The Friendship [Paperback]

Tom Bee and the kids went walking to the store again to buy tobacco. Cassie asked Mr. Tom Bee, "Why do you call Mr. Wallace by his first name?" "Because I had saved his life twice when he almost drowned. I gave him a place to sleep and something to eat," Mr. Tom Bee answered. In the store Mr. Tom Bee called him by his first name in front of the men. The other men said, "Are you going let him to talk to you like that?" One of his sons was looking at him mad. Then Mr. Wallace went outside with the gun and shot him in the leg. He said," You owe me, John. I saved your life twice. You will stay the same till judgment day." "Then you have to kill me here on the road," Mr. Tom Bee said. Then he said his name two to three different times. The kids started to cry and they stared at him. And there was no sound of him.

I really liked the book a lot. At the end of the book was kind of sad when Mr. Wallace shot Mr. Tom Bee in the leg. I learned that most White didn't got along with the Black s at all. Also, I learned that many Whites didn't treat the Blacks right at all.

The story takes place in the Wallace store. There were these kids named Stacey, Christopher-John, Little Man, and Cassie. The names of Mr. Wallace's sons were Dewberry and Thurston. Cassie and her brothers went inside the Wallace store, and then Dewberry and Thurston told Little Man that his hands were dirty. They were so dirty according to them that they could probably grow plants on Little Man's hands, and they also told him that they were going to cut his hands off. They all went outside the store and sat down. Little Man took his hands and put them closely to the ground to see if Dewberry and Thurston were right. Jeremy Simms started talking to Stacey, then they saw Mr. Tom Bee going inside the Wallace store. Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to give him some sardines, but Dewberry told Mr. Tom Bee that he already got plenty of charges so he doesn't need any sardines. Christopher-John walked inside the Wallace store and stared at the candies. Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to give him some candy canes, too. Dewberry told Mr. Tom Bee, "You don't need no candy canes neither, Tom, you got no teeth to chew them with." Dewberry still wouldn't give Mr. Tom Bee his sardines and candy canes, so Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to go get his daddy because he would get it for him. Mr. Tom Bee also said, "Where is John anyway?" Mr. Tom Bee shouldn't have said that because Blacks shouldn't call Whites by their first names. Finally Mr. Wallace came in the store and asked Mr. Tom Bee what he wanted. Mr. Tom Bee told Mr. Wallace what he wanted, and Mr. Wallace gave it to him. Mr. Wallace told his sons to go outside and work on something else, and shut the door on their way out. Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee that he couldn't call him by his first name any more, that this was the last time he's going to call him that and when the next time come, he better show some respect by calling him Mr. Wallace. Mr. Tom Bee walked out and gave the kids the candy canes that he bought. Jeremy was standing there too, so Mr. Tom Bee gave Jeremy a candy cane. Jeremy took it and put it in his pocket. Cassie and her three brothers went over to Aunt Callie's. Stacey asked Mr. Tom Bee why he called Mr. Wallace by his first name, and not by "Mr. Wallace"? Mr. Tom Bee told them the story that back in the day Mr. Tom Bee took care of Mr. Wallace when they were younger. Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee that he promised as long as he lived he would be known as "John" to Mr. Tom Bee. The kids thought that it was time to go home so they started walking, and they past by the Wallace store. Mr. Tom Bee told the kids to wait outside while he went inside and got something. They saw Jeremy standing there and didn't say a word. Mr. Tom Bee went inside and he saw Mr. Wallace, Jeremy's dad Mr. Charlie Simms, and some other White people sitting there staring at Mr. Tom Bee while he went over to Mr. Wallace. Mr. Tom Bee told him, "Hey John, give me some-a that chewing tobacco! Forgot to get it when I was in before." Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee to never call him "John" again, but Mr. Tom Bee still called Mr. Wallace "John". Mr. Charlie Simms told Mr. Wallace, "Are you going to let that old man call you that?" Mr. Tom Bee kept asking for his tobacco. Mr. Wallace reached back to a shelf and got the tobacco and placed it on the counter. Mr. Tom Bee got it and said, "Thank you, John, just put that on my charges." Cassie and her brothers were going to leave, but they heard a click. Mr. Wallace fired a shotgun on Mr. Tom Bee's right leg. Mr. Wallace said, "Tom, you made me do that, and you got to stop calling me "John" and I mean now." Mr. Wallace continued, "You gonna learn to address me proper." Mr. Tom Bee started talking, "Till the judgment day! John! John! John!"

I liked this book because I learned a lot about history, and how some Whites treated some Blacks back in the 1930's. You need to show respect for your elders, if you don't, then you will have your consequences. Also, the book teaches you if you keep a promise to a person, you can't break it, even if someone is by your side and you don't want to get embarrassed by that person, you still have to keep your promise.

When they were kids Mr. Tom Bee saved John Wallace's life and John promised that Tom could call him Mr. Wallace by his first name forever.

This is what happened. Mr. Tom Bee called him by his first name because he saved John Wallace's life, not just once, but twice. The end was really great and John comes out and shoots Mr. Tom Bee in the knee and Mr. Tom Bee kept on hollering "JOHN, JOHN, JOHN, JOHN...."

I found it quite interesting because my father is Black, and I think he probably would have done the same as Mr. Tom Bee, saving John's life. My father says, "Everyone needs a helping hand". That is why I recommend this book for everyone who can read.