The Well
Authors: Mildred D. Taylor
We saw a burlap sack hanging from a tree a ways off, and Charlie told Hammer to open the sack and see what was inside. Now this sack, it was stinking something fierce and whatever was inside was still alive because the bag was moving.
“Don't hafta look inside,” said Hammer. “I can tell what it is from here.”
“You scairt t' look inside?” asked Ed-Rose. “Thought you was s'pose to be so tough.”
“Best you look on in there,” said Dewberry. “Could be you'll find yourself hanging from a tree like that yo'self one day.”
Hammer went over to the tree, unknotted the rope that held the sack, and let it fall. Then he opened the sack and looked in. He turned his face away. The white boys laughed.
Hammer looked cold-eyed at Charlie, then reached inside. He pulled out a skunk.
“Now, how'd ya like t' find that floatin' in that fine well of y'alls?” laughed Ed-Rose.
Hammer walked slowly towards them, holding the skunk by its neck. “Don't bring it over here!” cried Charlie. “Go find yo'self a place t' get rid of it.”
“I already know where to get rid of it,” said Hammer, and tossed the skunk right at Charlie's face.
Books by
M
ILDRED
· D · T
AYLOR
SONG OF THE TREES
ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
THE GOLD CADILLAC
THE FRIENDSHIP
THE ROAD TO MEMPHIS
MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE
THE WELL
THE
W
ELL
DAVID'
S S
TORY
MILDRED · D · TAYLOR
PUFFIN BOOKS
PUFFIN BOOKS
An imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in the United States of America by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Group USA Inc., 1995
Published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, 1998
Copyright © Mildred D. Taylor, 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE DIAL EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Taylor, Mildred D.
The well : David's story / by Mildred D. Taylor.
p.    cm.
Summary: In Mississippi in the early 1900's ten-year-old David Logan's family generously shares their well water with both white and black neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence.
[1. Afro-AmericansâFiction. 2. Race relationsâFiction. 3. Southern StatesâRace relationsâFiction. 4. PrejudicesâFiction. 5. DroughtsâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.T21723We 1995 [Fic]âdc20 94â25360 CIP AC
Puffin Books ISBN: 978-1-101-65795-9
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is dedicated
to the memory of my beloved father,
the storyteller,
and
to my mother, my sister, all my family,
past and present,
who have always been there for me,
and
to my beautiful, exquisite daughter, P. Laurén,
who has enlightened my life.
A
UTHOR'S
N
OTE
When I was a child, my family always told stories about the pastâstories about parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, stories about aunts and uncles and cousins, neighbors and friends, stories about the young and the old, stories about themselves. They were stories that reached back into time, some even into slavery. Wherever the family gathered, in our northern home where I grew up or in the South where I was born, the stories were told. Some of the stories were humorous, some were tragic, but all taught me a history not then written in textbooks. They taught me a history about myself.
Those stories my family shared with me I have drawn upon to share with people around the world. They are the stories upon which all the Logan books have been based.
The Well
is another such story. It is a story told by David Logan about his boyhood. Those readers familiar with my other books about the Logan familyâ
Roll
of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Let the Circle Be Unbroken; The Road to Memphis
; and othersâwill recognize David as the father of Cassie, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man. Just as my father and other members of my family passed on family history through the stories, so does David. It is David's story, but in telling it, it becomes Cassie's and her brothers' too. It becomes part of the Logan family saga.
