by Mary Monroe
I nodded. “And I will talk to your mother for you as soon as I get her alone. And don’t worry, she’ll listen to me. She always has.”
CHAPTER 12
After Jade left the room, Rhoda wandered in, looking like she had just stepped off the cover of Essence magazine. She wore a bright red sleeveless blouse and black jeans, and a pair of shiny, see-through sandals. Her hair and makeup were flawless.
“Are you all right?” she asked, winding her watch, tossing her hair back.
“I’m fine. Uh, let me say this before I lose my nerve,” I said, my words almost running together.
Rhoda stopped winding her watch and stood by the side of the bed looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face. “Say it, then.” She shrugged.
“Jade doesn’t want to go off to college until next year.”
“Is that all?” Rhoda said, looking relieved.
“She said that she wants to work for me a little while longer,” I said. “But I think the real reason is that she’s not ready to leave home yet.” I threw that part in on my own because I didn’t want Rhoda to think that I was the only reason that her daughter didn’t want to leave home.
Rhoda looked even more relieved. “Well, she can stay home with me for the rest of her life if she wants to. If I had my way, both my kids would live with me until I died.” Rhoda gave me a wistful look. “I would give anything in this world for my son to move up here. I tell him all the time that his…boyfriend is just as welcome in my home as he is.”
“So, will you talk it over with Otis?”
Rhoda waved her hand. “He doesn’t want her to go away to school, or any other place, period. It’s the grandmothers and the rest of the family, on both sides, that want her to continue her education.”
“Well,” I chuckled, “this was easier than I thought it would be.”
Rhoda decided to treat Jade and me to brunch at the mall, but I promptly declined the invitation. After the pile of food that Jade had placed in front of me, going to brunch was the last thing on my mind.
With Otis and Bully in the house with me, I chose to stay in the guestroom until I felt ready to go home. Two more hours lying in somebody else’s bed was about all I could stand. I crawled out of the bed in Rhoda’s guestroom, and slid back into my muumuu and my flip-flops.
I joined Otis and Bully in the living room. I forced myself to smile when Bully commented on how melancholy I looked. After a few awkward comments, most of them made by Bully and Otis, I watched a few minutes of the ball game that had them jumping up and down in front of the TV whooping and hollering like hyenas. Sports didn’t interest me and being alone with other women’s men made me nervous. As soon as a commercial came on I excused myself and eased out the kitchen door.
By the time I made it back to my house, it was so hot and muggy the idea of standing over a barbecue was the last thing in the world that I wanted to do. But it was too late. I had already opened my big mouth and invited Rhoda and her family to the house that evening.
The only good thing about the invitation was the fact that Rhoda’s houseguest had declined. “But I will take a rain check!” Bully had yelled before I left Rhoda’s house, with a leer on his face that I hadn’t seen since Mr. Boatwright. As if I didn’t have enough problems already, I didn’t want to have to deal with unwanted attention from Rhoda’s ex-lover, especially right in front of her face. Rhoda was very territorial. All I needed was for there to be some friction between her and me over a man! She had told me, with a severe scowl on her face, that Bully’s wife had called him up from London earlier that morning. Apparently, the wife had left the man that she had run off with in a flophouse in Paris, and then returned home, eager to resume her relationship with her husband. Rather than go running back to the wife, Bully was going to spend a few more weeks with Rhoda and Otis, after Rhoda had insisted. However, Rhoda had suggested that Bully at least be available to talk to the woman when she called again. Which meant he had to stay at her house to answer the telephone today.
The more personal information that Rhoda kept from me, the more I wondered just what was going on between her and Bully. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that Rhoda was glad to be involved in my latest dilemma so she would have a good reason not to discuss Bully’s presence with me. As far as I was concerned, Rhoda could have been fucking the pope for all I cared. I had my own problems to deal with, and I would have done myself more harm than good by pissing her off when I needed her as much as I did now. Until I figured out what was going on and why, I needed to keep Rhoda on my side.
Pee Wee and Charlotte drove up in his Jeep about an hour after I got home. I waited until he did all of his complaining about his relatives in Pennsylvania before I told him about the cookout we were hosting.
“Goddammit, woman. I’m tired and I sure don’t feel like entertainin’ nobody. You should have checked with me first before you planned this shindig,” Pee Wee scolded, standing in our living room doorway with the screen door cracked open, fanning his face with an old issue of Black Enterprises. He had on some baggy black shorts and a light blue T-shirt. For a man with such a nice build, he had some of the scrawniest legs I’d ever seen. I enjoyed looking at him when he was naked because there were other things on his body that took my attention away from his knobby legs. I couldn’t deal with him in shorts, and I usually told him so. But today I decided to keep my criticisms to myself. Hearing about the cookout had upset him enough.
“It’s just going to be us and Rhoda’s bunch,” I wailed. I was on the sofa. Charlotte sat on the floor in front of me, clamped between my thighs as I braided her long, thick black hair. My daughter was so tender-headed she had to be restrained when it came time to get her hair combed and braided. The more she whimpered and fidgeted around, the tighter I clamped my knees. “Girl, if you’ll sit still, I’ll be done with you in a few more minutes.” I gave her a gentle slap on the side of her head.
“I wanted a ponytail,” she pouted. “Jade gave me all those ribbons and things, and I can’t wear them with no braids!”
I ignored Charlotte and gave Pee Wee one of my most pleading looks. “They are just going to be here for a couple of hours. And it’s too late for me to cancel.”
“Shoot! I’ll cook up somethin’ in the oven, but I ain’t standin’ out there in all that hot sun no more today,” Pee Wee told me. “I did enough of that over in Erie. I want to get some rest now.”
I finished Charlotte’s last braid and tapped the side of her head, indicating that I was done. She leaped up and like a bullet she shot across the floor toward the kitchen. I waited until I heard the back door slam.
“What happened while I was gone?” Pee Wee asked, joining me on the sofa.
He never stayed mad at me for long, especially when he was feeling frisky. He draped one arm around my shoulder while his hand slid up under my dress. After all these years, his touch still made my flesh tingle and my panties wet. I pushed his hand away. He leaned back and gave me an incredulous look. Pee Wee cupped his mouth with his hand to see if his breath was bad, which it wasn’t.
“All right,” he said, “tell me what’s wrong. You ain’t never done that before. As a matter of fact, every time I go off for a few days and come back, you be all over me in no time.” He reared back and studied my face. He gave me a quick peck on my neck before he spoke again. “Remember what I told you I wanted to do to you when I called yesterday?” he whispered, nibbling on my ear. I had completely forgotten about the phone sex that we had enjoyed the day before.
I didn’t like to brag, but I had a man that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Not only was he tall, well built, and fine, he was a great lover, even on the telephone. My only fear was that one day he would take a real good look at me, and see me the way so many other people saw me: fat, Black, and plain. I knew I spent way too much time entertaining negative thoughts about the way I looked, but that was one thing I couldn’t control. My confidence level had improved over the years and he had neve
r done anything to arouse my suspicions, but that still didn’t stop me from thinking that my life would fall apart sooner or later.
Pee Wee had had a lot of women before he decided he was ready to marry. All of the women before me had been a lot more attractive, so I have always felt that I was on thin ice as far as being able to hold on to my man. Even though he had made it clear that the way I looked didn’t bother him, I felt very threatened when I thought about some of his former lovers. One woman in particular stood out in my mind like a knife: Betty Jean Spool. She’d been two years behind us in school, but that had not stopped her from fucking her way through half of the boys in our senior class. She was as fast as she was pretty, and age had not slowed her down or diminished her beauty. She was a cross between a man-eating shark and a snake in the grass. No man was safe around a woman like Betty Jean.
I couldn’t count the number of stories that I’d heard about Betty Jean chasing some other woman’s man—and catching him. I had some serious concerns now because I’d heard that she’d recently broken up with her husband and was on the prowl again. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering just how far she would go to get a man. Especially my man.
With Richland being such a one-horse town, we didn’t have that many bars. The Red Rose was the most popular bar and the one closest to my house. It was also the one that catered to a mostly Black crowd.
I spent a few nights a month drinking at the Red Rose with either Rhoda or Pee Wee. I didn’t care too much for the place, though, because it brought back some painful memories. Mr. Boatwright used to visit that bar on a regular basis. I couldn’t go there without thinking about him sitting at his favorite table, the one closest to the men’s room, with his peg leg propped up on a chair. Another major reason why I didn’t like the Red Rose that much was because Betty Jean Spool tended bar there three days a week, sometimes working a double shift, prancing around until closing time. When Rhoda wanted to go out for a drink, I always insisted that we go on one of the days or nights that Betty Jean had off. I had a hard time dealing with memories of Mr. Boatwright and her on the same night.
It was a different story with Pee Wee. He usually wanted to go on the nights that Betty Jean worked because that was when most of his buddies went. It surprised me to know that he didn’t see how uncomfortable that woman made me. She flirted with him right in front of me! But then again, she flirted with all of the men, so when I complained to Pee Wee, he brought that up.
“That’s just the way that woman is. She just do all that sashayin’ and grinnin’ so she can get bigger tips,” Pee Wee insisted.
I didn’t make too much of a deal out of it, because I didn’t want my husband to know just how insecure I really was.
I was happy that Pee Wee had returned from visiting his daddy’s grave in Pennsylvania. I was not happy that he had gone to the Red Rose for a drink right after I’d told him about the cookout I had planned for the evening. I was glad that I had invited company now. I knew that Pee Wee would want to climb on top of me when he returned from the bar, and with company at the house he would have to wait until we were alone.
“Well?”
He had just returned from the Red Rose, grabbing my tit-tie as soon as he closed the front door.
“Well, what?” I pushed him to the side and turned away from him, dusting off my coffee table with the tail of my muumuu. I had put on a fresh muumuu, but I still had on the same flip-flops that I had worn to Rhoda’s house the night before. I had washed my hair as soon as I got home, and pinned it on top of my head. It hid whatever bald spots I had. A wide black headband covered my expanding hairline.
“I asked you what happened while I was in Erie?”
“Nothing happened while you were in Erie,” I said quickly. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, pinching his palm. “Uh, our company is going to be here in a couple of hours. If you’re going to fix up some ribs in the oven, you better get started.”
Rhoda, Jade, and Otis arrived two hours later. By that time I had showered and slipped into an even fresher muumuu, one with a more festive design, and the suede sandals that Jade had given to me for my birthday.
I was pleased that Pee Wee had fired up the grill in the backyard and cooked a couple of slabs of ribs. Not only that, while I was upstairs worrying myself to death over what had happened to me while he was gone, he had also prepared some baked beans, rolls, and coleslaw.
It felt so good to be among some of the people I loved. I hadn’t invited my parents or any of our other friends to join us. There hadn’t been enough time, for one thing, and with the way I was feeling, I was not in the mood to entertain too many people.
While Pee Wee and Otis tossed a dusty football back and forth in our spacious backyard, Rhoda, Jade, Charlotte, and I occupied the wooden picnic bench that Otis and Pee Wee had slapped together one afternoon a few years ago. I say “slapped together” because they had been drunk when they made it and it was so wobbly it rocked from side to side every time we sat down or got up from it.
Jade and Charlotte, each dressed in a bright yellow halter top and short shorts, skipped into the house to get more napkins and plates. As soon as the door slammed, Rhoda leaned across the table. “Did you tell Pee Wee about that shit and that telephone call you received?”
I shook my head. “No. Not yet. You know, I’ve been thinking about that. I really don’t know if I will. I’ll wait and see if that bitch calls again, or sends me anything else in the mail,” I muttered.
“Yeah. Maybe you’re right. I guess I wouldn’t tell my man either, unless it really got out of hand.”
Charlotte bolted from the door and kept running until she reached the barbecue pit. Like me, she loved her some ribs. But it showed on me and since it didn’t show on her, I allowed her to eat what she wanted, as long as she didn’t overdo it. I did enough of that for my whole family.
“Rhoda, if something happens to me or Pee Wee, will you promise me you’ll take care of Charlotte?” I wasn’t sure what prompted me to say that.
“Sure. I’d love to raise another child. But what about your mama and your sister in Miami?” Rhoda asked with an anxious look on her face.
“Muh’Dear is too old. So is Daddy. And Lillimae, well, I think she’s enjoying her solitude too much to try to raise another child. She kicked her own kids out of the house as soon as they turned eighteen.” I paused and let out a quick laugh, but Rhoda remained dead serious.
“What brought that on? You’re not sick or anything, are you?”
“Not that I know of. But you know, anything can happen to any one of us.”
Rhoda gave me a sad look. “Tell me about it. Every day I wake up, able to move on my own, I wonder how long it’ll be before the damage that stroke did to my body gets the best of me.” Rhoda smiled. “I’ll make a deal with you. If somethin’ happens to you, I’ll take Charlotte into my home. If somethin’ happens to me, you take Jade into your home.”
I gasped. “I’d be glad to take Jade into my home,” I promised. But something in the back of my mind made me wish I had never started this conversation.
CHAPTER 13
I was feeling real good now. I had almost forgotten about the note and the blacksnake that I had received, and the mean telephone call. No matter how negative all that was, the list of positive things in my life was a lot longer.
I had even gotten over the fact that Pee Wee had gone to the Red Rose before the cookout to have a drink. Even though it was one of the nights that Betty Jean tended the bar.
While Rhoda and I were in the kitchen, gathering napkins and paper plates, Pee Wee staggered in. Dust and dried leaves decorated his face, arms, and hair. He looked like a scarecrow. Between sips from a bottle of beer, Pee Wee told Rhoda that she was glowing like a woman in love.
“Oh, I am. I am a woman in love,” she swooned, giving Pee Wee and me a mysterious look. Otis walked into the kitchen just in time to hear Rhoda’s response to Pee Wee’s comment.
“Of course she loves me.
How can she not?” Otis slurred, giving Rhoda a sloppy kiss. They acted lovey-dovey until we left the kitchen and returned to the yard.
Just as I was about to pop open another beer, I heard the telephone ring in the kitchen. Jade was in the kitchen so I didn’t make a move to go answer it. She stuck her head out the kitchen window and told me that I had an urgent phone call. There was a frantic look on her face.
Urgent or not urgent, I took my time walking to the kitchen. The last time I had tried to run after drinking a few beers, I ended up flat on my face on the ground with a bloody nose, and scrapes and bruises from my chin to my forehead. As soon as I entered the kitchen, Jade held up her hand, motioning me to stop.
“What did you say? Fuck you, you bitch! That’s my auntie you’re talking about!” Jade screamed into the telephone receiver. My mouth dropped open and I started moving toward Jade, reaching for the telephone. But before I could reach Jade, she slammed the telephone back into the cradle.
“Who in the hell was that you were cussing at, girl?” I shouted, gripping Jade by her trembling arm.
“Auntie, it was that bitch,” Jade sobbed. She rotated her neck and took a deep breath. “Oh, this is real messed up! That…That lady was so mean to me and she doesn’t even know me! I don’t know why she cussed at me. All I did was answer the telephone and I was real nice to her!” Jade fell into my arms, howling like a panda.
“What? Who?” I asked, a hot flash assaulting my face like a flame.
“The bitch who sent you that shit. The same bitch that called you up last night.” Jade let out such a strong, deep breath that I felt a breeze on my face. “I told her that if I ever find out who she is, I will beat the shit out of her with my own hands!” Jade flung her arms around me and cried on my shoulder.
