Crooked Plow
Belonísia pulled the blade from her mouth, too, then brought her other hand up, as if trying to hold something in.
Her lips reddened, and I wasn't sure if it was from the excitement of tasting the silver blade or from wounding herself, for she was also bleeding. I swallowed as much blood as I could. My sister was wiping her mouth frantically with her hand, her eyes squinting with tears as she tried to stand the pain. I heard my grandmother's slow steps approach, then she called out to me, to Zezé, Domingas, and Belonísia.
"Bibiana, can't you see the potatoes are burning?" I became aware of a smell of burnt potatoes mingling with the smell of metal and the blood wetting our dresses.
There was a curtain separating Grandma Donana's room from the kitchen, and when she opened it, l'd already picked up the knife from the floor and wrapped it haphazardly with the soggy cloth, but I'd not yet pushed the leather suitcase back under the bed. I saw my grandmother's startled eyes, before her heavy hand struck the side of my head and Belonísia's in turn. I heard her ask what we were doing there, why her suitcase was out from under the bed, where did all that blood come from? "Say something!" she demanded, threatening to tear out our tongues. Little did she know that one of us was holding her tongue in her hand.
Books by Itamar Vieira Junior in Black Latin American Writers In Translation
Crooked Plow
Itamar Vieira Junior
About Black Latin American Writers In Translation
Welcome to Black Latin American Writers In Translation, an organization and digital project that highlights the historical works of Black Latin American writers and their translated works. BLAWiT is a resource for readers, writers, publishers, students and teachers interested in Black American and Latin American culture in general, and Black Latin American culture in particular. It gathers book covers, excerpts, bibliographic clues and digital downloads of works by Black Latin American authors in original language and in translation.
