““Who the Sam Hill are you?” Oletta put her arm around my shoulders. “This here child is Cecelia Honeycutt, and she’s—” “White! Why’d you bring a white girl here?” I thought Oletta’s eyes would pop clean out of her head. “Sapphire June Wilson! Where on earth are your manners? Now, you apologize.” A nearly imperceptible smile flashed across Sapphire’s lips as she leaned back in her chair. “Apologize? For what? Ain’t my fault she’s white.” Oletta was appalled, but I laughed out loud. Though Sapphire continued to scald me with her stare, she pointed a bony finger at a chair and said, “Lawd, you’re white. But if you’ve gotta be here, then sit in the shade so you don’t hurt my eyes.””
