Cement on Cash's Leg — As I Lay Dying

Here's a place, pa says, pulling up at a house for water while repeating he wouldn't be beholden, God knows. Darl sends Dewey Dell for a bucket and notes she had more trouble than expected selling cakes in Mottson. His mind ravel out: Cash broke his leg and now the sawdust is running out. He is bleeding to death is Cash.

Pa says they better not lift Cash down because they can fix it here. Cash asks if they will reach Jefferson tomorrow and says he can last one more day because it sets up so on the bumps but don't bother to speak of. Pa insists we done bought the cement now. Darl stirs pale-green thick coils in the borrowed can while Cash watches like a job foreman and advises on water and sand.

Vardaman fetches sand from the branch. They loosen splints and pour cement slow while Dewey Dell wipes drips with paper from her package. Cash says it feels fine and cold. Darl wishes he could ravel out into time. Then Jewel appears wooden-backed and wooden-faced on the road behind them, walking without a word into the wagon after losing his horse. Pa pulls toward a hill. Will Vardaman count where the buzzards sleep while this family calls pale-green cement steady enough?