THEY ARE STANDING HERE WAITING
Mayer, Milton
Thev Are Standing Here Waiting By MILTON MAYER THREE rich people got off the train in Topeka, Kan. Two of them were a husband and wife (for all I know) returning to their native heath from a bout...
...She asked the three rich people where they wanted to go...
...Or oppressive...
...Only take care of that black boy...
...He was riding on one of the Negro females, who was (for all I know) his mother...
...I got in, and Gabriel's sigh and Satan's chuckle were in my ears as the door slammed shut...
...You can't trust them no further than the corner," said the poor white traitor to the poor people's popular front...
...I saw some good in him—oh, not much—myself," Little Julie will say...
...When Julie's Time Comes And that's how I got to see my little girl friend 15 minutes sooner than I might have...
...Mayer's Inner Struggle Four poor people got off the coaches of the same train at the same time...
...But fit me up with my wings, Mister, I'm in a heaven of a hurry...
...Remember, you Jew, that you are always in danger of being obnoxious...
...What I mean is that they were Pullman passengers, no one of whom, Mayer un-excepted, would have responded to the cry, "Hey, nigger...
...I was there when they ordered it...
...What I mean is that they were all blonde Pullman passengers, all, again, except Mayer, who is on the Liberated Italian, or swarthy, side...
...The fourth was a Negro, male, perhaps 6 months old...
...Don't sit there and scowl like that...
...Then the Amazon said, addressing your swarthy servant, "Room for one more...
...He had only to say it, emphasizing as he gestured, the word people the way the Amazon emphasized it when she gestured toward the rich...
...Two of them were a husband and wife (for all I know) returning to their native heath from a bout with the City Lights...
...A cab drew up to the station and 2 of the rich white people advanced upon it...
...But I'm afraid that that 6-months-old black boy will dislike her when he grows up...
...And Gabriel said only, "Remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt...
...The driver of the cab was white, female, young, and unattractive in a fashion that is usually, and well, described as stringy-haired...
...See old boy," he whispered to me, "how easy it is...
...Remember, you trouble-maker, that there is no use making trouble over trifles...
...And maybe Gabriel will take her and say to her, "Your old man was no damn good, Little Julie, but he put up a bit of a struggle—• oh, not much, but a bit—that time, and—would you believe it?—there are people who, like him, are no damn good and don't even put up a struggle...
...And she won't know why he dislikes her...
...He stood there, with Gabriel and Satan struggling for the possession of his soul, Satan whispering, "Remember this is a white man's country, and when in a white man's country you must do as the white men do...
...I love her so much that I do not want anyone to dislike her...
...The third was your servant, Mayer, stoop-shouldered and bent upon visiting a 9-year-old girl friend in Topeka...
...One of them was white, female, elderly, skinny, and tough...
...The silenee in the cab was—may I say pregnant...
...These people been standing here waiting...
...He had only to...
...He's been standing here waiting, and he got here first...
...Silence In The Cob While the seraphim struggled for your servant, a break occurred in the poor people's popular front...
...But he didn't...
...Maybe the Devil will let Gabriel have my little girl friend's soul in exchange for mine...
...The moral issues were clear, now, to your servant...
...The poor woman who was white detached herself from the 3 poor blacks and entered the cab...
...He was in a hell of a, hurry to see his girl friend...
...The silence, pregnant, painful, oppressive, closed in again...
...We been standing here waiting...
...The third (the swarthy one) hung back a little, observing the 4 poor people, one white and three black, out of the corner of his slant eye...
...and they gave her their addresses, the swarthy one still eyeing the 4 poor people uncomfortably...
...just standing there waiting...
...Then the 4 poor people advanced, the 6 months-old being toted, and one of the Negro females said, "We ordered this cab...
...The 2 other rich people got in the cab and the stringy-haired Amazon motioned to your swarthy servant to do likewise...
...And that 15 minutes is worth a lot to me, because I love my little girl friend very much...
...That was a lie, and a moral struggle began in the bosom of your swarthy servant...
...and still, she and he, and all that there is between them, would keep for another 15 or 20 minutes...
...Two were Negroes, also female...
...He had only to say, gesturing toward the 4 poor people, 1 white and 3 black, "These people ordered the cab...
...Or painful...
...The_ stringy-haired driver replied, as she opened the door of her cab for the rich, "These people got here first...
...And then the Amazon said to the poor white woman who had broken the poor people's popular front: "Did those niggers really order the cab...
...But / will know why he dislikes her, because I will remember that I was a party to the wrong done his black mother in front of the station in Topeka, and I will know that the wrong had sooner or later to be righted...
...These people got here first...
...We called up for it...
...I say they were rich, these three...
...The three rich people entered the station without noticing the 4 poor people, and emerged, after transacting their various business, to wait for a cab...
...Yes," said the poor white woman...
...Inside the speeding cab no one spok> except Satan, in a whisper...
...Well," said the Amazon, after a while, as if somebody had said something to somebody, "they'll lie every chance they get...
...What I mean is that they were white Protestant Americans, all except Mayer, some of whose best relatives are Jews...
...They were just standing there...
...His whisper apparently was loud enough to be overheard...
...But in my eyes were the 3 Negroes, including the 6-months-old male...
...I was going to ride in it with them...
...Those niggers were not in any hell of a hurry, and why make a fuss about it...
...He won't know why he dislikes her...
Vol. 9 • March 1945 • No. 13
