When he made approaches to his old friend, Floyd was agreeable enough, but there was no longer between them the unthinking sense of trust and spontaneous intimacy they had known all their lives until recently. Floyd spoke with enthusiasm of learning blacksmithing from his father. Leon stood and watched them working together one day in the old shed, but that made him feel even more alone and outside.

Out of boredom he even made an effort to be friendly with Selma, but she rejected him so quickly that he withdrew, surprised and offended. It was like a gift when one day, the middle of August, Bonard and Rooster Davis rode over to visit. Leon greeted them as if they were his oldest, dearest friends, and pressed them to extend their visit to include supper, and flattered Bonard by asking for stories of his experiences at college. When he’d finished the last winter session, Bonard had gone to Macon to stay with a friend and fellow student, which had disappointed his mother and father. He had only recently returned to Oaks to see them for a few weeks before returning to Savannah to continue his studies.

Were the masters stern and demanding, Leon wanted to know, or lenient? Were the students agreeable fellows? What were the living quarters like? What games were played? What other pleasures were available?

Bonard responded generously, bragging and lying and even telling a little of the truth, and making both of the younger boys laugh. Rooster heard the stories without any feeling except his own entertainment at hearing them told. But Leon, caught as he was in limbo, envied Bonard and began to yearn to have such experiences of his own. When he walked them down to the creek late in the afternoon and suggested they might swim, Bonard shook his head. Since deference to Bonard was the pattern of the afternoon, they did not swim. But their remoteness from the house helped them to feel private and independent and adult, and Bonard began to speak of his experiences with girls in Savannah.

There was a woman calling herself Mrs. Allendale who kept a house with several girls, and Bonard knew them all. One could go there and have something to drink, and talk, and arrange with Mrs. Allendale to have more private dealings with one of the girls in her room. Once he had had two together! Leon listened and thrilled with envy and admiration. “Are they white girls?” he asked.

“Certainly,” Bonard said lazily, expertly skimming a flat stone over the surface of the creek so that it broke water twice before sinking. Then he looked at the younger boy and smiled indulgently. “You been getting poontang?”

When Leon blushed, Bonard dug him in the side with a bony elbow, laughing hugely. Rooster looked at both of them as if they were crazy.