King Hedley II

In the yard, Stool Pigeon is burying a dead black cat. Tonya enters the yard and tells him that Ruby will have a fit if she sees Stool Pigeon burying a cat in the yard. Stool Pigeon responds that the cat belonged to Aunt Ester, and that if he buries it in the ground and it hasn’t used up its nine lives yet, it’ll come back. All it needs is some blood sprinkled on its grave. Tonya is not sure about that kind of magic, and asks him why he didn’t just have the city come and pick it up. He explains how much that would cost, but reiterates that because it is Aunt Ester’s cat, he knows that it has more life in it, and he wants to give it a chance to come back.

King enters the yard with a roll of barbed wire. He intends to put it around his seeds to protect them. He notices a machete in Stool Pigeon’s hand and asks about it. Stool Pigeon explains that it’s the machete that Hedley (King’s supposed father) used to kill Floyd Barton. King thinks that his father killed Floyd because Floyd stole from him.