him if he would like to work for the money and told
him what we wanted done. He agreed to it. He cut
the grass and trimmed the hedge but it was too hot
and no shade for him to wash the car, so I gave him
2 gourdes and told him to come Tuesday and wash
the car in the late afternoon, and I would give him
another gourde. He didn't come last night, but this
morning with another fellow to help him. Before
he got started I asked him again if he wanted to do
it for a gourde (20c, which is a good price here) and
he agreed. But when he was almost through, while
he was scraping the mud from under the fenders, he
was complaining about how hard he had to work.
When he finished he wasn't satisfied with just one
gourde and gave the one gourde bill which I had
paid him to the fellow whom he had brought with
him to help. Then he was going away hurt without
any money for himself. Well, we can't afford to let
anything like that happen, because he would spread
stories in the churches that we had cheated him, etc.
So I gave him a lecture about how he was afraid to
work-wanted money without working for it-and
he had agreed to do it for the set price and now
wanted more money because the job had been just
a little harder than he had anticipated. I asked him
if he wanted me to give him another gourde, and he
remonstrated and said if I wanted him to wash my
car for only one gourde, he would do it (trying to
slant the blame toward me). "Well," I said, "all
right I'll give you another gourde." He said no, and
started walking down the street with the man with
him. I didn't have change and went next door to
the store to get some, but they didn't have any.
Then Mary found a 2 gourde bill in her wallet. I
took it and hurried down the street a block to catch
him and forced it on him-he didn't need much
forcing-and I had given him the shirt on his back!