“I might as well go out of my way and do something different. If I walk up the block this way,” he muttered while pointing with his cane, “then I won’t even pass by my Honey Bee’s or Leotis’s homes.” With his cane dangling from his wrist until he felt a need to use it, Freddie began his walk in the opposite direction.
“Well, Lord,” Sister Betty whispered, adjusting the wide brim of her straw hat, which she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes. “I’m depending upon you to touch these old rickety knees. I haven’t walked a block or two in quite a spell.” She closed her door and slowly headed out her front yard. As soon as she looked toward Leotis’s house, she saw his car was gone. She remembered Leotis had told her yesterday that today he was going to the Promised Land development to meet with some of the store owners.
“No sense in taking a chance. Freddie showed me yesterday that he’s still mad at me. He didn’t even act like he seen me,” she murmured. She felt the signs of sorrowfulness and immediately straightened her shoulders and held her head high. If I walk the other way, then I won’t even pass his house. Sister Betty closed her front gate and began slowly walking in the opposite direction of Freddie’s house.
Freddie hadn’t walked too far before he became winded. By the time he reached the corner, he needed to lean on both a mailbox and his cane for support. He began panting from shortness of breath as he tried to determine if he could make it back home if he turned around.
It took Sister Betty a moment to realize that she wasn’t missing Freddie so much as to imagine it was him leaning on a mailbox. She recognized his dark blue pants and the sky-blue shirt hanging off his bony frame.
No sooner had Sister Betty begun to pick up her pace than the sound of a car’s horn and someone calling out her name stopped her. She turned to see a silver Mercedes, one she didn’t recognize. Thinking perhaps she was wrong about hearing her name, and seeing that Freddie hadn’t moved off the mailbox, she continued on.
“Betty,” a female’s voice called out. “Wait up.”
The silver Mercedes had driven a few feet ahead of Sister Betty and then had begun driving in reverse. Ahead, she could see Freddie beginning to move away from the mailbox. She didn’t have much time to observe much else, because when the car’s window rolled completely down, she saw long blond hair and then Delilah’s face appear.
“I told Thurgood that was you,” Delilah squealed. “We were on our way to your house and made a wrong turn.”
Sister Betty tried to smile but couldn’t. At that moment all her attention was on Freddie. He had moved completely away from the mailbox and was now trying to walk using a cane.
“What’s wrong, Betty?” Delilah’s eyes followed where Betty looked. “Get in and let us take you back so you won’t have to walk.”
Sister Betty walked quickly to the car and jumped into the backseat, her behind slapping the leather seat with a thud. She hadn’t known she could move that fast. Her eyes met Thurgood’s. He didn’t have a chance to say hello before she ordered, “Quick, Thurgood. That’s Freddie on up ahead. He ain’t looking too good. Hurry up and catch up to him.”
Thurgood rolled up on Freddie and dashed out of the car to help him. Freddie jerked away and began to sway.
“It’s me, Thurgood Pillar.” As Thurgood pulled Freddie toward the car, Freddie resisted more.
And then within seconds it appeared Freddie regained enough strength to throw a punch in Thurgood’s direction.
By the time Sister Betty and Delilah made it to within a few feet of the mailbox, Thurgood was standing with his feet spread apart, his fists in the air, about to knock some recognition into Freddie.
Sister Betty shouted, “Thurgood, don’t you dare lay a hand on him!”
It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down, and several more before Freddie could be convinced to go to Sister Betty’s. In a measured tone Sister Betty had told him, “You can come back home, where I can tend to whatever is wrong with you, or I gonna let my cousin Thurgood finish what he was about to start.” She’d hoped Freddie would see some humor in her warning.
Freddie paid no attention to Sister Betty’s threats. However, the essence of Delilah’s fragrant come-hither perfume was suddenly like catnip. He didn’t try pretending that he didn’t want to get in the car. He even closed the car door himself, albeit before Sister Betty could get in all the way, causing her hat to fall off.
“Freddie,” Delilah cooed, “I’d have never recognized you. It’s a good thing we came upon Betty, ’cause we might’ve driven by thinking you were probably putting mail in that mailbox.”
“Yeah,” Thurgood added, “today God was with you in more ways than one.” Thurgood began laughing. “I was about to lay your butt out New York style.”
Freddie didn’t laugh, but he did respond. “I think you must’ve forgotten I’m from New York, too.”
“I’m glad you men are feeling well enough to fight,” Sister Betty snapped. “Y’all are men of God and are all up in this car, talking like you’re getting ready for a pay-per-view.”
“Honey Bee, it’s what men do,” Freddie told her quickly. He covered his mouth and coughed. He felt he should have covered it before he spoke, but now it was too late. He certainly hadn’t meant to call her by her pet name.
Delilah looked over at Thurgood, who was about to turn into Sister Betty’s driveway. “Did you hear what he called Betty?”
“I’m not deaf, Dee Dee.”
“Don’t you mean Dee Dee honey?”
“Since when have I ever called you Dee Dee honey?”
Thurgood turned off the ignition and shifted in his seat to face Freddie before he said with a sneer, “Thanks a lot, playa. Now I’m gonna have to hear about how sweet you are to Betty all the way back to New York and probably a lot longer after that.”
“It should’ve come naturally,” Delilah said, pulling down the sun visor, sliding back its cover to reveal a mirror. She bared her teeth, checking them for any stains from the soft pink lipstick she wore. Seeing that everything, including her hair, was flawless, Delilah turned in her seat to face Thurgood and started in. “You know what, Thurgood,” she began. “You can get rid of your conked hair and wear just two colors—in—stead of looking like you searched for the rainbow inside a box of Crayola—and you can stand before thousands of men and tell them what they should and shouldn’t do when it comes to courting and sexing, but you can’t give me a reason why you don’t call me honey?”
“Keep running that mouth, Dee Dee,” he told her. “I’m sure one will come to me.”
That’s what’s different today. Thurgood ain’t wearing that greasy conk, Sister Betty thought as she peered over and caught sight of Thurgood in his rearview mirror. Well, suh, he is looking coordinated. Delilah done cleaned him up real good.
Sister Betty leaned back and gently tapped Freddie on his hand. Narrowing her eyes and nodding her head, she indicated that they should get out of the car. At the rate Thurgood and Delilah were going at it, she was certain they wouldn’t notice. She’d wait until they got inside the house to remind him that when Thurgood and Delilah finished talking to each other, they would remember that they’d been talking to them.
In the past, whenever Freddie and Sister Betty arrived at her home, Freddie had always led the way. He’d take her key, open the door, and then wait for her to enter. He was the kind and caring gentleman. Now he stood at the bottom of her steps, waiting for her to walk past and enter her house. As tired as he felt at that moment, and despite the fact that he just wanted to hurry and sit, he still didn’t presume that it was okay for him to act like the old Freddie.
Sister Betty wanted to push him ahead of her so he’d enter the house first, but she didn’t. She hurried past Freddie when she saw him hesitate. “Come on inside,” she told him gently. “They should realize we’re not in the car in a few minutes.”
Feeling kidnapped, Freddie used his cane as little as possible when he did as she asked, but not without looking back at Thurgood and Del
ilah, who were still going at each other in the car. “Well, I guess it’s good to know that some things haven’t changed.” He smiled, but not too broadly.
Freddie followed Sister Betty into the kitchen and waited for her to tell him when and where to sit. It was as though he had forgotten the steps to their love dance and now relied on her for choreography.
“I’m not too happy putting you through this inconvenience.” Freddie looked around for somewhere to lay his cane.
Sister Betty gently took the metal cane from his hand. She hung it by its handle on the back of the chair. Standing behind him, she noticed what looked like baby-fine hair growing on his scalp. She also saw his color didn’t look quite as dark as she thought it had before. But there was no doubting the tiredness, and she wondered if he’d been overdoing it by trying to keep up with Leotis. “Freddie,” she said as she walked over to a cabinet for a glass, “I don’t want to hound you or get all up in your business.”
“What is it, Sister Betty?”
He’d called her Sister Betty, and to her, it didn’t sound right. She’d been surprised when he first called her by her pet name, but he hadn’t called her Sister Betty since they became engaged. That reminder caused her to look at the engagement ring still shining bright on her small ring finger. She wondered if he was trying to get up the nerve to ask her to return it.
“You were about to say something?” Freddie turned around and saw her fingering the engagement ring. Lord, please don’t let her take my ring off.
Outside, in the Mercedes, Thurgood and Delilah sat quietly for a moment before Thurgood spoke first.
“Do you think we’ve given them enough time to be alone?” Thurgood reached over and kissed Delilah on the cheek. “I don’t know why you didn’t stay in the acting game long enough to win an Oscar. Gal, you were on fire a while ago.”
“We both should take a bow,” Delilah agreed. “Calling that poor Freddie a playa was mean.”
“Hey, it takes one to know one. I wasn’t being mean to him. I was just giving him a possibility.”
“So what do you think we should do next, Thurgood? Your cousin Betty still ain’t acting like a bride-to-be filled with certainty. I know this is their first time, but those two were acting like they’d just met sitting back there.”
“I picked up that same vibe. Except for the idle threats Freddie was throwing about when I tried to get him inside the car, there wasn’t an ounce of communication between them.”
“Well, we can’t expect them to have the special communication skills we have. Besides, the man’s been under the weather, and he looks like it’s more than just some high blood pressure. He’s skinny like a nail.”
“You can’t go by that, Dee Dee. Look at me. I’m thin, too.”
“Yeah, Thurgood,” Delilah said, allowing her tongue to sweep over her lips. “You’re well proportioned, and your beige and brown leisure suit makes a difference.”
“Yes, I definitely still got it.”
Delilah didn’t want Thurgood wandering off the thought track, so she quickly added, “But I gotta tell you—”
Thurgood laughed. “Go ahead and tell me with your fine self, Dee Dee. What you got to tell me? About now I’m feeling like a rocket about to shoot off on the Fourth of July.”
Delilah sighed and shook her head. “Sharvon only wanted us to get together for dinner and discuss the wedding and such. But it looks like we gotta test them a bit more before we decide if they gonna need some of our special sexual communication counseling for late bloomers or we gotta go Christian gangster on their stubborn butts.”
“You mean do a little more role playing?”
“Yes.”
“Well, let’s get to it,” Thurgood said before he got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her. “It’s showtime.”
“In which one of these rooms in this big ole mansion are you two hiding?” Thurgood called out as he and Delilah entered Sister Betty’s home.
“We’re in the kitchen, Thurgood.” Sister Betty peeked out of the kitchen and waved at them as they walked down her hallway. “We’re in here enjoying something cold to drink. Can I get the two of you something?”
Thurgood and Delilah entered and sat at the kitchen table. Each of them had deliberately grabbed an empty chair that separated Sister Betty and Freddie. Thurgood apologized to Sister Betty for making an unannounced visit. “We might not have planned it that way, but think what might have happened if we didn’t come along.” He then motioned to Freddie, who sat stiff as a stone and was just as helpless as he was when he was leaning on that mailbox.
“Tell me something,” Delilah said in between tiny sips of lemonade. “Have you two written your wedding vows yet?”
The surprised looks that sprang up on Sister Betty’s and Freddie’s faces didn’t go unnoticed.
“You two look like we done walked in on you naked,” Thurgood teased.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Delilah said softly. “Me and Thurgood didn’t write ours until the night before. We’d completely forgotten about it.”
“Well, that’s not necessary,” Sister Betty said and then glanced over at Freddie, who looked like he was shrinking from fear.
“Of course it’s necessary,” Thurgood replied and then turned to Freddie. “Don’t you think so, my cousin-to-be?”
Freddie remained speechless.
“Obviously, they haven’t done it, so we might as well share what we did,” Delilah said as she pulled two sheets of paper out of her purse. The papers were well read and the type was smudged, but she smiled as she handed one sheet to Thurgood. “Suppose me and Thurgood show you how we did it when we got remarried?”
Feeling trapped and with nothing else to do, Sister Betty and Freddie nodded. They then leaned back in their seats, prepared to watch The Thurgood and Delilah Show.
“We didn’t just read our vows,” Thurgood announced as he stood. “We acted them out.”
Delilah rose from her seat. She and Thurgood stood together with paper in hand and began to show them how it’d gone at their wedding.
Thurgood waved one hand about Delilah’s body, as though he had a magic wand. “I, Thurgood, will always love you, Delilah, because you are like a prince’s daughter. Your feet in sandals are so beautiful. Your graceful legs are like jewels. The hands of a skilled worker must have shaped them. Your navel is like a round bowl that always has mixed wine in it. Your waist is like a mound of wheat that is surrounded by lilies.”
Thurgood stopped to see if what he was saying was having an impact. As soon as he saw that Freddie’s mouth was agape, he grinned, turned back to face a smiling Delilah, and continued with his eyes and hands sweeping across her chest. “Your two breasts are lovely. They are like two young antelopes. Your neck is smooth and beautiful, like a beige tower. And I will forever see you this way and hold your essence in my heart.”
“Don’t you two say nothing yet,” Thurgood told them quickly. “It’s my Dee Dee’s turn now.”
Delilah smiled and adjusted the paper she held. Looking up at Thurgood, she threw back her hair and, with one hand on curvy hips any thirty-year-old woman would covet, began. “Thurgood, I will never forget the time when God brought you back into my life.” Her smile grew. “I went down to a grove of nut trees. I wanted to look at the new plants growing in the valley. I wanted to find out whether the vines had budded. I wanted to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed. Before I realized it, I was among the royal chariots of your firmness.”
Sister Betty looked at Freddie, who seemed to be hanging on to every word Delilah said. He didn’t appear to understand what she was saying, but his glazed-over eyes didn’t try to hide his appreciation. “I imagine when you two get finished reminiscing and serenading, you’ll remember you was talking to us.”
“Oh my.” Delilah blushed. “All this time and Thurgood and me still act like newlyweds.”
“That’s right,” Thurgood said. “Take a good look at me and my Dee Dee.”
>
“Why?” Sister Betty leaned back in her chair to obstruct Freddie’s wanton gaze.
“This will be you and Freddie once y’all are hitched.” Thurgood let out a chuckle. “Any blind person can see you two got that Thurgood and Dee Dee potential.” Without any resistance from Freddie, Thurgood pushed Freddie’s seat closer to Sister Betty. “Now, that’s better. I ain’t expecting Freddie to set off no sparks right away, but one look at him tells me his fuse been lit.”
Thurgood and Delilah took turns encouraging Sister Betty and Freddie. They repeated their story of estrangement, mentioning that Thurgood had gone to prison and Delilah had fled to Hollywood, and describing how God had brought them back together. Delilah’s eyes became bleary when she told them how she’d delayed telling Thurgood that she’d placed their son, Jessie, then a two-year-old, in foster care. They told their story slowly, as though anticipating questions from the couple. However, neither Sister Betty nor Freddie asked questions, nor did they move their chairs away from each other.
After a few more glasses of lemonade, Thurgood and Delilah prepared to leave.
“Well, we have taken up enough of your time,” Thurgood said as he kissed Sister Betty on her cheek. He then looked at Freddie. “You looking much better than earlier, but if you want, I can drop you off at your house.”
“Thank you, Thurgood,” Freddie replied. “Just let me gather my things.” He rose and took his cane off the back of his chair. For the first time since he’d sat down in her kitchen Freddie smiled at Sister Betty. “Thank you, Betty,” he told her. “I’m praying—”
“Praying what?” Sister Betty asked. The hope in her voice lingered.
But as though the words were caught in his throat, Freddie headed toward the front door, taking the unspoken words with him.
“I’m right behind you, Freddie,” Thurgood said before turning to Sister Betty. “We are gonna be here until Sunday. We might not see you again to go out for dinner, because after our last seminar on Saturday night, we’ll probably need to rest up so we don’t miss our early morning flight.” Then he added, “Of course, our plans are always subject to change.”
Sister Betty Says I Do Page 17
