Thank You, M'am

A “large woman with a large purse that ha[s] everything in it but hammer and nails” is walking home late at night when a teenage boy runs up to her and tries to steal her purse (Paragraph 1). He loses his balance and falls, and the woman “kick[s] him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter” before hauling him to his feet (Paragraph 1). She questions why he tried to rob her before remarking that his face is dirty and that she intends to wash it for him. The boy protests meekly but can’t extricate himself, and the woman—introducing herself as Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones—drags him home with her.

Leaving the door behind her open, Mrs. Jones pulls the boy into her apartment and asks what his name is. He introduces himself as Roger, and she instructs him to wash up. As he does, he asks whether Mrs. Jones is going to hand him over to the police. She says that she isn’t and offers him dinner instead, remarking that he must have been hungry to resort to stealing. Roger admits that he wanted the money to buy a pair of blue suede shoes.