human
Reckon dese yer vines is done fo'. Clar 'em erway. No mo' beans on 'em. How co'n comin' on? Get a mess offen dis row by Sunday. Tomats plenty. Melons gittin' good an' ripe. He stooped down to tap a large melon with his bony knuckles.
gpt
She jest a bus'in' wid sweetness by 'nother week. Um, um, she fa'r make me dribble at de mouf to look at huh.
human
Who-o-o!
gpt
Who dat? cried Landy, pulling himself erect from his contemplation of the melon.
human
Whicher one o' yuh chilluns is it? Hyar, yuh, Jack er Phil er whomsoever yuh is, git outen fum behin' dat co'n brake. I sees yuh.
gpt
You didn't see me or you wouldn't have called me Phil or Jack, but you heard me, didn't you? Did you think I was a real sure enough owl, Unc' Landy?
human
Humph! I knows ole hooty-owl better'n dat. I knows yuh is a huming varmint.
gpt
Oh, Unc' Landy! the idea of calling me a varmint. I am not one at all.
human
Den wha' fo' yuh grubbin' roun' in de gyardin' stuff lak ole mole?
gpt
Same reason you do; to see how it is getting on. When will the watermelons be ready to eat? It seems to me they are very late this year.
human
Dey is late. I say dey is, but nex' week, ef de Lord sees fittin', we bus' open dis one. She de fust to be pick. I layin' out to lif huh fum huh sandy baid nex' Tuesday.
gpt
And we'll have it for dinner. Oh, my! I wish it were ready now. Did they used to have a watermelon patch over at Grandmother Corner's? There isn't any now.
human
How yuh so wise?
gpt
Oh, I've been all around the place. I know just where the garden used to be.
human
Yo' ma say yuh chilluns ain't to ha'nt de ole place.
gpt
I know and I don't haunt it; I just go there once in a while. I haven't been for a long, long time. I don't see, anyhow, why we can't go when it was father's home.
human
Yuh nuvver sees yo' ma er yo' auntie cross de brook.
gpt
No, but then----
human
Den wha' fo' yuh do what dey don' do?
gpt
I do lots of things which they don't do and they do lots of things I don't do; that's no reason. When do you reckon my Grandmother Corner will come back?
human
Das mo'n any huming know, I tell yuh, honey. She done taken huh disagreeables an' huh hity-tyties long wid huh. Das all I kyar to know. She want de yarth an' all dat derein is, das what she want; mebbe she fin' it off yandah in dem quare countries, but she don't git back dem ha'sh words she speak to yo' pa on his las' day. Dey a-follerin' huh an' a gnawin' an' a clawin' at huh heart. She cyarnt git rid o' dem wha'soevah she go, though she try to flee fum 'em.
gpt
I wish you took care of the big house, she said,
human
Humph! I say let you in. Ef it depen' upon ole Landy yuh ain' nuvver go inside de do'. Nobody tell me go but onct. I ain't nuvver pass my foot ovah de do'-sill agin whilst I lives on dis yarth.