The truth is

Gracie sat on the living room sofa in her country house. She'd lived in it almost 50 years. Mr. Honeywalker brought her here back in '85 after their honeymoon in New Jersey. Furthest she'd ever been since fleeing the Georgia plantation for New York back in '64 when Sherman came through. Mr. Honeywalker'd been real nice to take her in and then 10 years later, they got married even if no one approved. She might now be 80. It might not be the nicest living room anymore. Sofa sat nearly on the floor. Tables were missing legs. The portraits of Mr. Honeywalker's parents and grandparents were dusty and faded. And the drapes hung loose. But, hell, it was home.

She waited for Norman and Agnes to come back with the truck. They were taking her to Old Man Lacey's and had run out to get some final stuff for her trip out there. Didn't make any sense to her, why she had to go. She'd lived on this land and run it just like a man -- she'd didn't need no one to help her. But they insisted since Agnes's own grandma just died and  they had to go back to Philadelphia. Gracie would miss the new baby girl she'd help bring into the world that thundering August night. Agnes had even named her Grace after her. It made her real sad to see them go. They'd kept her good company last five months. But they worried since it was February she'd freeze to death without heat. Don't know why, she'd managed okay in winters a lot worse than this winter of '33. But they insisted, she'd spend the rest of it with Old Man Lacey and his warm house. Enough said for now.

Old Man Lacey'd been good to her all these years. Best next-door neighbor a black woman and former slave could have, even if she only saw him two, three times a year. Hell, they lived ten miles apart. That was the nice part. No one lived out these ways much. If her nearest neighbor was 10 miles, so be it. Her eleven children hardly ever came by. They went off to New York, down to Pittsburgh, anywhere but here in the middle of the New York mountains. But she had Old Man Lacey whenever she wanted. Truth be told, they'd depended on each other for years now, even if months passed between visits. That was the thing. You didn't have to see him. But you knew, he was there if you wanted him.