by Mary Monroe
“I noticed your sign. What’s them day-old tea cakes, Roscoe?”
“Mama Ruby cook me tea cakes for breakfast every mornin. What I don’t eat, I sell the next day,” Roscoe explained.
“Mama Ruby. I keep on hearin about a Mama Ruby woman. Loomis won’t carry me to her house to meet her. Fast Black and No Talk won’t neither.”
“Ruby is my fiancee. We been engaged since nineteen and fifty-four. Ever since she come here.”
Othella considered what Roscoe told her.
“This woman, tell me about her, Roscoe.” Othella placed her elbows on Roscoe’s counter and locked eyes with him. “I think I use to know her.”
“Well, like I said, she come here in nineteen and fifty-four. Showed up from out of nowhere, it seem. That pretty gal what just left was her daughter Mo’reen.”
“What this Ruby woman look like?”
Roscoe moved his tongue around inside his cheek and let out his breath.
“Can you picture Godzilla in a half-slip?”
Othella stared at him.
“Ruby Montgomery is got to be the biggest nigger woman ever lived. And the meanest! Wooo!”
“She got a boy named Virgil?”
“You do know her?” Roscoe gasped. “Yeah, she got a boy named Virgil. He just got back from V-Eight Nam a while back. He had been shet up in a prison.”
Othella dropped her hands down to her sides and looked off sadly.
“What’s the matter?” Roscoe asked, alarmed.
“Where she live?”
“Where who live?”
“This Ruby woman. I want to talk to her, Roscoe. I been wantin to talk to her for a long time.”
“Straight down Duquennes Road you’ll come to a road leadin down a hill. That ole shack at the foot of the hill is Ruby’s house. Let me put a bug in your ear first. I hope you goin as a friend, cause she is one bad nigger. I heard she kilt a Klansman back in New Orleans and other folks in between! Whenever somebody come up missin, we look toward Ruby’s house. She ain’t your everyday woman.”
“Ain’t nobody out here’ll go up against her?”
“I ain’t. Shoot. That big woman’ll come in here and tear my place up with me in it!” Roscoe laughed.
“Roscoe, forget that beer. I’ll pick it up later. Right now I’m goin to pay this Ruby woman a little visit.”
66
Othella stopped where the dirt road started down the hill to Ruby’s and shaded her eyes with her hand. It was early afternoon and the sun was at its highest and hottest. She wiped perspiration from her face and shaded her eyes again so she could see the old house better.
The front door opened and Maureen came out, followed by Loretta and Loraine. They disappeared into the bayou off to the side of the house. Seconds later a gigantic woman wearing a long black duster opened the screen door and seemed to float out to the porch steps, where she stopped and looked up the hill at Othella, shading her eyes.
Othella’s mouth fell open. Ruby had been obese when she’d last seen her. Her weight had almost doubled.
The two women watched one another for a long time before Ruby went back inside.
An hour passed. Ruby went out to the porch again and looked up the hill. Othella was still standing in the same spot, her eyes still shaded with her hand. An hour later, Ruby looked out her front window and saw her still standing at the top of the hill. This time Ruby was looking from the front window in the upper room. It was only then that Ruby knew who she was looking at. Othella made a salute and left.
When Maureen and the twins returned with a bucket of blackberries, Ruby was sitting on the front porch steps, her shotgun across her lap, looking up the hill.
“What’s the matter, Mama Ruby?” Maureen asked, afraid Ruby might be waiting for Black Jack.
“Nothin,” Ruby mumbled, not moving her eyes from the hill.
When Fast Black came to the house an hour later, Ruby was still on the steps and refused to acknowledge her presence.
“Mo’reen, what’s the matter with Mama Ruby?” Fast Black asked, letting herself in the front door.
“I think somebody come by the house and raped her while me and these kids was gone,” Maureen whispered.
Fast Black sat down next to Maureen on the sofa and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh. I thought somethin serious had happened.” Fast Black reached over and patted Maureen’s shoulder. “Girl, I couldn’t get out the house fast enough. Loomis come by with his ole nutty woman from Silo.”
“The one with that long gray hair? I seen her in Roscoe’s today. She pretty, for a woman her age. She told me about her kids burnin up.”
“And she had a mental problem ever since. Midget told me she throwed some potash in a girl’s face one time and burned a hole in her. Woo!”
Maureen looked at Fast Black.
“You scared of her, Fast Black?”
“Hell no. Like Mama Ruby, I ain’t scared of nobody. I just don’t like her. She too crazy for me.”
“I kind of liked her. She seem like a real nice lady.”
“Mo’reen, you ain’t got sense enough to know a crazy person when you come across one. I went up to Othella and axed her to help me hang out clothes. She told me to go to hell. Said she had too much sense to be workin.”
Maureen laughed.
67
Virgil drove Big Red’s squad car to Goons. It was well past midnight when he arrived, but he was not surprised to find Ruby still up. The look on her face told him the inevitable.
“Othella’s in town,” he said in a low, tired voice.
“I know. I seen her today.” Ruby nodded.
Virgil walked on into the house and sat down on the sofa. Ruby remained at the door, looking up the hill.
“What you goin to do, Mama Ruby?”
“Wait.”
“I knowed Goons wasn’t far enough away. We should have gone north with Mo’reen. But no—no, you wanted to stay in Florida!” Virgil let out his breath angrily and glared at Ruby. She slowly turned to face him.
“And what was there to stop her from comin north?”
“Stop talkin so loud. You want to wake up Mo’reen and have her catch us talkin? Where she at anyway?” Virgil asked, looking toward the upper room.
“She in the upper room, where she belong.”
“Mama Ruby, you done wrong,” Virgil said, rising. He stood close to Ruby, who turned just enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye.
“I ain’t never done nothin wrong in my life,” Ruby whispered, blinking her eyes rapidly.
Virgil looked at her incredulously.
“You stole Mo’reen away from Othella. You don’t call that wrong? The least you could have done was to let Othella know her daughter was alive. You could have mailed her a note or somethin after we first left Silo. Mo’reen grown now and her own mama don’t even know about her. I bet if you had axed Othella to give you Mo’reen, she would have. Shoot. She already had her a mess of kids. What she say when you seen her today?”
“We ain’t talked, yet.”
“Fast Black and Loomis and No Talk run into her at the saloon next door to me last night. I heard em talkin about bringin Othella to you to get patched up on account of she got hit up side the head with a ashtray.”
“They had brought that wench out here to me, she’d have got more than patched up.”
“We got a mess on our hands. Like I said, you should have told Othella bout her baby bein live. You was wrong to keep Mo’reen like you done.”
“I was only doin what the Lord wanted me to do. Why else would he make Mo’reen look dead when she first come? So I could get her off to myself, that’s why.”
“If the Lord wanted you to have your own daughter, how come he didn’t let you get pregnant with one? How come he didn’t make me be a girl?”
“Boy, we don’t question the Lord’s way. That clear? You keep forgettin I’m the one what give Mo’reen life. She was dead. My healin hands is what brought h
er to life. If that ain’t the Lord workin through me. . .”
“I’m haulin ass. I ain’t goin to be in this mess. What you goin to do when Othella bring the law here? Goons a small place with a lot of big-mouth folks. How long you think it’ll be before Othella piece this mess together? All she got to hear is you livin here with a grown daughter named Mo’reen. Who just happens to look a hell of a lot like Othella. How you goin to explain to Othella you runnin off from Silo in the middle of the night? I bet before the week’s out, you and Othella goin to have a showdown! Mama Ruby, you ain’t got a chance. Ain’t none of these Christians out here goin to respect you when they find out what you done! The devil’s goin to finally get you!”
Ruby bit her bottom lip.
“Boy, how many times I got to tell you, I am the devil.”
68
That next afternoon, Othella sat on the ground in front of Loomis’ house talking to herself, hitting at the blazing sun that had blistered her face.
“And the Lord will guide me . . . me and my children will be reunited. I declare, we will, huh Lord?” she said, looking up at the sky.
Yellow Jack, walking by, stopped and stood in front of her.
“You talkin to me, lady?” he asked. Afraid of his cousin’s latest pick-up, Yellow Jack was glad he now had his own apartment in Miami where he had absolute privacy. He had a steady woman now and spent less time in Goons altogether. Yellow Jack had come to visit Maureen and argue the advantages of living in Miami as opposed to living in Goons.
“Is you the Lord?” Othella asked nastily.
“Naw.” Yellow Jack shrugged.
“Then I ain’t talkin to you,” she said, tossing a handful of sand in his direction.
Yellow Jack hurriedly returned to his car, which was sitting in Roscoe’s front yard with two flat tires. Catty, angry with Yellow Jack for not giving her his new address, had let out the air. Yellow Jack was now waiting for Roscoe to come out and help him repair the tires.
Othella jumped up and started running toward Duquennes Road and she did not stop until she reached Ruby’s front door.
“OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!” she shouted, kicking at the screen with both feet. “My kids did hear a baby cryin in your house like they said that day, when I sent em for some calamine lotion!”
“Hello, Othella,” Ruby sighed, opening the door.
Othella rushed in and stood in front of Ruby as Ruby turned to face her.
Maureen and the twins were visiting Reverend Tiggs.
“You big, fat, lyin, kidnappin, no-good, backslidin black wench you!” Othella screamed. “No wonder you disappeared from Silo! I got suspicious sho nuff when you took off with me owin you a quarter! BITCH!”
“Now is that any way to greet a old friend?” Ruby asked in a calm voice, sitting down on the sofa.
“Friend?! You call yourself a friend? After all I done for you when we left Shreveport? Where would you have been without me in New Orleans?! None of them whorehouses would give us jobs on account of you, with your big, fat, black pie-faced self! I could have got me a job anywhere! All of em wanted me, but I wouldn’t take no job cause they wouldn’t give you one. That’s the kind of friend I was.”
“You lyin through your ass!”
“Am I?! Miss Mo’reen wanted me off the bat! She just took you on cause she felt sorry for you, like I did. Who wanted you? You was nothin but a big, fat black bitch then—and you still is! I made all kind of arrangements for you to meet men and everything. Then you thank me by stealin my baby! Bitch! It took me a long time, but I figured out this mess! You just made out like my baby was dead so you could keep her! You had this planned from the get go!”
“That ain’t the way it happened!” Ruby shouted, rising. She stood in front of Othella with her hands shaking. “I declare, I did believe she was dead, just like you did. Honest to God, Othella. What kind of woman you think I am? I didn’t know she was alive till later on that night! Honest to God. I wanted to bring her back to you! But the Lord wouldn’t let me! He knowed how bad I’d been wantin me a baby girl! He give her to me! He made her look dead, till I got her away from you! Ax him!”
“Bitch! I ought to pop my blade in you right where you stand!” Othella waved her fist in Ruby’s face.
“And I’ll kill you dead,” Ruby replied, nodding.
“That a threat?”
“That’s a promise.”
Ruby returned to the sofa and folded her arms.
“Just look at you! Just look at the way you set there like you got the world by the tail! Well, your world is fixin to come to a end. I’m carryin my daughter back to Silo with me—”
“Ain’t nobody carryin Mo’reen nowhere! Not you! Not no fancy man with a fourteen-carat pecker! Not nobody! Mo’reen belongs to me!”
“We goin to see about that! I’ll carry her away from this place if I have to carry her on my back—and kill you if I have to!” Othella paused and just stared in Ruby’s face. “Why, Ruby? How could you do such a thing? I never would have done nothin like this to you.”
“I didn’t mean no harm,” Ruby whispered. Tears filled her eyes. “All I wanted was somethin pretty. You had all them beautiful children. You was the prettiest girl in Shreveport. Othella, I ain’t never been no bathin beauty. All I ever been was tough. I can get any man I want, but not on account of my looks, like you done. I’d give anything in the world to have somebody call me beautiful to my face. . . .”
Othella’s eyes filled with tears.
“You ain’t that ugly, Ruby,” Othella said seriously. “There’s a heap of women uglier and fatter than you.”
“I thought that through Mo’reen I would know what it’s like to be . . . beautiful. Can you blame me for what I done?”
Othella backed away and shook her head.
“You ain’t gettin me to feel sorry for you no more. You done wrong, Ruby, and you goin to pay for it. I ain’t goin to put you in jail. All I want is my daughter.”
“Jail don’t scare me. Ain’t nothin in this world scare me like losin Mo’reen.”
Othella shook her finger in Ruby’s face.
“I’m goin to go up to your friends one at a time and tell em what you done. I can’t let you get away with this. I mean, this ain’t just one of them things. Everybody in Goons is goin to know what a no-good, low-down, funky, kidnappin wench you is! I’m goin to bury you!”
“You goin to tell Mo’reen on me?”
“You damn right! I can’t wait to see her face when I tell her why you and her don’t look nothin alike! I’m goin to sing like a Christmas choir!”
“Othella—please,” Ruby begged. “I’ll pay you! Name your price! I’ll pay you the rest of my natural life! I got me two fancy men. Roscoe and Slim. Roscoe got his own store, he’ll give me cash money. I get me a disability check every month. I’ll pay you ten dollars a week from now on! CASH MONEY! All I ax is that you don’t broadcast on me! Don’t tell what I done! Don’t ruin my life! Mo’reen can’t never find out—”
“She bound to find out! How else am I goin to talk her into goin back to Silo with me? You think you can buy me off with a measly ten dollars a week? HA! You think I’m crazy or somethin?! You still got a nigger mentality! Shoot! I STILL got white folks’ sense!”
“Fifteen dollars a week?”
“I don’t want your money, Ruby! I want my daughter. But I ain’t goin no place until I tell every man, woman, and child what you done! First thing in the mornin!”
Othella ran out the door back to Loomis’ house.
69
Instead of returning home after visiting her preacher, Maureen went to Roscoe’s. Catty had come to Reverend Tiggs’ place and told her about the tires on her ex-husband’s car and Maureen wanted to see Catty’s vandalism. Loretta and Loraine had gone on home, taking the shortcut through the bayou.
After looking at the flat tires, Maureen went inside Roscoe’s to get a Popsicle to eat on the way home. Before she could come out, Catty came to the door.
/> “Mo’reen, Loomis’ ole crazy woman from Silo want to talk to you,” Catty told Maureen.
“What about?” Maureen asked over her shoulder.
Roscoe looked past Maureen out his window at Othella sitting on the ground. He frowned, not knowing what to think.
“I don’t know what she want to talk to you about,” Catty answered, shrugging.
Maureen grabbed the Popsicle and went outside to Othella.
“What you want, lady?” Maureen asked amicably.
Othella stood up and Maureen realized she had a switchblade in her hand.
“Will you come back to Silo and live with me? You and them twins?” Othella asked. “I’ll help you raise them kids real good. I’ll make certain they get a good education and everything.” Othella faced Maureen, holding the switchblade up to Maureen’s face.
“. . . Um . . . I don’t think I can do that, lady. I can’t leave my mama for you. I don’t even know you.” Maureen turned away.
“Don’t you turn your back on me too!” Othella shouted. She grabbed Maureen and snatched her around. Maureen’s eyes got big and she held her breath.
“Lady, what’s the matter? Why you want me and my kids to live with you? I heard you was crazy, but I didn’t know you was this crazy.” Maureen moved away. Roscoe was looking out the window. Catty covered her mouth with her hand. Maureen looked from Othella toward Ruby’s house, unable to speak. Othella raised the blade high above her head and caught Maureen in the back when she tried to run.
70
Within minutes at least a dozen people from the camps and scattered houses had run to Roscoe’s front yard, where Maureen lay bleeding.
“Aaaarrrggghhh!” Catty cried and fell to the ground.
“Yall give Mo’reen some air!” Boatwright shouted, pushing Bobby, Bishop, and Irene back out of the way.
“Somebody get Mama Ruby!” Roscoe ordered.
Othella, hiding behind Loomis’ house, laughed as she watched the commotion she had started.
Yellow Jack was the only calm one in the crowd. He lifted Maureen and placed her gently on the backseat of his car. Then he took her home, his two tires still flat. The car could only move a few miles an hour, so the excited crowd reached Ruby’s house before Yellow Jack’s car.
