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Chapters (153)
  1. Beulah Land
  2. Dedication
  3. PART ONE
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. PART TWO
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. 11
  38. 12
  39. 13
  40. 14
  41. 15
  42. 16
  43. 17
  44. 18
  45. 19
  46. 20
  47. 21
  48. 22
  49. 23
  50. PART THREE
  51. 1
  52. 2
  53. 3
  54. 4
  55. 5
  56. 6
  57. 7
  58. 8
  59. 9
  60. 10
  61. 11
  62. 12
  63. 13
  64. 14
  65. 15
  66. 16
  67. 17
  68. 18
  69. 19
  70. 20
  71. 21
  72. 22
  73. 23
  74. 24
  75. PART FOUR
  76. 1
  77. 2
  78. 3
  79. 4
  80. 5
  81. 6
  82. 7
  83. 8
  84. 9
  85. 10
  86. 11
  87. 12
  88. 13
  89. 14
  90. 15
  91. 16
  92. 17
  93. 18
  94. 19
  95. 20
  96. 21
  97. 22
  98. 23
  99. 24
  100. PART FIVE
  101. 1
  102. 2
  103. 3
  104. 4
  105. 5
  106. 6
  107. 7
  108. 8
  109. 9
  110. 10
  111. 11
  112. 12
  113. 13
  114. 14
  115. 15
  116. 16
  117. 17
  118. 18
  119. 19
  120. 20
  121. 21
  122. 22
  123. PART SIX
  124. 1
  125. 2
  126. 3
  127. 4
  128. 5
  129. 6
  130. 7
  131. 8
  132. 9
  133. 10
  134. 11
  135. 12
  136. 13
  137. 14
  138. 15
  139. 16
  140. 17
  141. 18
  142. 19
  143. PART SEVEN
  144. 1
  145. 2
  146. 3
  147. 4
  148. 5
  149. 6
  150. 7
  151. 8
  152. Copyright
  153. Books by Lonnie Coleman published by Classica Libris (digital editions)

Lovey needed only one look. “Lord God,” she breathed, and went into the big room where Pauline had just finished making up their bed. Floyd followed and set Selma down on the bed and stood back. Pauline stared. Lovey dismissed Ezra and Floyd with a brief head motion, and they returned to the kitchen. Ham was frying in a skillet, and Ezra took a fork and turned it, to be doing something while they waited. Pauline came in, grabbed a tin wash pan from its nail on the wall and a kettle of hot water from the stove top and returned to her mother and the girl.

The two men waited again, standing, not looking at each other. They heard the soft, shocked, angry exclamations of their women and the fierce tearing of a sheet to make cloths to clean the girl’s wounds. In a little while Pauline came out with the wash pan, now filled with dirty, bloody water. She stepped to the kitchen door and threw the water into the yard, and then she faced them.

“Papa, you go tell Miss Deb, Mama says. Floyd, you come and carry her to the house when we get her wrapped in a quilt.” Ezra left instantly.

Before she could go ahead of him into the room, Floyd said, “Is she awake? Can you tell how bad she is?”

Pauline’s eyes spoke her fury before her words did. “She look like she’s been chewed by dogs.”

12

And so, Beulah Land provided another sensation for the town and county. There was no possible way of keeping the affair secret. Word of Selma’s return from her new husband’s house and of her condition on that return spread rapidly among the Negroes of Beulah Land. They were, with the exception of Roscoe and his wife, fierce partisans of Selma’s. They loved her and accepted her as she was in a way her family never had done, and they knew that she loved and accepted them too as they were. Wrong done to her was wrong done to them. They pitied her and were angry for her. When all was known, Deborah was wise enough to tell Roscoe, not that he needed such prodding, to be particular that day to keep all hands hard at work, even though it was a Saturday, so that they would have less time for fretful gossip.