The Pearl- John Steinbeck- Chapter 1

His blanket was over his nose to protect him from the dank air.

A late moth blustered into find the fire.

Juana sang softly an ancient song that had only three notes and yet endless variety of interval.

Near the brush fence two roosters bowed and feinted.

The sun was warming the brush house, breaking through its crevices in long streaks.

And then the startled look was gone from him and the rigidity from his body.

In his mind a new song had come, the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody, and underneath, the Song of the Family cried plainively.

The little hole was slightly enlarged and its edges whitened from the sucking, but the red swelling extended farther around it in a hard lymphatic mound.

They made a quick soft-footed procession into the center of the town, first Juana and Kino, and behind them Juan Tomas and Apolonia, her big stomach jiggling withthe strenuous pace, then all the neighbors with the children trotting on the flanks.

And the newcomers, particularly the beggars from the front of the church who were great experts in financial analysis, looked quickly at Juana's old blue skirt, saw the tears in her shawl, appraised the green ribbon on her braids, read the age of Kino's blanket and the thousand washings of his clothes, and set them down as poverty people and went along to see what kind of drama might develop.

They knew his ignorance, his cruelty, his avarice, his appetites, his sins.

And, since early Mass was over and business was slow, they followed the procession, these endless searchers after perfect knowledgeof theif fellow men, to see what the fat lazy doctor would do about an indigent baby with a scorpion bite.

The doctor had onece for a short time been a part of the great world and his whole subsequent life was memory and longing for France.

At the gate the servant opened the door a trifle and looked out at the waiting people. And this time he spoke in the old language.

Slowly he put his suppliant hat on his head.