The alarm clock rang in the middle of a dark, silent room. Then came the rattling of the bed, followed by a loud cry of an impatient woman:
"Bigger, turn that damned thing off!"
Angry grunts followed the small alarm clock alarm clock. A pair of bare feet dragged across the wooden floor. Alarm clock rings suddenly dead.
"Turn on the lights, Bigger."
"All right," the voice was nothing more than a low murmur still shrouded in sleep.
Fluorescent lights flooded the small space, showing the figure of a black man standing between two iron beds. The young man rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. From the bed on her right, the woman shouted again:
"Buddy, come on! Mother's laundry today piles up and you have to get out of here. "
Another black boy rolled down from the bed and immediately got up. The woman also got up, still wearing a nightgown.
"Make the most of your face so you can change your clothes," he ordered.
The two young men suddenly turned their faces and stared at the end of the room on the opposite side. The woman hurriedly took off her nightgown and dressed casually. Then he turned to his own bed and said, "Vera! Wake up!"
"What time is it, Ma?" The voice sounded like a gargle person, coming from under a blanket, belonging to a young woman.
"Get up quickly!"
"O.K., Ma."
A small brown girl wrapped in a cotton nightgown quickly got up from the bed, stretching her hands over her head as she yawned. Still dazed by sleep, he sat on a chair wearing a pair of stockings lazily. The two young men continued to turn their faces in the opposite direction until their mother and sister had worn enough clothing; and when it is their turn to dress, the same is done by both. Suddenly all stopped moving, clothes still clasped in hand. Their attention was consumed by the not-so-loud, yet consistent and hasty sound of beats. Like a light pat on the wooden wall. The four of them forgot their shame, their eyes searching around the floor of the room.
"It's coming again, Bigger!" Cried the mother. Within a short time the small apartment caused a great noise. A chair falls asleep on the floor as Mother scuttles up her bed, even though she has not finished dressed yet. Fortunately both legs have been coated stockings. While Bigger and Buddy stood tense, motionless, searching with cautious eyes in places of hiding: under beds and chairs. Their legs are bare, bare at all. The little girl ran to the corner of the room with her toes on tiptoe and the end of her skirt was lifted to her knees.
"Oh! Oh! "She wailed.
"There he is!"
Mother pointed in a direction with trembling fingers. His eyes are round and laden with horror.
"Where?"
"I do not see it!"
"Bigger, that, behind the casket!" Whined the little girl.
"Vera!" The woman shouted. "Hurry up to the bed! Do not you get bitten! "
Panic, Vera immediately lifted her body onto the bed and stood next to her mother who hastily hugged him. In a position of embracing each other, the black mother and her brown-skinned daughter gazed openly at the casket in the corner of the room.
Bigger stared at the room with his eyes, then he darted toward the room divider curtain and drew it swiftly, picking up two large frying pans hanging on the wall, above the gas stove. He turned and called his brother in a whisper, his eyes still tied to the casket in the corner.
"Buddy!"
"Yeah?"
"Here, hold this pan."
"O.K."
"Go there by the door!"
"O.K."
Buddy crouched by the door, clutching the handle of the wok. Her arms bent, ready to beat anything with a swing. Except for the hunting breath that came from the four apartment dwellers, the room was almost silent. Bigger crawled toward the casket in the corner with his tiptoes on his toes, his hand firmly grasping the butt of a frying pan with all his might. Her eyes danced, watching every inch of the wooden floor that lay before her. He stopped and, without moving his eyes or muscles, said:
"Buddy!"
"Hmm?"
"Put the box in front of this hole so he can not get out!"
"O.K."
Buddy darted toward a wooden box and shifted it as fast as he could in front of a gaping hole in the corner wall of the room before returning to a vigil by the door, hands clasping the handle of the frying pan. Bigger went over to the casket and peered over the back of the crate very carefully. There's nothing there. Slowly, he stretches his legs and pushes the chest a few centimeters back.
"That's it!" Shouted his mother.
A large black rat screeches and jumps to Bigger's leg, biting on the pants he is wearing. The rat was hanging at the feet of Bigger.
"Shit!" Bigger hissed. He twisted and kicked his legs with all his might. Finally the rat flew out of his trousers, floating in the air and hit the wall of the room. However, in no time, the mouse rolled over the floor and jumped again. Bigger dodged and the mouse landed at the foot of the dinner table. Clenched jaw, Bigger held up a frying pan in his hand; he was afraid to throw the skillet at the fucking rat, afraid of slipping. The mouse squeaked and ran in a small circle, looking for a place to hide; he jumped again past Bigger and his tiny feet scratched the floor, checking each side of the wooden box, searching for his hiding hole. Then the mouse turned toward Bigger, ready to jump, his weight rested on both hind legs.
"Hajar him, Bigger!" Shouted Buddy.
"Kill him!" Shouted his mother.
The rat's stomach was fluttering, tense. Bigger moved a step closer and the mouse pulled out a sad shrill, his black eyes like beads glowing under neon lights, his tiny feet clawing air frantically. Bigger swung the frying pan in his hand until it slid on the floor, not hit the target, and banged against the wall.
"Shit!"
The rat jumped. Bigger jumped up. The mouse stopped under the chair and shrill with rage. Bigger moves backward slowly, approaching the door.
"Give me the frying pan, Buddy," she whispered, her eyes tied to the rat under the chair.
Buddy held out his hand. Bigger took the skillet from his sister's hand and held it high in the air. The rat rushed across the room and stopped by a wooden box, searching for a hole; then he reveals himself again and shows his yellowish fangs, screaming loudly with trembling abdomen.
Bigger took aim at the rat and threw the frying pan in his hands with a heavy sigh. There was a crumbling wooden sound, the box collapsed. The mother screamed and covered her face with both hands. Bigger tiptoed toward the wooden box and stared at his throws sharply.
"I managed to beat him up," the young man muttered as he smiled through his tightly closed jaw. "Finally, he's dead too."
He kicked the crumbling wooden box to the side, where the rat carcass was lying with his mouth open, showing a pair of yellow fangs. Bigger took a shoe. He doused the rat carcase repeatedly on the head until it crushed and swore aloud:
"Damn!"
Her mother knelt on the bed and buried her face in a blanket bundle. He sobbed loudly, "Oh my God, have mercy on us ..."
"Aw, Mama," Vera joined in whining. "Do not Cry. The rat's dead. "
The two young black brothers stood near the rat carcass and spoke in admirable tones.
"Gee, it's a big rat."
"This damn thing can break your neck."
"Look, it's more than a foot long!"
"How can they grow this big?"
"Why not? Every day they eat rubbish and leftovers. "
"Bigger, your pants are torn."
"Yeah, thanks to this fucking rat."
"Bigger, please get the rat out," Vera pleaded.
"Aw, do not be afraid," Buddy joked.
The mother is still sobbing. Bigger picked up a newspaper pail and slowly lifted the dead rat by holding its tail. He stretched his arms as far as he could from his body, until the dead rat hung a few span in front of him.
"Bigger, take the rat away," Vera begged once more.
Bigger laughed and stepped over to the bed where his mother and sister had kept holding the dead rat in front of him. The dead and large, lifeless rats moved in a resigned, unswipsible cushion, like a pendulum. Bigger enjoys his hysterical sister's reaction.
"Bigger!" Vera shouted with a trembling body. He shouted, then his body seemed to lose power, swung down toward his mother with his eyes closed, before rolling onto the floor of the room.
"Oh my goodness, Bigger!" Shrieked her mother, her tears increasingly so. The woman stood up and leaned toward her botot daughter. "Do not tempt your sister like that! Throw that dead rat out! "
Bigger put the rat carcass down on the floor and hurriedly dressed.
"Bigger, help me take your sister to bed," she said.
The young man turned around.
"Why else?" Asked the young man, pretending not to care.
"No, do not ask a lot. Help me. "
Bigger went to bed and helped his mother lift her body. Her two younger sisters were tightly closed. Bigger turned back and dressed. He wrapped the rat wreck around the newspaper and hurried out of the apartment. He descended the steps of the apartment building and threw the dead rat into the dustbin at the end of a narrow alley. When he returned to the apartment, his mother was still bent over her sister's body, laying a wet towel over the little girl's head. Seeing Bigger, his mother straightened his shoulders and looked at him sharply, her cheeks and eyes were wet with tears. Her lips tightly closed, laden with rage.
"Boy, sometimes Mom is confused about what's in your head!"
"Then now what should I do?" Bigger asked without guilt.
"Your behavior is like the idiot in the world."
"What do you mean?"
"You frightened your sister with the rat carcase until she fainted! Do not you have a brain at all? "
"Aw, I did not know he was that scared."
"Buddy!" The mother called.
"Yessum."
"Take the newspaper and cover the stain on the floor."
"Yessum."
Buddy stretched the newspaper sheet and covered the bloodstains that spotted on the floor where the rat had died. Bigger went to the window and stared out into the street. Her mother looked at the boy's back.
"Bigger, sometimes I'm sorry to have a child like you," the woman said bitterly.
Bigger stared at her mom for a moment, then looked away.
"Maybe you should not have me," she said lightly. "Maybe you should let me stay in my stomach."
"Do not reply!"
"Aw, never mind!" Bigger said as he lit a cigarette.
"Buddy, take the skillet and put it in the sink," said the mother.
"Yessum."
Bigger crossed the narrow room and sat on the edge of the bed he used to sleep with Buddy. Her mother kept her eyes on her movements.
"We're not going to live in a bad place like this if you can be a responsible man," the woman said.
"Aw, do not start again," Bigger grumbled.
"How are you, Vera?" Asked the mother.
Vera lifted her head and looked at the room as if anticipating the existence of another mouse.
"Oh, Mama!" She yelled.
"Calm down, my darling."
"I am very scared! It's all Bigger's fault. "
"Who's sick?" The woman asked intently.
"My head bumps."
"Already, do not worry. Are you okay."
"Why Bigger likes to tease me?" Vera asked, tears breaking again.
"Your brother is crazy," said the mother. "It's black, stupid, crazy anyway."
"I'll be late to my sewing class at Y.W.C.A.," Vera said.
"Here, lie down for a while on the bed. Before long you will feel better, "the mother suggested.
The woman leaves her daughter on the bed and throws a cold glance at her eldest son.
"How about one morning you wake up and find your sister no longer alive? What are you going to do? "Mother cried. "What if the rat breaks our veins at night when we are asleep? Naw! You will not care! What matters to you is your own pleasure! Even when the social assistance office offers you a job, you turn it down until they threaten to stop our food supply! Bigger, you're the most ignorant guy! "
"Mother has told me more than a thousand times," Bigger said without looking back at her mother.
"Now you say it once more! You heard Mom say, someday you'll sit and cry. One day, you will regret the time wasted. And, at that moment, whatever you want to do will never come true because it's too late. "
"No need to predict my life," Bigger grumbled.
"Whatever you want to predict what! If you do not like it, you may leave this apartment. We can live without you. We can stay in this little apartment without you, "Mother's rebuke.
"Aw, that's again!" Said Bigger, irritably annoyed.
"One day you will regret your life," his mother continued. "If you do not stop hanging out with your friends now and change your way of life, you'll end up in the place where your nightmares are. You think you do not know what you do everyday? I know everything. Believe me, if you do not change your way of life, one day you'll end up on a gallows. Remember that. "The woman turned toward the other boy. "Throw the wooden box out, Buddy."
"Yessum."
The silence filled their little apartment. Buddy took the wooden box out of the apartment. Mother stood behind the room divider curtain, facing toward the gas stove. Vera sat on the bed and swung her legs down to the floor.
"Do not stand up, Vera," her mother said.
"I'm all right, Ma. I have to attend my sewing class. "
"Then help me prepare the table," she said, her body disappearing behind the curtain again. "God, I'm so tired of living like this. I do not know what else to do, "his voice floating in the air, behind the curtain. "Every day you try to give the best for you, but you never want to know."
"Aw, Ma," Vera said. "Do not talk like that."
"Vera, sometimes you want to die."
"Ma, please do not talk like that."
"I do not know how many years you can live like this."
"I'll be working soon enough, Ma."
"When that time comes, maybe you're dead. God must have summoned Mother back to His lap. "
Vera goes behind the curtain and Bigger hears her sister's voice trying to calm her mother. In silence, Bigger kept their voices out of his mind. He hates his family because he knows they are suffering and he can not help them. He realizes that once he allows himself to feel their pain, how low and sad the lives of their family, he will be overwhelmed with fear and despair. So he chose to be cold and hard against them; even though he lives with his family, but at the same time he hides behind an iron wall that separates reality from the reality of their lives. The same thing he did to himself. Bigger realized that when he started thinking about his life, he would kill himself or kill someone else. Therefore, he chooses to deny the things that are part of his life and behave as if nothing could touch him.
The young man stood up and poked his cigarette butt out on the window sill. Vera into their bedroom which also serves as a dining room while putting knives and forks on the table.
"Come on, breakfast time," the mother called to her children.
Bigger sits at the same table with his mother and younger siblings. The smell of pork smoke that had been fried crisp and hot coffee came to her nose from behind the room divider curtain. Her mother's voice was singing lightly in a song.
Life is like a mountain railroad
Led by brave machinist
We must make it to the top of the mountain
From birth to death ...