25. I had buttoned up the collar and tied the belt, apronlike, in back. Momma told me to turn around. With one hand she pulled the strings and the belt fell free at both sides of my waist. Then her large hands were at my neck, opening the button loops. I was terrified. What was happening?
  26." Take it off, Sister." She had her hands on the hem of the dress.
  27." 1 don't need to see the inside, Mrs. Henderson, I can tell ... "But the dress was over my head and my arms were stuck in the sleeves. Momma said, "That'll do. See here, Sister Flowers, I French-seams around the armholes." Through the cloth film, I saw the shadow approach. "That makes it last longer. Children these clays would bust out of sheet metal clothes. They so rough."
  28." That is a very good job, Mrs. Henderson. You should be proud. You can put your dress back on. Marguerite."
  29. "No ma' am. Pride is a sin. And ' cording to the Good Book, it goeth before a fall."
  30. "That's right. So the Bible says. It's a good thing to keep in mind."
  31. I wouldn't look at either of them. Momma hadn't thought that taking off my dress in front of Mrs. Flowers would kill me stone dead. If I had refused, she would have thought I was trying to be "womanish" and might have remembered St. Louis. Mrs. Flowers had known that I would be embarrassed and that was even worse. I picked up the groceries and went out to wait in the hot sunshine. It would be fitting if I got a sunstroke and died before they came outside. Just dropped dead on the slanting porch.