“Sit down, Pastor.” She smiled at me and pointed to a chair. Then she turned to Stephen. “Have you eaten anything lately? You look bone- skinny, child.”
“I had breakfast. I’m not hungry,” Stephen replied.
“And what was breakfast?” Miss Mattie continued.
“I had half an apple,” Stephen proclaimed proudly.
“That ain’t no breakfast!” she retorted. “Don’t de state feed you?”
“I’m in a Christian foster home,” he replied with a snarl in his face as he said the word Christian.
Christian Christian“Well, don’t dem Christians feed you?” she went on. “Seems to me feedin’ children would be the Christian thing to be doin’.”
“They had food,” he replied. “I only ate the apple. I don’t want to get fat. I gotta keep my figure. They tried to make me eat, but I won’t.”
“Girl,” Miss Mattie scolded, “yo
