oes I meet up wid dat goat I'll sho' bust him in
de haid fo' leavin' me. Every time me an' Lily gits a divo'ce ol' man
Hard Luck camps on my trail. Business sounds good, but me, I 'cumulates
Lily an' den I takes dem Blue Fezant boys back to Chicago. Mebbe when I
comes back heah nex' time us starts some business. Not now. Naw,
suh--not me!"

"Wilecat, some business ain't so bad. All you does is set dere an' take
in de money."

"All you does is set dere, you mean, an' listen' to some triflin'
niggah wantin' groceries or mebbe wantin' to eat whilst you supplies
free grub, does you run a restaurant. Dem boys what buys easy never is
got money. Naw, suh, I don't want no business, Mud Turtle. All I want
is Lady Luck an' mah mascot goat."

The Mud Turtle continued his business dream without paying much
attention to the Wildcat's arguments. "Dere's de anti-hair-kink
business; all a boy does is buy some things at the drugsto' an' mix 'em
up an' sells 'em at fifty cents a bottle. All de niggahs in de worl'
craves to buy anti-kink juice. I's seed some remedies what took off de
scalp an' some what removes de brain, but it don't make no
diff'unce--niggahs keep on buyin', no matteh how deep de remedy digs
in."

"Dat business is ol'," the Wildcat objected. "Dat's too ol' to ketch
folks any mo'."

"So's kinky hair ol'," answered the Mud Turtle. "Dat business still
ketches 'em. While de kinky hair las', so does de anti-kink business.
Dat ain't de only business I knows. You an' me had luck wid fish--part
bad luck an' part good luck. Here's de ocean an' here's San F'mcisco
bay crowded wid fish. 'Spose us gits a wagon an' some hooks fo'
ketchin' fish an' comes home eve'y day wid a wagon load."

"Don' say fish to me, boy! All de bad luck I'se had lately come f'm
fish. See kin you talk 'bout some good-luck business does yo' crave to.
Ah ain't got oveh mah fish luck yit."

"How 'bout de boot-leggin' business, Wilecat? Dey sho' is big money in
dat."

"Nobody to sell to no mo'. Eve'ybody's boot-leggin' now. You steps up
to a man on de street an' says 'How 'bout it?' an' he thinks you's
tryin' to buy. Eve'ybody's boot-leggin'! See kin you think ob some
business what's got some customers, instead ob eve'ybody runnin' de
business deyself. Naw, suh, I aims not to let no business 'flooence me.
I rounds me up Lily an' meets up wid Lady Luck, an' someday I sees ol'
Cap'n Jack agin', an' den I quits worryin'. What I craves mos' is to
ketch L