Thank you ma'am

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap (a narrow piece of leather or other strong material used for fastening something or giving support) , and she carried it slung - to throw or drop something carelessly(sling -slung- slung) across her shoulder. It was about eleven o'clock at night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with a sudden single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy's weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance. Instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk and his legs flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled (make a noise like a series of knocks).

After that the woman said, "Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here."

She still held him tightly. But she bent down enough to· permit him to stoop (to bend the top half of the body forward and down) and pick up her purse. Then she said, "Now ain't (short form of am not, is not, are not, has not, or have not) you ashamed of yourself?"

Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, "Yes 'm”.

The woman said, "What did you want to do it for?"

The boy said, "I didn't aim to."

She said, "You a lie!"

By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some

stood watching.

"If I turn you lose (adj - not firmly fixed in place),will you run?" asked the woman.

"Yes 'm," said the boy.

"Then I won't turn you loose, "said the woman. She did not release him.

"Lady, I'm sorry," whispered the boy.

"Um-hum! your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you.

Ain't you got no body home to tell you to wash your face?"

No 'm," said the boy.

"Then it will get washed this evening," said the large woman, starting up street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.

He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail (weak) and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.

The woman said, "You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right is to wash your face. Are you hungry?"

"No 'm," said the being-dragged (pull with force) boy. “I just want you to turn me loose.”

"Was I bothering (to annoy or cause problems for someone) you when I turned that corner?" asked the woman.

"No 'm," (page -26)

"But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman."If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."

Sweat popped out (appeared suddenly) on the boy's face and he began to struggle, Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked (to make a short sudden movement) him around in. Front of her, put a half nelson (a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent's arm from behind and the hand is applied to the neck) about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette-furnished room at the rear (at the back of something) of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still held him by the neck in the middle of her room.

She said, "What is your name?"

"Roger," answered the boy.

"Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face," said the woman, whereupon she turned him loose-at last. Roger looked at the door-looked at the woman-looked at the door-and went to the sink.

"Let the water run until it gets warm," she said."Here's a clean towel."

"You gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.

"Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman."Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat, and you snatch my pocketbook!

Maybe you ain't been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?"

"There's nobody home at my house," said the boy.

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