Caleb's Wars by David L. Dudley Page B

once soldiers come home and get jobs and start new families. Sonny checked with his dad, and he already wrote back with the job offer. I can start as soon as we get home."
    "Move to
Atlanta?
" Ma asked.
    The idea stunned me. Randall couldn't move away! I needed him. "Why didn't you tell me last night?" I asked.
    He didn't seem to hear me. "Atlanta is my big chance, Ma. A chance to get ahead, make somethin' of my life. There ain't a thing for me here in Toad Hop. Or in Davisville, either."
    "So yo' family don't count for anything—that what you sayin'?" Pop asked. "Our plans for you to come back and work with me, take over my puny little business one day when I'm too wore out to keep goin'? That ain't anything?"
    "I don't mean it that way."
    "How
do
you mean it?" Ma asked. "Your whole life is here—what little family you have is here. You don't know anyone in Atlanta."
    "I know Sonny. He's got lots of friends my age. I'll get to know them, too. Up there, I can find a girl, get married, have a family. And get away from livin' like a slave in my own town."
    "You think things are better up in Atlanta?" Pop asked. "You still be stuck in the Deep South, least that's the last I heard."
    "Sonny says things are better there. They got areas of town where it's almost all Negroes. You don't have to worry about white folks messin' with you all the time. God, Pop—I've had enough of white folks to last me my whole life!"
    "You and me both, and I been havin' to put up with 'em a lot longer 'n you. But if you think you gonna get away from 'em by movin' up to Atlanta, you mistaken. White man rules the roost from here to Virginia and beyond. No gettin' around him."
    I couldn't hold back any longer. "Don't leave," I pleaded. "What am I gonna do without you?"
    Randall looked surprised. "I thought you'd want me to go, Caleb, as much as you hate it here, too. And here's an idea: you can come with me."
    "Your brother ain't goin' nowhere!" Pop assured me. "You either. This is just one o' his big ideas. When the war is over, he gonna see things different."
    Ma took out a handkerchief and began twisting it in her hands.
    "No, I won't see things different, Pop! It's the war that's made me realize there's more to America than this dump, where men like Lee Davis lord it over everybody just because they got some money. I won't stay here—and I won't change my mind. You'll see."
    "You gonna come back and work with me," Pop declared. "That what you promised me. I'm countin' on you."
    "Let Caleb take my place."
    "Hey, wait a minute—" I began.
    Pop broke in. "Your brother ain't no more cut out to be a carpenter than you cut out to be the president. 'Sides, Caleb probably be rarin' to join you up in Atlanta. Leave his ma and me here to grow old and rot all by ourselves."
    Randall was starting to lose his temper. "Pop, why do you have to be this way? Don't you want Caleb and me to have a better life?"
    "Course I do. Your ma does, too. That's what all parents want for they children. But I can't see how runnin' off to Atlanta is gonna guarantee you that better life. You don't know this Sonny fella enough to trust anything he tell you. Hell, Randall! The world full of people with big ideas—people who make promises the way rabbits make babies."
    "You never did trust me, Pop. That's what this is all about. You don't think I can make a good decision for myself. But I'm gonna do it. Just as soon as the war is over."
    Ma stood up. "Let's please not argue this thing any more. I need Randall's visit to be a good one."
    Pop got up and put his arms around Ma. "All right, sugar. All this is in the future. We can talk about it some other time."
    "There ain't no reason to," Randall objected. "My mind's made up, and that's all there is to it."
    Pop frowned at him but said nothing.
    Ma went to her room, and Pop went to the porch to smoke his pipe. That left Randall and me to clean up. When we were done, Randall changed clothes, grabbed his wallet, and