Cultural
Background
Storyteller's Cabin
Well, needless to say, by this time all the mourners had jumped up and run clean out of the house. But the widow, who was also very frightened, managed to blurt out, "N...now Cephus, y...you know you is dead! So why are you s...sittin' here in the living room and not in the g...graveyard?"
"Dead?" said Cephus. "How come you say I'm dead? I sho' don't feel dead!"
The widow was quite confused by now, and she simply told him, "Y...you may not feel dead, Cephus, b...but you look dead as can be. You b...better get back in the grave where you belong!"
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Now, even though Cephus was dead, he was still very stubborn. He said, "No! I ain't going back to any grave until I FEEL DEAD!" He then moved closer to the fire and tried to warm his cold hands and feet, all the while giving the room an icy chill. And from sundown to sunup, day after day, that's all he did - sit by the fire, rockin' back and forth.
After a few weeks of Brother Cephus just sitting around, things started to get bad in the household. Cephus's skin turned a funny gray color, and it looked real dusty. Every time he'd move, his joints creaked and cracked. And as the days wore on, he'd creak and crack more and more.
The widow Jones, who hadn't received any company since her husband's untimely return, began to wonder just how long this corpse would last. The insurance association refused to pay the insurance because Cephus declared to everyone that he wasn't dead. To make matters worse, the undertaker threatened to take back the coffin if Cephus refused to lie in it!
Now, the widow Jones needed that insurance money awfully bad, and what's more, she was getting really tired of her dead husband sitting around the house, creakin' and crackin'. She tried to convince Cephus time and time again to get back in the grave. But each time, he'd protest, "Leave me alone woman! I ain't going back to no burying ground 'til I'm dead - and I DON'T FEEL DEAD YET!"
Widow Jones just knew that something had to be done.
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