‘The Day They Burned the Books My frend aide wae zal thin boy. You could se the ‘blue veins in his wrist and temples. People said that he had consumption and wasn't long fortis wold T loved, Tt someines despised hi, ‘ls father, Mr Sawyer, was a strange man. Nobody cul make out what be was daing in our part of the (world atall, He was nota planter ofa doctor ora lawyer for buther. He dida’t keep store. He wasnt a school Taster ora government offal He waset~ that was the point a gentleman, We had several resident romantics {eho had fallen i love with the moon on the Caribees = They were all gentlemen and quite unlike Mr Sawyer who hhadot an‘ in is composition. Besides, he detested the toon and everything ee about the Caribbean and be ‘Sdn’ mind wing yous. He was agent fora snall steamship ine which in those days inked up Venenila and Trinidad with the smaller ‘Sands, but he coulda make much out of that, He must have a. private income, people decided, but they never ‘Gecided wy he had choten to stl in a place he didnt Tike and to marry a coloured woman. Though a detent, respectable, nial educated eoloured woman sind you. ‘Mrs Sawyer mut have been very pretty once but, what with ove thing and another, that was in days gone by. "When Mr Sawyer was drink this often happened = Ine use to be very ride her. She never answered him. "Look t the nigger showing ef he woud say; and he ‘woul sles if she knew she ought to see the joke bat Couldn't “You dazane, lang-yed, gloomy half-cast, you« | gf Tigersare Beter-Looking owt smal ight he would say nd she never answered Se even o wiisper, You dont sll ght tote, ether! "The try wet that once they had vented to ive a inner party and that whes the servant, Mie, was ‘ince in coer had pulled Mes Saye’ hai. Not swig se he bud: ven then i you can beive Jue Seer ad laughed a ed pretend hat iran all parol the joe, thi myers, ebeare, sacred English joke. ‘Bu Milde told he oter servant in the town that tee eyes bal gone wihed Ihe asoucriant ead that tera sbe had picked up sme of the hai he pled Sat and ptt in an envelope, and that Me Sawyer ought {Olookout (hai aha elas ha) ‘Ot cane, Mis Sawyer bad ber compensations. They ive sna very plessan howe in Hil Stet. The garden sess large and dey had fae mango tee, which bore Yet. The frat was ama round, very sweet and Jicy a lovely, eaband-ellow colar when ie was pe Prdtps it was one othe compensations Ted to hi. ‘Mir Samyee but rom on to the back of this Inu. 1k was unpainted inside and the wood suet very sve Dockslves lined the walls Every tine the Royal Mail ‘ance og cag fr hina athe fly dhe empty theives il "ye ee the wie Baio brow The Artin Nights That was on 2 Saturday afternoon, one of those ital afternoons when you fl that everything bad tone to deep eve the water inthe gutters But Mr Sov Ser wasn asleep. She put her bead i a he dor and ould atu and T knew that di hated the room sd ae he books Tm ith epi san rele oir tne ving mage ef hit fathr, bough often a ie Gis bs mother who fist infect me with doubts ‘bout ‘home, meaning England He would be so quiet ‘ten les who ad ver seen it~ none of ws had ver ‘TheDay They Burned the Books 99 seen it — were talking about its delights, gesticulating freely a we talked ~ London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies the theatres, the shops, the fog, the blszing col fives in winter, the exotic food (whitebait eater to the sund of violin) strawbervies and cream the word ‘Srawheri’ always spoken with a guteural and throaty sound which we imagined to be the proper English pro- "I dont like strawberries? Bali said on one cation, ‘You don't ike strawberries?” ‘No, and T don't ike daffodil either. Dad's aways go jing on about them. He ssy they ick the Rowers here nto ‘cocked hat and Ubet thas he? ‘We were all too shocked to say, You don’t know a thing shout it? We were so shocked that nobody spake 10 im forthe ret of the day. But I for one adeniced him, also wasted of learning and reciting poems in praise of Gaffes, and my zlations withthe lew “real! Engich boys and girl Thad met were awkward. Thad discovered Aha if Tale siael€ English they would stub me haughe tly: You're not English; you'e a horrid colonial "Well don’t much waat to be English’ Toul ay, "Tee uch tore fun to be French or Spanith or something ike that “and, as @ matter of fact, Tam a bit! Then Twas too Liingiy fonny, quite ridiculous. Not only a horrid cl ‘nial but alt cdienlous, Head T win, tile you lee ~ that was the English. Thad thought about allthis and thought hard, but Thad never dared to ell anybody what Thought aod T realized that Eddie had been very bold But he was bold, and stronger than you would think For one thing, he never Tele the heat; some coldness in his fir kin resisted i. He didn’t barn red or brown, he sida’ freckle auch, "lot days seemed to make him fel especially energetic "Now well run twice round the lawn and then you ean pretend you've dying of thirst ia the desert and that Cm An Arab chieftain bringing you wate?go. Tigers are Beter-Losking ous ik so be wos yor iy ery ity ad you dein qui you die! BT exit voluptuous of inking dol when sya are very thsty sal ofl y all wth the gs of pk, fed Coa-Cola was empty ied fier my welth birdy Mr Sawyer ied sud col id ae Bdies petal rend T went the fuer, deg tne white Gress Afy straight hai was dae TERE and water the night before and pated ito ‘ght litle plats, 0 that it should be fluffy for the occa een it was all over everybody said bow ice Mis sanper bad Toke, walling ite a quren behind the cof Bde coping her eyeball out ae ght moment and ‘east Eddies funny boy? Me hadn't xed at al “After this a nd ook posesion of the room ela snake Nope ea ever entered ty except Miedo epee Yat the mornings atl oduall he ghost {UR Soyer pling Ms Saoner’s bir faded, though {hietoak ait tine The blinds were abray balay “Te and going in out ofthe sun was ike tepping iv af bre water Tas empy except forthe {Bigheiven a dak with a gees bize top anda wicker rocking csi ‘ip smn Bie called it ‘My books? he would say, ‘my boa tn hw og hen hw ber sewer fer aoe death or ona, that eat and Bi inte room. But tere we a Acre culy are Me Suen and Mildred. Me See erat gts her eyes pened. Se pling all Se Posts out of the delves and pling them Sato two Bey bg fat ony ones =the gootsocking ons, Nilred explains ina whisper — ie none Heap, The eolopeatia Prtnnica, Brith Flower, Birds and eae tarishstoren, books with maps, Frowde's Eng Tanith West Tees ae 0.00 ~ they ace gong tbe ‘The Day They Burned the Books 4 sold. The unimportant books, with paper covers or dam aged covers oF torn page, lie in another heap, They are Boing tobe burnt ~ yes, burnt ‘Mildred’ expresion was extraordinary a dhe sd that ~ half hugely delighted, half shocked, even frightened. ‘And as for Mr Sawyer ~ wel, Liew bad temper (Thad ‘often seen if), T knew rage, but this was hate. T recog ized the difference at ones and stared at her eiiously edged closer to her so that T could se the tides of the books she was handing. Te was the poetry shelf. Pens, Lord Byton, Poetical Works, Milton, and so on. Viusg, vlung, vung ~ all tov into the heap that were to Be vol Bats Bok by Ghritina Rossetti, though alo bound it leather, went Into the heap that was to be burn, and by a ficker in Mrs Sawer's eyes T knew that wore than men who wrote bookt were women who wrote hooks ~ infinitely wore. ‘Men could be meriully shot; women mst be tveured Mars Sawyer did not stm to notice that we were there, but she was breathing fee and easy and her hands had got the sbythin af tearing and pitching. She looked ‘eau, 00 ~ ean asthe sky outside which was a very dark blue, or the mango tee, lang speay of brown and gold. ‘When Eddie said "No, sb didnot even glance at him "No" he said again in high voice. ‘Not that one wae reading that one ‘She laughed snd he roshed at her, his ees starting ont this head, shrieking, Now P've got to hate you to. Now Thate you to. “re anatched the book out of her hand and gave her violent push. She fll ino the rocking-chae. ‘Well T waar going to be let out of all this, so T grabbed a book from the condemned pile and dived under Mildred’s otstretched arm, ‘Then we were both in the garden. We ran along the path, bordered with ezotons, We pelted down the pat,42 Tigersare Better-Looking though they did not follow ws and we could hear Mile tred laughing - Kya, kyah, kyah, kyab. As Tran T put the book Thad taken into the lose front of my brown holland dress, ffl warm and alive, ‘When we gt into the street we walked sedately, for we feared the Bick chikdren'ssdicule. T fle very happy, because Thad saved this book and it was my book ats ‘would ead i from the begining tothe erumphant words "The End’, But I was uneary when T thought of Mrs Sawyer "What willshe do? Tsai. “Nothing Baldiesaid. "Not to me He was white a a ghost i his sailor sult, a blueawhite cven inthe betting stn, and hie father's nee was clamped fn his face. “Dat shel tell your mother all sors of les about you? ‘he ssid She's an awful liar, She ean’ make up a sory 10 save her life, bat she makes up les about people all ight “My mother won't tke any notice of hes? T ssid ‘Though Twas not tall sure “Why not? Because she's». because she isn't white?” Well, T knew the answer to that one. Whenever the subject was brought up ~ people's relations and whether they had a drop ofealoured Blood ge whether they hadn't try father would grow impatient and interrupt. ‘Who's “white?” he would ny. "Daraned fet So Lsad, "Who's white? Daraned few: "You can go to the devil) Bade sai. ‘She's preter than your mother, When she’s asleep her mouth smiles ‘and she has your cutling eyelashes and quantities and ‘quantities and quantities of hai? "Yes I said truthfully. "She's prettier than my mother” rene a red inset tha evening, 2 huge, sad, righten- Sng sunset "Look, let's go back? Tsai, ‘Tf you're sure she wont be vexed with you, let's go back, 1 be dark soon” ‘The Day They Burned the Books 43, Ati gute e asked me no to go, oat go yet don't goer" We sat under the mango tree and 1 was holding hi hand when he began to ery. Drop ell on my hand like the water fom he dristne inthe fein our jar ‘Then I gan to ery oo at when fl my own teats on amy hand thought ‘Now perhaps wee married? "yes cera, now we'e marie” I thought. Bat 1 aan sy anything iat saya thing unt a are he ta stopped. Then Tased, What's your bok” “Tes img he said, Duc ie got worm Testa at page twenty sow Whats the one you ©?” “Token, to dare Toi When T got hone T-nabed int my Detroom and locked the door because T knew that this Rec wae the ‘nest iportant thing that had ever happened to me and Tid ot want anybody to be there when Tle a ‘Bu T was very anappoined,becase wasn Pench sud seemed dull Fort Comme La Mort iwas calle,