"Sometimes the Retards do the sweetest things, bless their hearts."

Sarah's mind once again slipped wistfully into the past, to that One Hot Summer in 1957 in Madison County...

"Miss Sarah, I has a question..."

"Yes, my sweet Mandingo?"

"Why do the police always come talking to me whenever there is a crime in town?"

"This is about the Nativity Scene in Town Square, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Miss Sarah, it is. Someone takes the Baby Jesus away and they think it must be me? I like me the Baby Jesus and all, but not like that..."

"My dear Mandingo, it's just how Police-work works. You always start out by checking the Negroes. It's just common sense. If it turns out that it wasn't a Negro then you check out the Chinks."

"But it wasn't a Chinese, either. It was a white boy, Miss Sarah."

"Yes it was, my Mandingo. But everyone knows Ronnie Johnson is a Retard. He doesn't know any better. He just really likes the Baby Jesus, that's all."

"I guess..."

"Ronnie just took the Baby Jesus because he thought Baby Jesus looked cold in the Manger at night, so he brought him home and put a blanket on him. He meant well. Sometimes the Retards do the sweetest things, bless their hearts."

"What if I was to think the Baby Jesus was cold and bring him home and put a blanket on him?"

"My silly Mandingo: you are a Negro. That would be Theft. Not to mention offensive to God."

"Offensive to God, Miss Sarah?"

"Of course. You can't have the White Baby Jesus living with a Negro. That just isn't right."

"Miss Sarah, sometimes I think it would be better to be a White Retard than a Negro in this World."

"Oh, my sweet Mandingo. White Retards were put here by God so that us regular White Folk would know how blessed we are."

"So why did God put us Negroes here, Miss Sarah?"

"The same reason God put oxen and horses in the world: someone has to do the hard work, my Mandingo..."

I am Laslo.