"I look like my grandmother." Benjamin stated firmly, yet sat in contemplation.
"Ben man, come on. Just tell mom you already know. That you've had it thrown in your face, from the first day of school! That, most all of your fights were because everyone was calling her, the McPherson's whore!"
"Do me a favor, Kevin."
Kevin already knew what the favor was, and so said it himself, "Shut the fuck up?"
"Yes." Benjamin took a very dangerous chance and turned the car around in the road, quick as possible. Knowing, if anyone came flying down the road right now from around a blind curve, they could be killed. Luck was on their side, he turned without mishap, and they went home.
Chapter 151
"Girl you need just let me go'on and give you a relaxer!" Sheila fussed.
"No Sheila! I'm keeping my nappy hair! Just press it, for now."
"Chile, let's hope there be some hair left, when I'm done."
"Sheila! Don't burn my hair out!"
"Look, you just sit yo' ass still! Fool around and get burned, all this goddamn hair! This shit been growing in here for years! Thought you said this shit wouldn't grow?"
"I been braiding it every night, now. Notice how bigger my afro is, from how I use to wear it?" Vivian asked, smiling.
"Cause it's growing like crazy! Vivian, your hair beautiful girl, you need to let them put a relax on here. Jake ass would do a backward flip, then."
"I'm not getting rid of my afro, I just want it out of the way for the weekend."
"The minute yo' ass get caught in the rain, there go all my hard work! Hold still!" Sheila fussed, holding another small section of the coarse, dark hair.
"I am, don't burn me!"
"Girl, look how long your hair is! Shit, it's on your shoulders, healthy as hell!"
"'Cause I ain't puttin' all that shit on it!"
"You talkin' 'bout me? Is you, heifa? And I got a hot comb in my hand, with your hair right here, don't talk no shit!"
"Just hurry up, for you make me miss my train; we still got to go to the bank and then get downtown! I wanna be able to pay them back, when I get there."
"Hey, what happened to that money you owed Jake, or he owed you?"
"He should've gotten it, by now."
"He ain't said nothing about it?"
"Nope, not yet."
"Hmmm, anyway - so, what is you gone be doing there with mama Gert and papa Bart!"
"Just... chill, maybe. I don't know, I just need to get away from the rat race."
"Yeah, and off to Peckerwood County, USA - wall to wall rednecks!" Sheila laughed behind her.
"Sheila! Don't burn me actin' crazy, back there laughing!"
"Chile, you know you after that goddamn white man, with a vengeance! And ain't gone know what the hell to do with him when you get him, that is, if you get 'em!"
"Time will tell. How much more you got to go?"
"Don't get impatient! You ask me to do this shit! I'm trying to hard-press it, so this shit stay straight! Girl, it look like silk! You best keep yo' ass out'a moist climates, cause it's gone suck every bit of moisture out the air and into your hair, you be back in a afro by this weekend. That's why you need to get it relaxed. Don't nobody press no mo', or get some braids."
"I'on want no braids, and I don't want no relaxer!"
"I bet if Jake like it like this, yo' ass be quick to get it relaxed."
"Mr. McPherson gonna have to take me as I am, or not at all."
"I heard that. But, you know he ain't use to running his fingers through nothing but some super-silky."
"Sheila, right now, that's the last thing on my mind. I need to make that train, now get going. Make sure you and Dennis go over and check on the house a few times a day, while I'm gone."
"For what? He changed the locks, ain't nobody going in there."
"Sheila! Sheila... why can't you just say, "yeah, no problem", sometimes? You always gotta argue with somebody!"
Sheila was laughing again, "'Cause, I like to arg'ah! I love to rub niggas the wrong way. Life ain't no challenge, if don't nobody challenge you every now and then, that's my job, and by the sound of it, I do it well!"
"Em-hm." Vivian sighed, with her head down, growing drowsy while Sheila parted her hair, oiled her scalp and dabbed a bit on her hair before running the hot comb through a thinly parted section. She was nodding off because, even after talking to Bart last night, she worried over her decision to go there. She sure hoped that Jake wouldn't be put off by her showing up there. She hoped that she could avoid him, but how would that work, when she would be at his very own parent's house!
The phone rang.
"Hang on, girl."
Vivian nodded, with her head hung forward, half of her hair straight as can be and glistening, the other half standing out the side from Sheila drying it after she washed and conditioned it.
"Hello?" She answered, and then, "Hey, mama Gert!"
Vivian perked up and smiled, spinning in the kitchen chair to look back at Sheila on the phone.
"Yeah, your girl here! I'm doing her hair now, she getting herself ready to go, I'm gone take her to the train station."
Sheila was smiling and then laughed, "Okay, here she is." Sheila walked to Vivian, "Guess who?" She smiled saying it, she was truly happy for Vivian. While Jake may be a hard nut to crack, his family was all over her.
"Hi." Vivian started right away.
"How you feeling this morning, sweetie? Bart said you were really upset last night. I would have called you back then, but we didn't get back home until late."
"I'm okay. Just tired-..." She stopped to yawn, "Oooh, excuse me."
"Don't you worry at all. You get here, we gonna take good care of you. You can rest all you need to! I am so excited! Wait 'til Jake finds out you're here."
"I know, that's what I'm worried about. I don't want him to feel that I'm stalking him or something."
"Look, you're coming to my home! My husband's home! Jake don't like it, he can take a hike! Although, if you ask me, I'm thinking he's going to be over the moon that you're here."
"You think so?"
"I know my boy. My prediction is, once he gets wind of you here, we won't be able to get rid of 'em! Watch and see what I say. We may end up having to chaperone you, otherwise he'ah be all over you! After the wedding, that's fine-..."
"Mama Gert! You gettin' ahead of - OUCH! You burned me! Heifa!"
Sheila laughed, "Ooops, hold your butt still, talkin' on the phone."
"What happened?" Gert asked.
"Sheila burned me! She pressin' my hair and hit my neck with that hot comb!"
"What you doing that for? Straightening your hair! I like the afro! That's your crown of glory, darlin', don't get rid of that!"
Vivian smiled, even though her neck was on fire, with Sheila blowing on it.
"It's just temporary, for the week and weekend. Look, mama Gert, I better get off of here so she can finish. I don't wanna miss my train."
"That's right, girl! Make that train! We'll be there at the station to get you."
"Okay, see you tonight."
"See you, bye!" Gert hung up.
"Sheila, now you gone have me walking around wit a pink mark on my neck! You know doggone well when you black like me, you don't need no pink marks!"
"It ain't that bad!" Sheila lied. "Want me to put some ice on it?"
"No, I want you to get done so I can get going."
Sheila did just that. When she finished pressing it and it was all straight, her hair was incredibly glossy, full and thick, very becoming while laying on her shoulders. They deliberated on how to style it. Sheila wanted to put a bunch of Shirley Temple curls in it, but there was no way that Vivian was going to sit through that. Instead, she combed it all back smooth, and put in a very elegant looking bun in the back. She'd always liked the Audrey Hepburn look. With her long, graceful, thin neck, classic features, the hairstyle made her look even more upper class. Even Sheila had to agree, she looked
all the part of Vogue. Vivian dressed in a very expensive tangerine-colored ensemble, with a multi-color blouse, white background with paint strokes of lime green, tangerine, mango, yellow and pink. Wearing solid tangerine Capri pants and matching tangerine sandals. Draped over her shoulders, held buttoned by just the top button, a matching, lightweight, tangerine cardigan.
She did her make-up and was ready, looking like she stepped right out of a fashion magazine.
"Girl, you know you got some clothes. You better have something in that suitcase you can wear out on the farm, Green Acres is the place to be - fa-a-rm living is the life for me, land spreadin' out so far and wide!" Sheila started singing, making Vivian laugh.
"Sheila, you ain't gone never be anything, but crazy! I love you, though - I don't know what I do without you."
Sheila got misty-eyed, "Don't start! Come on now, you miss that train, I ain't gone never hear the end of it!"
She made the train in good time, with moments to spare. They loaded her suitcases for her, dropped one of them a bit, because the man handling it couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Sheila smiled, shaking her head. That was the kind of attention she evoked. It was impossible for man, or woman for that matter, not to look at Vivian twice. Her very dark coloring made them look the first time, and then the fact that she was stunning beyond words, with eyes that grabbed and held you, a body any woman would pay for and dressed as she was, with that smile, had tripped up the natural flow of traffic many times.
Sheila stood on the platform watching her board the train, trying to see where she would be sitting. She waited, feeling as if she were sending her little girl off to summer camp. Yes, Vivian was a grown woman, but Sheila loved her like she was her daughter, even though she wasn't old enough to be her mother, not quite. It was that protective mother hen in her. She talked a lot of mess to those who knew her, but she loved with a power that shook her sometimes. Especially when it came to her Vivian, and then Sylvia. They were the only two solid friends she had.
Ten minutes later, the train was gearing up to pull out of the station, and still Sheila stood waiting to catch a glimpse of her face. As it slowly went, car by car passed her, and then she saw her. Vivian was looking for her too, excitedly waving with a bright, bold smile. She was so happy! Sheila walked along, waving until she ran out of room on the platform; there were other people there, so she had to stop.
She turned away, knowing she would be lonely the few days until the weekend. Sheila didn't know what she would do if Vivian actually succeeded in getting with Jake. Would he expect her to move there, to Wisconsin with him? Or would he be willing to live there, in Chicago? Visualizing the man that he was, somehow, she didn't see him living in Chicago. Sheila shook the thoughts, she needed to get home. She had stuff to do, if they were going there for the weekend. Sylvia wanted them to come down Friday and stay until Monday. That meant, she had to get all of her boys things cleaned and packed. She was considering buying them some new summer outfits. She needed to find a room, because while they loved the idea of staying, Dennis didn't like sleeping at no one's house. He always instructed, get a room, or two. She liked that Super 8 right over from Sylvia's, where they stayed the night of the wedding, she would book them two rooms there. That way, they were right over from the house, and could actually walk there if they wanted to.
Vivian had never been on Amtrak to go anywhere. She'd flown a couple of times with Laek Chan. When he went out of town, on his so-called medical conventions. How he did that and his wife agreed to let him go without her, she didn't know. Once had been in Honolulu, and another had been in Denver, Colorado. They'd had a ball together. He'd spent an obscene amount of money on her. Letting her shop for whatever she wanted. She remembered sitting for a painting of her. An old Chinese man, had painted her within two days. A lovely portrait of her. Laek Chan had taken the portrait. To this day, she hadn't a clue of what he'd done with it. But he claimed it as his own. That was then, this was now.
She was on a train, heading north. With a hope to be with Jake.
Vivian sat watching all of the passing scenery, with him heavy on her mind, what else was new. There was quite the age difference in them, and she wondered was she overshooting herself with expectations for him. He would be forty soon, and more than likely, set in his ways. The difference in them couldn't be more clear. It went a great deal deeper than her being black, and him being white. She, pretty similar to Sylvia and Sheila, liked a certain order in her life. The three of them were like that, reason they got along so well.
She was a scheduler, a planner, someone who laid out a course of action for the days coming. Jake, fly by the pants, whatever he felt at the moment, he went for it, the hell with tomorrow. She knew that and accepted it. She was a loyal and true, one man woman. Jake, was one who's pursuit in life was to do all women. Vivian's eyes closed as she leaned her head back on the seat, thinking herself out of her mind. If she did get him, would he be faithful? Would she be able to trust him to be satisfied with just her? Something told her not to bet on it. She was mad! Must be. She wasn't naive. He was your typical player, however, in blue-jeans. As she rode, the boxcar shook slightly now and then, then going smooth. The sound of it lulling her, so that she was growing drowsy. Her eyes opened again, feeling languid and lethargic. It occurred to her then and there, the key was not to get Jake, but to get what she really wanted, children. Just two. She would be perfectly happy with two. To bring Jake on was asking a lot. Who was she kidding, the two of them, were too crazy-alike, while all the important things about them, were not alike. They were fiery when together, true. There was no doubt about it. Yet, building a marriage on that, might not be wise.
Vivian gave a silly chuckle to herself. "Marriage, girlfriend? To Jake? Don't be crazy. You'd be miserable all the time." She mumbled to herself. She sat quietly staring, eyes falling close, then opening again. She took a deep breath. "Okay, Jake, I guess if you should discover me this weekend, and you are pleased, I'll ask you." Vivian smiled, drunk from exhaustion she'd bet. "Give me two children, and you're free to go on your way. That's all I want. No strings attached." Her smile was rather silly, imagining in a dreamy, drowsy state, his reaction. She yawned. Her mind planning how she would say it, as she dozed off to sleep.
* * *
Jake jerked awake.
Disoriented, he wasn't sure of where he was. A yawn from deep down drug out long, making him shake as looked around the room, trying to figure out where he was. He could hear someone walking above him, low muffled voices now and then. For a moment, he couldn't grasp his location. He yawned again and sat up in bed staring at the door; from there his eyes went to the vanity and remembered. He was in Chicago, in his basement apartment. He reached for his black, cargo pants on the end of the bed, and stood putting them on, leaving the fly open. He rubbed his eyes, they were still burning a bit; he was struggling to wake up. Suddenly he heard a thump, thump, thump on the ceiling in the kitchen. He walked out of his bedroom, down the short hall to the kitchen and went over by the sink, looking up at it as he barely heard someone shout. "YOU DOWN THERE?!"
Jake shook his head, chuckling in disbelief, he looked around the room, found the broom, walked back to the spot and tapped on the ceiling, three times, and then, "I'M DOWN HERE! IT'S ME, JAKE!"
Three thumps again, "JUST CHECKING!"
Jake laughed and looked around his kitchen, thankfully they'd put a wall clock up, it was 3:15. He had time to shower, get dressed, and go by Vivian's. She would be home from work soon. About to step towards the bathroom, three thumps came again. Jake couldn't help it, he laughed out loud again, went back by the sink, "YEAH?!"
"YOU HUNGRY?!"
'Hmmm?' Jake thought about that. It was tempting because he was hungry. Then changed his mind, he didn't want to be late going by Vivian's. If he ate tonight, he wanted it to be with her.
He tapped the ceiling, "NO, MA'AM! I'LL BE EATIN' OUT!!"
Thump, thump, thump, "SUIT YO'SELF!"
Showered,
shaved, and fresh. Jake locked up his apartment and made his way out to the curb, to see blowing under his windshield wiper, a ticket. "Ah, man." He groaned, having forgotten that there was no parking during the week from 7am to 7pm.
"TOLD YA'! You'a learn." Ms. Earthaleen shouted from her window.
Jake stood staring down at the ticket, tempted to toss it in the bin not far from where he stood. Knowing better, he walked to the door of the truck, just in time to get an angry bus driver shouting at him. "MOVE THAT GODDAMN TRUCK!! BLOCKING THE BUS STOP!!"
Jake bit into his lip, opened the truck door and climbed in. Starting it, he sped off into traffic, getting a horn blared at him for cutting someone off. It was a busy time of the day, kids were getting out of school, people were getting off work, and he was driving around like he was from the country. Jake realized, he couldn't drive like it was Sunday here. It was, get the hell out of the way, or park it. One had to have an entirely different mindset for driving, than when in Wisconsin. He'd known that, but so far, he'd only driven there in the middle of the night. Or, on a weekend. If he was going to be making these trips to Chicago, he better leave his Wisconsin driving habits at the last toll gate. From his apartment, it was a thirty minute drive to the area where Vivian lived. He watched all the neighborhoods change, from black to white and back to black neighborhoods, again. He realized the one he was renting in, was a "not so nice" part of town. Dominantly black, with some white's reclaiming certain parts of the area. However, Sylvia and her mother stated that the area was better than it had been a few years ago. He was happy to hear that. The neighborhood that Vivian, Dennis and Sheila lived in, was predominantly black, but a different kind, Jake noted. A big, contrasting difference, from the area he was in. Where they lived, it was mostly blacks earning, no doubt, from $40,000 a year and up. More than what he earned. Jake realized he just barely made over $22,000 a year, working at the lumber yard. He could only imagine what Vivian brought in. In fact, he decided not to think about it. He decided to totally disregard that her choosing to be with him, meant she was willing to lower her standards.
BOMAW 7-9 Page 3
