The sound and the fury

      "What's the matter?" I says. "I never knew you to be this anxious about anybody. You must expect some money from her."

      "She said she-- " she says. "Please, Jason," she says. "Did I?"

      "You must have been to school today, after all," I says. "Somewhere where they taught you to say please. Wait a minute, while I wait on that customer."

      I went and waited on him. When I turned to come back she was out of sight behind the desk. I ran. I ran around the desk and caught her as she jerked her hand out of the drawer. I took the letter away from her, beating her knuckles on the desk until she let go.

      "You would, would you?" I says.

      "Give it to me," she says. "You've already opened it. Give it to me. Please, Jason. It's mine. I saw the name."

      "I'll take a hame string to you," I says. "That's what I'll give you. Going into my papers."

      "Is there some money in it?" she says, reaching for it. "She said she would send me some money. She promised she would. Give it to me."

      "What do you want with money?" I says.

      "She said she would," she says. "Give it to me. Please, Jason. I wont ever ask you anything again, if you'll give it to me this time."

      "I'm going to, if you'll give me time," I says. I took the letter and the money order out and gave her the letter. She reached for the money order, not hardly glancing at the letter. "You'll have to sign it first," I says.

      "How much is it?" she says.

      "Read the letter," I says. "I reckon it'll say."

      She read it fast, in about two looks.

      "It dont say," she says, looking up. She dropped the letter to the floor. "How much is it?"

      "It's ten dollars," I says.

      "Ten dollars?" she says, staring at me.

      "And you ought to be dam glad to get that," I says. "A kid like you. What are you in such a rush for money all of a sudden for?"

      "Ten dollars?" she says, like she was talking in her sleep. "Just ten dollars?" She made a grab at the money order. "You're lying," she says. "Thief!" she says. "Thief!"

      "You would, would you?" I says, holding her off.

      "Give it to me!" she says. "It's mine. She sent it to me. I will see it. I will."

      "You will?" I says, holding her. "How're you going to do it?"

      "Just let me see it, Jason," she says. "Please. I wont ask you for anything again."

      "Think I'm lying, do you?" I says. "Just for that you wont see it."

      "But just ten dollars," she says. "She told me she--she told me--Jason, please please please. I've got to have some money. I've just got to. Give it to me, Jason. I'll do anything if you will."

      "Tell me what you've got to have money for," I says.

      "I've got to have it," she says. She was looking at me. Then all of a sudden she quit looking at me without moving her eyes at all. I knew she was going to lie. "It's some money I owe," she says. "I've got to pay it. I've got to pay it today."

      "Who to?" I says. Her hands were sort of twisting. I could watch her trying to think of a lie to tell. "Have you been charging things at stores again?" I says. "You needn't bother to tell me that. If you can find anybody in this town that'll charge anything to you after what I told them, I'll eat it."

      "It's a girl," she says. "It's a girl. I borrowed some money from a girl. I've got to pay it back. Jason, give it to me. Please. I'll do anything. I've got to have it. Mother will pay you. I'll write to her to pay you and that I wont ever ask her for anything again. You can see the letter. Please, Jason. I've got to have it."

      "Tell me what you want with it, and I'll see about it," I says. "Tell me." She just stood there, with her hands working against her dress. "All right," I says. "If ten dollars is too little for you, I'll just take it home to Mother, and you know what'll happen to it then. Of course, if you're so rich you dont need ten dollars--"

      She stood there, looking at the floor, kind of mumbling to herself. "She said she would send me some money. She said she sends money here and you say she dont send any. She said she's sent a lot of money here. She says it's for me. That it's for me to have some of it. And you say we haven't got any money."

      "You know as much about that as I do," I says. "You've seen what happens to those checks."

      "Yes," she says, looking at the floor. "Ten dollars," she says. "Ten dollars."

      "And you'd better thank your stars it's ten dollars," I says. "Here," I says. I put the money order face down on the desk, holding my hand on it. "Sign it."

      "Will you let me see it?" she says. "I just want to look at it. Whatever it says, I wont ask for but ten dollars. You can have the rest. I just want to see it."

      "Not after the way you've acted," I says. "You've got to learn one thing, and that is that when I tell you to do something, you've got it to do. You sign your name on that line."

      She took the pen, but instead of signing it she just stood there with her head bent and the pen shaking in her hand. Just like her mother. "Oh, God," she says, "oh, God."

      "Yes," I says. "That's one thing you'll have to learn if you never learn anything else. Sign it now, and get on out of here."