darted to its store of preparations.

Well, look-a-here, you teachers, you know, looks like, well

He was confused. Rayber could see that he was not so sure of himself as hed been the last time. He probably thought he had a new point to stress. Looks like you fellows would vote for Hawk on account of you know what he said about teachers salaries. Seems like you would now. Why not? Dont you want more money?

More money! Rayber laughed. Dont you know that with a rotten governor Id lose more money than hed give me? He realized that he was finally on the barbers level. Why, he dislikes too many different kinds of people, he said. Hed cost me twice as much as Darmon.

So what if he would? the barber said. I aint one to pinch money when it does some good. Ill pay for quality any day.

Thats not what I meant! Rayber began. Thats not

That raise Hawks promised dont apply to teachers like him anyway, somebody said from the back of the room. A fat man with an air of executive assurance came over near Rayber. Hes a college teacher, aint he?