“I got to go to the bushes,” Dewey Dell says.
Pa does not check the team. “Can’t you wait till we get to town? It ain’t over a mile now.”
“Stop,” Dewey Dell says. “I got to go to the bushes.”
Pa stops in the middle of the road and we watch Dewey Dell descend, carrying the package. She does not look back.
“Why not leave your cakes here?” I say. “We’ll watch them.”
She descends steadily, not looking at us.
“How would she know where to go to if she waited till we get to town?” Vardaman says. “Where would you go to do it in town, Dewey Dell?”
She lifts the package down and turns and disappears among the trees and undergrowth.
“Don’t be no longer than you can help,” pa says. “We ain’t got no time to waste.” She does not answer. After a while we cannot hear her even. “We ought to done like Armstid and Gillespie said and sent word to town and had it dug and ready,” he said.
“Why didn’t you?” I say. “You could have telephoned.”
“What for?” Jewel says. “Who the hell can’t dig a hole in the ground?”
A car comes over the hill. It begins to sound the horn, slowing. It runs along the roadside in low gear, the outside wheels in the ditch, and passes us and goes on. Vardaman watches it until it is out of sight.
“How far is it now, Darl?” he says.
“Not far,” I say.