Sending Darl to Jackson — As I Lay Dying

It was either send him to Jackson or have Gillespie sue us, Cash says, because somehow Gillespie knows Darl set the barn fire. Vardaman saw it but swore he told nobody except Dewey Dell, and she told him not to tell. Gillespie would have suspected anyway, watching how Darl acted that night. Pa says there is nothing else to do. Jewel wants to catch Darl now and tie him before he sets fire to the team, but Cash says wait until she is underground. A fellow facing life locked away ought to have what pleasure he can before he goes.

Sometimes Cash is not sure who has the right to call a man crazy. Maybe none of them is pure sane until the balance talks him that way. Jewel is too hard on Darl, yet Cash once wished God would take Addie out clean, and when Darl saw someone had to act, Cash can almost believe he done right in a way. Still, nothing excuses burning a barn. They go toward the square. Pa stops at Mrs. Bundren's for borrowed spades while graphophone music plays and a woman's face appears at a shade pulled back. Darl offers Peabody; Cash says get her underground first. It is like Darl can see through walls into the next ten minutes.

After the grave is filled, men come for Darl in the lane. Dewey Dell jumps on him like a wildcat before Jewel can reach him, and Cash knows how Gillespie learned the truth. They hold Darl down while Jewel yells kill him. Darl looks up at Cash and says, I thought you would have told me. Cash tells him Jackson will be better, quieter, and Darl laughs at the word until Cash cannot see anything funny in it. Cash lies on the coffin unable to move, born close to the brother he did not warn. If sanity is what the group votes when someone finally acts, who pays once the grave is covered and the laughter stops?