Mama Ruby

by Mary Monroe

  They parked across the street from the large, two-story beige house that Wally shared with an aging tabby cat and a lot of sad memories of the wife and six children who had deserted him. A shy black man, who worked as Wally’s cook and butler, occupied the studio apartment above the two-car garage attached to the house.

  Fat Fanny had cooled off considerably during the drive. She was already regretting that she had agreed to assist Ruby. She liked Ruby and didn’t want her to get in trouble. She knew that it was one thing for a white woman like her to exact revenge against a white man. But the law would treat her differently, and way more humanely than they would Ruby.

  “Uh, maybe we should go on back home and forget about this man,” Fat Fanny suggested, silently praying that Ruby would agree with her. “I am sure he’ll be all right once he cools off. By the way, what made him so mad at you?”

  “Uh, it was just a little misunderstandin’. Kind of delicate and embarrassin’, so I really don’t want to go into it right now. You know how it is.”

  “I guess,” Fat Fanny said with a shrug. “I had a problem with a trick last year. After he’d rode me like a cowboy, he had the nerve to tell me that I had such a loathsome pussy, he wanted his money back. He slapped me when I didn’t give it back to him. Thank God Buster got up to the room in time. A week later, that same client came back and apologized, and he wanted to ride me again. That’s a man for you.” Fat Fanny chuckled. “Well, like I said, I’m sure Wally’ll be all right, once he cools off,” she added with a hopeful smile.

  “What if he don’t cool off? Then what?” Ruby asked through clenched teeth. “I don’t let nobody get away with hurtin’ me.” She rubbed the side of her arm, which was sore and bruised from Wally’s attack. “What if he comes back to the house with a gun or somethin’, and finishes me and Miss Mo’reen off?”

  Fat Fanny released a loud sigh. “Well, that could happen, but it’s highly unlikely. Um, the other two men you mentioned that you chastised? Were they colored?”

  Ruby looked at the side of Fat Fanny’s face. “Why? What difference does the color make?” She had changed into one of her low-cut blouses, but this one had long sleeves. Sleeves that were long enough to cover the bruises on her arms, and the top half of the handle of the switchblade she had in her hand.

  “Color will make a big difference if you get caught, Mama Ruby.”

  Ruby looked straight ahead. “Them other two low-down, funky devils was colored.”

  “What did you do to ’em?”

  “Huh?”

  “Did you hurt ’em real bad?”

  Ruby recalled the incident with Glenn Boates, something she thought about almost every day. She was sorry about what she’d done to him, but she rationalized her actions by reminding herself that he’d gotten what he deserved.

  “Uh, yeah you could say that,” she admitted. “The last one especially.”

  “Oh. Well, do I want to know exactly what you did to them two colored men? The last one especially?”

  Ruby looked down for a few seconds, and then she faced Fat Fanny and shook her head. “Naw. You don’t want, or need, to know none of that. But I can tell you this much. That last man won’t be attackin’ no other woman, no time soon. He threatened to kill me and Othella. It was him or us... .”

  “I see.” Fat Fanny was moved by the look of sorrow on Ruby’s face. She gave her a gentle pat on her shoulder and a quick hug. “You poor thing, you. In that case, the law don’t care too much about whatever you done to that man. Him bein’ colored and all. But this is different. See, not only is Wally white, he ain’t no redneck from the bayous. He’s one of them highfalutin lawyers that’s never lost a case, so you know he’s a man with a bunch of money! You can see that from the way this neighborhood looks. I’m sure he’s got a whole lot of powerful friends. He might be plottin’ somethin’ else to get back at you and Miss Mo’reen by now hisself. You thought about that?”

  “I ain’t thought about nothin’ but that. That’s why I wanted to get to him—in case he’s plannin’ to get back to me and Miss Mo’reen first.”

  “Mama Ruby, I’m a whole lot older than you, so I know a whole lot more than you. I know you are still upset, and I am, too. But don’t mess with this man. You’ll only make things worse. I realize that now. Let me carry you on back to the house so we can check on Miss Mo’reen. I noticed a knot risin’ on her forehead when I put her to bed. I’ll fix you a highball myself. Or better yet, one of my real strong hot toddies. If that don’t calm you down, nothin’ will.”

  “I don’t need no highball or no real strong hot toddy,” Ruby snarled. “I need to settle my business with Wally.”

  “It don’t look like he’s home no how, sugar. Ain’t a single light on in his house,” Fat Fanny said, breathing a sigh of relief. “And I ain’t surprised. This is his birthday, so he’s probably at another whorehouse or some joint gettin’ drunker.”

  “Do you know where that might be?” Ruby mumbled, caressing the tip of her switchblade some more.

  “No, I don’t know the man like that. I just met him in person tonight,” Fat Fanny said, starting up the motor again. Before Ruby could object, Fat Fanny made a U-turn and headed back to Maureen’s house.

  On the way, just one block from Wally’s house, Fat Fanny almost hit a squirrel that was trying to cross the street. Two blocks down the street, she almost ran into a tree.

  “How come you so nervous?” Ruby wanted to know. “Wally didn’t try to beat your brains out like he done me and Miss Mo’reen.”

  “It don’t matter. Anything that happens in Miss Mo’reen’s house affects all of us,” Fat Fanny replied. “I hope you keep that in mind until this thing blows over.”

  Maureen’s house was completely dark by the time Ruby and Fat Fanny returned.

  “Listen up. I advise you not to tell nobody where we went tonight,” Ruby whispered. “Not even Othella or Miss Mo’reen. Do you hear me?”

  Fat Fanny was not stupid. She had this crazy young black woman’s number. She could tell a veiled threat when she heard one. “I didn’t plan on doin’ that no how.”

  Fat Fanny made herself a hot toddy and then she rushed upstairs and checked on her children. She pulled Viola from her bed and took her to her room across the hall. After saying her prayers on bended knees, she climbed into bed with her drink in one hand, her daughter in the other.

  Ruby gulped down a few beers standing over the sink in the kitchen. Then she retreated to her room where Mazel was snoring like a bull. She stayed up all night, sitting on her side of the roll-away bed, staring at the wall, looking out the window, and pacing the floor. As soon as it got daylight, she crept upstairs to Fat Fanny’s room and entered without knocking again.

  Fat Fanny was still asleep, but Viola was sitting up in bed, cooing, grinning, her fingers playing with her mother’s matted hair. As soon as the baby saw Ruby, she started to whimper and reach for her. It was the sight of that precious little baby that softened Ruby’s vengeful heart. She let out a mighty sigh and padded across the floor and pulled Viola into her arms.

  “If I still had my own child, I wouldn’t be in this mess,” she said to herself. She gently placed the baby back into the bed and quietly left the room.

  Othella rose early enough to have a serious conversation with Ruby in the kitchen before Maureen or any of the prostitutes got out of bed. Mazel was hunched over the sink marinating an enormous rump roast. As usual, she looked like she was angry enough to cuss out the world.

  “Mama Ruby, can I talk to you about somethin’?” Othella asked, rolling her eyes at Mazel. “It’s private so we need to go out on the back porch, if you don’t mind.”

  “Y’all ain’t got to be hidin’ nothin’ from me. I know all about that ruckus that went on upstairs last night,” Mazel said with a smirk, directing her attention toward Ruby. “I declare, all these years I been workin’ for Miss Mo’reen, I ain’t never knowed nobody, man or woman, to hit her.” Mazel sniffed. She gave Ruby
and Othella a scornful look. “Things was fine till y’all got here... .”

  “So you keep tellin’ us,” Othella snarled.

  With a snort, Mazel turned her attention back to the rump roast in the sink as Othella and Ruby walked briskly out to the back porch.

  “With all of this sneakin’ around that me and you do, I feel like a criminal,” Othella complained as soon as she and Ruby got outside. They stood at the top of the porch steps, facing one another. It was windy, but it was still warm. So warm that the maid who worked in the brothel next-door was outside hanging just washed sheets on the clothesline. There was a sudden burst of cold air between Ruby and Othella that they both felt on their faces; neither could understand what it meant. Ruby assumed that it was just because she was nervous and uncomfortable. Other than the fact that it was so odd and unexpected, Othella didn’t know what to think about the cold air on such a warm day. Neither one shared her thoughts about it, but they both experienced an ominous feeling because of it.

  “I know what you mean. I feel the same way,” Ruby admitted with a mild groan. Looking at the three chicken coops in Maureen’s backyard made her nostalgic. It seemed like it had been years since she’d stood on her mama’s back porch steps and looked at her chicken coop. But it had only been a few months.

  Othella touched Ruby’s arm and leaned closer, her stale breath on Ruby’s cheek. “I think Miss Mo’reen’s goin’ to be all right. One of her doctor man clients is with her now,” she reported. “White as her skin is, she’ll be black and blue for a few days, though.”

  “Don’t forget I got a few bumps and lumps on various parts of my body from where he hit me, too,” Ruby whined.

  “I know you do, but you are way younger and tougher than Miss Mo’reen. White women, especially old white women, they got real delicate skin and thin, brittle bones. A big, strong strappin’ girl like you can take a beatin’ better than any white woman ever could,” Othella decided.

  “I can take a beatin’, but I ain’t goin’ to,” Ruby vowed. “And you know I mean it.”

  Ruby’s tone of voice and her choice of words made Othella’s chest tighten. She was glad that her best friend was so fearless, and she felt sorry for anybody who crossed her. The most important thing was, fortunately, that she and Ruby were on the same side. Other than the situation with Ruby’s baby, Othella had never done anything to make her mad enough to “chastise” her. And Othella knew that if she wanted to keep her name from moving up any higher on Ruby’s shit-list in the future, she’d go out of her way to keep their friendship intact. But she knew now that she had to feed Ruby with a very long-handled spoon.

  “Ruby, I love you like you are my own blood kin, and I don’t want to see nothin’ bad happen to you,” Othella declared.

  Ruby gasped. “Somethin’ bad done already happened to me,” she reminded. “Wally Yoakum beat me like a dog.”

  “I know, I know, and I don’t want it to get no worse. But the thing is, I think we need to be gettin’ ready to haul ass,” Othella insisted, her voice trembling. “We need to get away from this place before we do somethin’ crazy.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I ain’t goin’ to do nothin’ crazy. Fat Fanny talked me out of it,” Ruby said.

  Othella shook her head. “I ain’t talkin’ about Wally and that mess that he caused last night.”

  Ruby’s eyes searched Othella’s. “Is there somethin’ else goin’ on that I don’t know about?” she asked, her eyes narrowed into snakelike slits. Othella hated when Ruby did that with her eyes. It made her look even more menacing, and that was one thing that she didn’t want to deal with right now.

  “Ain’t nothin’ else goin’ on, other than what’s been botherin’ me for the past couple of weeks.” Othella stopped talking and looked off to the side. When she looked at Ruby again, she was disappointed to see that her eyes still looked like the slits of a snake’s.

  “I just don’t want to keep doin’ what we been doin’ in this whorehouse no more. I can’t.” Othella stopped again. She was crying. “If we do stay on here, all I will be willin’ to do is help you and Mazel cook and clean,” she sobbed. She wiped a string of snot from her top lip with the back of her hand and sniffed hard. “I wasn’t meant to be no hoochie coochie woman!”

  “But what about all of them boyfriends you had back home? You didn’t complain about bein’ no hoochie coochie woman then.”

  “That was different. I was in love with every single one of them boys, and I was just havin’ fun. The stuff we do here ain’t half as much fun. I wasn’t meant to spend my life lettin’ white men use my body like it was a toilet ... and you wasn’t neither, Mama Ruby.”

  CHAPTER 47

  “TOILET? NOW WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO mean?”

  “Mama Ruby, think about it. Whores ain’t nothin’ but receptacles! Somethin’ for men to leave their body drippin’s in. Same as they do ... with slop jars. No wonder decent people call us trash.”

  Ruby searched Othella’s face. “It ain’t that bad, sugar. I don’t like it neither, but it’s better than where we was when we first got into this town.”

  “You ain’t listenin’ to me. What I am tryin’ to get you to see is that me and you, we ain’t cut out to be whores. We left home to find husbands and jobs, not this.” Othella nodded toward the back door and then shook her head, like she was trying to shake off a bug. “I am so sorry I got you mixed up in this mess.”

  Ruby was glad to hear that Othella was taking most of the blame for the mess they were in, but she wouldn’t let her best friend suffer alone. “Honey, you didn’t make me do nothin’ I didn’t want to do. But if it’ll make you feel any better, I can’t stand these men touchin’ me, either, and I will be glad when we do get up out of here. But we need to come up with another plan before we make another move. Now tell me this, have you worked us out a backup plan?”

  Othella shook her head again. “All I know is, when I get up out of here, I am goin’ to walk the straight and narrow. I won’t never get involved in another whorehouse as long as I live. I don’t like the person I was before I got here, and I don’t like the person I am now.”

  “Othella, what are you tryin’ to tell me?”

  “I’m goin’ to be the kind of woman I wish my mama had been. You noticed I don’t steal clothes from stores no more?”

  “Yeah, I noticed that. I’m glad. And I’m glad that you want to be the kind of woman you wish your mama had been.”

  “I know we got a good thing goin’ here, and we might have a hard time tryin’ to find us another place when we do leave... .”

  “Then what’s the rush?”

  “I’m fixin’ to have a baby,” Othella whispered, wiping tears from her face. “I don’t want my child to be born in no whorehouse and turn out like ... like my mama and them other whores that work here. I want my child to have a chance at enjoyin’ a decent lifestyle.” Othella shuddered. She didn’t notice how Ruby was looking at her with her mouth hanging open. “I am so ashamed of myself, and how easy I let this happen. I want to leave here and forget all about it as soon as possible. Just like I’ve forgotten about stealin’ clothes and stuff. I want to be a good example for my baby.”

  Ruby finally closed her mouth but it didn’t stay that way for long. First, she smiled and then a full-blown grin slid across her face like a tidal wave. There was such an ecstatic look on her face that you would have thought that she was the one expecting a baby. “A baby?” she croaked. Her eyes got big, her chest tightened, a knot formed in her stomach. That was how happy she was. She stumbled, almost falling flat on her face. “You? You fixin’ to have a baby?”

  Othella rotated her neck and folded her arms. “Is that all you got to say?”

  Ruby stared off to the side, and then an indescribable look appeared on her face. She shook her head until that look disappeared and then she turned back to Othella. Now there were tears in Ruby’s eyes, and her nose was threatening to run. “I wish it was me,” she
admitted.

  “Mama Ruby, don’t neither one of us need no baby right now,” Othella insisted.

  Ruby gave Othella a brief hug. “What you want to do then? You want to go back home?”

  Othella shook her head so quick and hard her bangs resembled a beaver’s tail flapping across her forehead. “That’s the last place I want to be right now.” Othella paused and looked toward the door. Ruby followed her gaze. They watched as the curtains at the window moved. “One of my clients told me about a carnival that’s in town right now that he took his kids to. He said he went to school with one of the big shots who run the show, and he thought it might be somethin’ for us to look into. We won’t have no trouble gettin’ jobs there. He said that outfit would hire a goat.”

  “Yeah, I bet they would—as long as that goat is white!” Ruby snapped. “I don’t know what makes white folks think anything is easy for us.”

  “The other thing my client told me was that the same white man, the one who does the hirin’, he likes colored girls.”

  “What white man don’t? I know that now. But I don’t want to leave here and go to no carnival and end up pleasurin’ them low-class carnival workin’ peckerwoods. We might as well stay here. At least we do our business in warm clean beds in a warm clean house.”

  “The man who does the hirin’ is seriously involved with a hoochie coochie colored woman already, so I doubt if he’ll be wantin’ us, too. At least not as long as the hoochie coochie woman is handlin’ her business proper,” Othella said.

  Ruby clucked long and loud, like a wet hen. “First, you woo me away from my happy home to work in a whorehouse. Now you want me to move on from here to go work in a carnival. What outrageous foolishness will you come up with next, girl?”

  “Suit yourself, Mama Ruby. If you want to stay here, you go right ahead. Me, I am gettin’ out while the gettin’ is good. I got a baby on the way that I need to be thinkin’ about now.”