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"Just go inside and sit, Octavious," she commanded. "Gladys, you're not going to give these thieves a moment of our time. You're--"

"Go inside, Octavious."

He shook his head and came into the room, sitting across from Daddy. He glanced at me once and then looked at his wife. She closed the door and remained standing.

"Well?" he -said.

"Look at this girl, Octavious. Go on."

"I'm looking at her."

"Are you going to deny her story to her face?" she challenged.

He swallowed hard. "Gladys . ."

"I want to know the truth and I want you to admit to it. She told me things you said about us, Octavious, intimate things she would not know otherwise."

"I . .

"You were in that swamp fishing, weren't you, Octavious?" she said, beginning her relentless interrogation.

"Yes, but . . ."

"And you poled to that pond, didn't you? You saw her there?"

"That doesn't mean I did what she claims I did."

"But you did do it, didn't you?" she pursued.

"Took off your clothes and climbed up on the rock to sit beside her? Well?"

"Look, she invited me to . ."

"Octavious, you made love to this girl, didn't you?" she demanded, stepping toward him, her eyes wide and furious. He looked down. "Answer me and tell the truth! You're only prolonging this horrible moment and driving the knife deeper into my heart."

He nodded slowly, biting down on his lower lip. Then he looked up sharply.

"Ha!" Daddy said, slapping his hands on his knees.

"There's no way she can prove that her baby is my baby," Octavious said quickly. "This sort of girl-- "

"Doesn't lie," Gladys said, nodding. She looked at me and then at him before she took a deep breath and looked away for a moment. When she turned back to us, I saw the glitter of tears in her eyes, but she sucked in her breath and blinked away those tears.

"How much does he want?" Octavious asked, glaring at Daddy.

"It's not only what he wants," Gladys replied. We all looked at her, Daddy the most surprised. "It's what I want," she said, and regained her composure to make the most astounding demands of all.

4

Bought and Sold

.

"What is it you want?" Daddy asked Gladys

Tate before Octavious could. Octavious sat there seemingly hypnotized by his wife's movements. Mania once told me there's no hate such ai that born out of a love betrayed. Like Octavious, I wondered what sort of revenge Gladys was concocting.

She walked to the window, hesitated a moment, and then jerked the curtains closed as if she thought someone might be spying on us. It darkened the room and her face when she turned slowly back to us. Octavious squirmed in his seat. The dark cherry grandfather clock in the corner bonged the noon hour. While it did, Gladys fixed her eyes on me like a marsh hawk sighting in its prey.