up an' come on back home, an' I been here ever since. It ain' no use to be a-tryin to die. We got to stay here till our time is out. An' whilst we are a-stayin we may as well try to act mannersable, enty?"
Mary tried to nod her head. Budda Ben was right. She knew that.
"You hold up you head, gal, an' quit a-draggin you feet. Fo Gawd's sake wash you face an' wrap you hair nice an' put on a clean dress an' apron. Yesterday's sun is set, Si May-e. Last year's rain is dry. It's better to let old sorrows sleep an' tink on what's a-comin to-morrow. Plenty o to-morrows is ahead o you. Plenty o good to-morrows too, if you'll listen at what I'm a-tellin you."
Budda declared that nobody could help her but herself. Nobody. She was wasting her life, losing her friends and her health and everything else she had left. Even if July had tricked her and broken her heart, she was not the first woman to have her heart broken by a low-down man. She would not be the last, either. The best thing she could do was to put July clean out of her mind, to forget him. Yes, forget him.
Budda looked straight at her, without flinching, and when the tears flowed out of her eyes, he did not soften his voice one whit. When
