something.
“You saw us didn’t you? Ethel, promise me you won’t tell.” She had tears in them big eyes, looking as scared as a hare caught in a snare. “Please, Daddy would kill me. You don’t have any idea.”
“Miz Ginny, I got mo’ idea of it than you know. But yo’ daddy won’ kill you, he’ll kill Cy, and skin ‘im ‘fore he do. I can promise you that.”
“I love him and he loves me.”
I shook my head, just lettin’ it hang there, rockin’ back and forth; thinkin’ about what kind of mess I done got myself in. And that slip of a white girl sittin’ next to me with no more sense ‘bout the world than that bed she was sittin’ on.
“Lord have mercy,” I said. “You ain’t got no more idea what love is than my left shoe.” I looked down and seen I was barefooted. She did too and we both sorta laughed. “Lord, Miz Ginny, if you loves that boy you best be leavin’ him alone. I’m tellin’ you dey still string colored men up around here for touchin’ white women. You ain’t doin’ him no favors lovin’ him, if that’s what you wanna call it.” Miz Ginny was cryin’. Her shoulders shook as she sat on that bed lookin’ like I done kicked her good.
“But Cy looks as white as I do.”
“Yes’m, he might do, but he ain’t, and ev’rybody ‘round these parts know it. He gon’ be lyin’ in his grave wit’ you to thank in no time if’n you keep up like you was today. Ya’ll lucky it was me that come lookin’ this mornin’. Anybody else and they woulda called out the dogs.”
The last ice in her seemed to melt away and she near collapsed. She throwed herself at me and wrapped her long arms round my shoulders. She started up bawlin’ like I never heard. “What am I going to do, Ethel? We weren’t hurting anybody. He loves me, too. I just know he does.”
I sat there with that girl draped over me thinkin’ to myself,
That damn fool Cy oughta know better
. Cy was Mama’s sister’s boy, and after she passed, Mama took him in. Cy and I was the same age; he had been living with us since as long back as I could remember. Mama told him, more times than I can count, he best be keeping his hands to hisself with allhis girl cousins round, and don’t be trying to charm her or no body else with them spirituals he was always singing.
One day Mama sat us all down—Cy, too—and told us how you get babies. Cy started up singing and she cut him a hard look. “I can’t help it. De jest bubble up,” he said, with that quick smile of his that would melt butter on a cold day. Then she say she better not be gettin’ no baby surprises from the likes of us. She was lookin’ Cy square in the face when she said it, too. Weren’t too many peoples that wanted that look more than about once.
“Miz Ginny, it ain’t none of my bid’ness what you and Cy be up ta. But I loves him like a brother my ownself and I gots ta know if’n ya been at more than jest kissin’.”
She looked like I done throwed hot milk at her. “Kissing, that’s all. Ethel, what kind of girl do you think I am?” She sat up straight and started takin’ on some of her high and mightiness again.
Well, Miz Ginny
, I thought, but didn’t have the courage to say,
that’s ‘xactly what I’m tryin’ to figure out
.
“Ethel,” she said, like she had just snapped out of a trance, “You didn’t get Mother out of the way so that you could talk with me about Cy. What’s going on?”
Chapter 4
Sallee
S ometimes Ethel would take us children with her on her errands. Those trips occurred when my mother had made plans to be out and there was no one to leave us with; or she was feeling blue and didn’t want us around. So Ethel would suggest that she had an errand to do, and couldn’t we come with her? We’d always take the bus since Ethel couldn’t drive. Few adventures were more alluring than riding the bus to Ethel’s appointments.
One Friday afternoon a few days before school started, Ethel was scheduled
“You saw us didn’t you? Ethel, promise me you won’t tell.” She had tears in them big eyes, looking as scared as a hare caught in a snare. “Please, Daddy would kill me. You don’t have any idea.”
“Miz Ginny, I got mo’ idea of it than you know. But yo’ daddy won’ kill you, he’ll kill Cy, and skin ‘im ‘fore he do. I can promise you that.”
“I love him and he loves me.”
I shook my head, just lettin’ it hang there, rockin’ back and forth; thinkin’ about what kind of mess I done got myself in. And that slip of a white girl sittin’ next to me with no more sense ‘bout the world than that bed she was sittin’ on.
“Lord have mercy,” I said. “You ain’t got no more idea what love is than my left shoe.” I looked down and seen I was barefooted. She did too and we both sorta laughed. “Lord, Miz Ginny, if you loves that boy you best be leavin’ him alone. I’m tellin’ you dey still string colored men up around here for touchin’ white women. You ain’t doin’ him no favors lovin’ him, if that’s what you wanna call it.” Miz Ginny was cryin’. Her shoulders shook as she sat on that bed lookin’ like I done kicked her good.
“But Cy looks as white as I do.”
“Yes’m, he might do, but he ain’t, and ev’rybody ‘round these parts know it. He gon’ be lyin’ in his grave wit’ you to thank in no time if’n you keep up like you was today. Ya’ll lucky it was me that come lookin’ this mornin’. Anybody else and they woulda called out the dogs.”
The last ice in her seemed to melt away and she near collapsed. She throwed herself at me and wrapped her long arms round my shoulders. She started up bawlin’ like I never heard. “What am I going to do, Ethel? We weren’t hurting anybody. He loves me, too. I just know he does.”
I sat there with that girl draped over me thinkin’ to myself,
That damn fool Cy oughta know better
. Cy was Mama’s sister’s boy, and after she passed, Mama took him in. Cy and I was the same age; he had been living with us since as long back as I could remember. Mama told him, more times than I can count, he best be keeping his hands to hisself with allhis girl cousins round, and don’t be trying to charm her or no body else with them spirituals he was always singing.
One day Mama sat us all down—Cy, too—and told us how you get babies. Cy started up singing and she cut him a hard look. “I can’t help it. De jest bubble up,” he said, with that quick smile of his that would melt butter on a cold day. Then she say she better not be gettin’ no baby surprises from the likes of us. She was lookin’ Cy square in the face when she said it, too. Weren’t too many peoples that wanted that look more than about once.
“Miz Ginny, it ain’t none of my bid’ness what you and Cy be up ta. But I loves him like a brother my ownself and I gots ta know if’n ya been at more than jest kissin’.”
She looked like I done throwed hot milk at her. “Kissing, that’s all. Ethel, what kind of girl do you think I am?” She sat up straight and started takin’ on some of her high and mightiness again.
Well, Miz Ginny
, I thought, but didn’t have the courage to say,
that’s ‘xactly what I’m tryin’ to figure out
.
“Ethel,” she said, like she had just snapped out of a trance, “You didn’t get Mother out of the way so that you could talk with me about Cy. What’s going on?”
Chapter 4
Sallee
S ometimes Ethel would take us children with her on her errands. Those trips occurred when my mother had made plans to be out and there was no one to leave us with; or she was feeling blue and didn’t want us around. So Ethel would suggest that she had an errand to do, and couldn’t we come with her? We’d always take the bus since Ethel couldn’t drive. Few adventures were more alluring than riding the bus to Ethel’s appointments.
One Friday afternoon a few days before school started, Ethel was scheduled
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