The Bite of a Stray Dog

Abstract

negative sputum reports and a 12hour pass. The 26-mile bus trip to visit his family took him by familiar sights: the busy sugar cane refinery to which he had once hauled many a load of cane; the big fields where now a machine picked the cottonnot as clean as the Fontenot family, but faster and cheaper; the brick factory which wasn't working at capacity because men like Mr. Fontenot preferred to till the soil. The Luzianne sign made him thirsty for a cup of hot black coffee. As he walked down the earth-packed streets on the fringe of town, he whistled a Dixieland rhythm-Bourbon Street Parade. His short-sleeved shirt and Army surplus summer trousers were comfortable for this warm afternoon. Few of the one-story, three-roomdeep houses wore much paint. Owners depended rather upon a 12-foot red poinsettia plant, a camellia bush like Purple Dawn, a banana tree, or a slash pine for individuality. Tenants covered broken windows with card-