Rachel was momentarily stunned by this offer of genuine assistance. But then he said, “Idle hands only turn to trouble, after all,” and she accepted there was a less charitable reading of his words. In his eyes, the Negro was a brute kept in check only by the wiles of white men like himself, who found ways to control them. She thanked him anyway, and continued cleaning the glasses as vigorously as she could, in case he decided to watch her.
