Content note. “Right Shoe on Left Foot” is a 1942 story “of racial and sexual violence in the South” (Lennon 42.1) and contains racial slurs spoken by both Black and white characters, as well as scenes of racial and sexual violence. The text is reproduced here in its original form for scholarly and historical purposes.
He brought his eyes up from the road, and watched the night sift into the twilight sky. The car, their car, was rolling smoothly now, effortlessly, almost as if the night air had refreshed it. Dolly, beside him, had curved in closer against his body, and had let her head come down on his shoulder. He looked at her — Dolly in her best gone to dancing dress — and what was left of the twilight sky was suddenly very gold like money.