get puzzled in her face.
“You don’t never call her or go see her,” I say.
“She don’t got no phone,” Biddy say.
“Is it ’cause she was mean to you?”
Biddy sigh. “I thought that’s just how it was. Didn’t know much different. I know teachers was nice. But Granny said they was paid to be nice.”
“So why don’t you never go see her?”
Biddy studied me. It was like she couldn’t figure out why I didn’t understand something so easy.
“Because I live here now,” she said.
After Quincy go to her room, I thought of something. Her light showed under her door, so I knocked.
“Quincy, you still awake?”
“Cain’t sleep with somebody peckin’ on my door. What you need?”
I opened the door and Quincy was sitting in bed looking at her cookbook.
“What about all your foster folks?”
“What about ’em?”
“Do you call them? Why don’t you ever go see ’em?”
I close my book. “Biddy, some of them fosters was ’bout like your granny. They give me a room and some food ’cause they got a check from the state. And treated me worse than a dog. One family sent me back ’cause they said it wasn’t worth the money to have to look at me crosst the supper table.”
I didn’t know what to do. I stared down at my toes.
“When I got put with Mr. and Mrs. Hallis, I thought I had done gone to heaven. But I’d only been there a little bit past a year when they had to leave. Good don’t happen much and it don’t stay stuck. My last foster folk was nice. They was good to me. But I knew I didn’t have but a year left with them either.”
“OK,” I said. “But why do you think I should want to go see Granny?”
Quincy picked up her book and opened it. “I never lived in one place with one person, like you. I thought it might be different. That’s all. Guess it ain’t.”
I went to my room. I patted my princess table. Smoothed my bedcovers.
How come Quincy can’t see that now is different?
That before we didn’t belong nowhere.
And now we belong here.
I got up one Satiddy morning and seen me a sight. Biddy in the middle of that tiny piece of a living room waving her arms around like she some windup toy.
“Girl, this a new way of cleaning cobwebs?”
Biddy put on her sassy face and voice and say, “Lot you know. I’m doing tie chee.” She flop her arms around more and look over her shoulder. “This is called Looking Back at the Moon.”
I look over my shoulder. “You see a moon in here?”
Biddy make like she holding a big ball ’gainst her stomach. “Now I’m rolling the chee.” She grinned at me real big. “At first I thought Miss Lizzy was talking about cheese, but it’s just one chee.”
I went to the kitchen.
“Girl, I think you done got the duck rabies for sure. I cain’t tell if you’re washin’ ’em up or hangin’ ’em out.”
Biddy stop flopping and whirling and put one hand on her hip.
“This here is tie chee. It’s Miss Lizzy’s exercise for her dizzy ear. I watch her do it and she tell me about it. It’s fun. I couldn’t remember none of it until she tell me the name is kind of like what you do. Look, see, this is Monkey Holding Up the World.”
Biddy push her arms up like she holding something heavy.
I shake my head. “This be Quincy Leaving the Loony Bin.” I head for Lizabeth’s.
When I walk into the kitchen, I found Lizabeth in a heap by the refrigerator. She was crying and pounding the floor with her fist.
“Lord, what happen? You hurt?”
“Just help me get up.”
Lizabeth was crying, but crying mad, so I easied down some. I got holt of her under her arms, and she slid one arm over my shoulders.
“I know you don’t like to be touched, Quincy, but . . .”
I didn’t say nothing, I just got her over to the kitchen chair. Her walker was setting right there.
Lizabeth pull a handkerchief out her pocket. Wouldn’t you know she wouldn’t use no tissue? She dry her eyes and wipe her nose and then sigh real big.
“You don’t never call her or go see her,” I say.
“She don’t got no phone,” Biddy say.
“Is it ’cause she was mean to you?”
Biddy sigh. “I thought that’s just how it was. Didn’t know much different. I know teachers was nice. But Granny said they was paid to be nice.”
“So why don’t you never go see her?”
Biddy studied me. It was like she couldn’t figure out why I didn’t understand something so easy.
“Because I live here now,” she said.
After Quincy go to her room, I thought of something. Her light showed under her door, so I knocked.
“Quincy, you still awake?”
“Cain’t sleep with somebody peckin’ on my door. What you need?”
I opened the door and Quincy was sitting in bed looking at her cookbook.
“What about all your foster folks?”
“What about ’em?”
“Do you call them? Why don’t you ever go see ’em?”
I close my book. “Biddy, some of them fosters was ’bout like your granny. They give me a room and some food ’cause they got a check from the state. And treated me worse than a dog. One family sent me back ’cause they said it wasn’t worth the money to have to look at me crosst the supper table.”
I didn’t know what to do. I stared down at my toes.
“When I got put with Mr. and Mrs. Hallis, I thought I had done gone to heaven. But I’d only been there a little bit past a year when they had to leave. Good don’t happen much and it don’t stay stuck. My last foster folk was nice. They was good to me. But I knew I didn’t have but a year left with them either.”
“OK,” I said. “But why do you think I should want to go see Granny?”
Quincy picked up her book and opened it. “I never lived in one place with one person, like you. I thought it might be different. That’s all. Guess it ain’t.”
I went to my room. I patted my princess table. Smoothed my bedcovers.
How come Quincy can’t see that now is different?
That before we didn’t belong nowhere.
And now we belong here.
I got up one Satiddy morning and seen me a sight. Biddy in the middle of that tiny piece of a living room waving her arms around like she some windup toy.
“Girl, this a new way of cleaning cobwebs?”
Biddy put on her sassy face and voice and say, “Lot you know. I’m doing tie chee.” She flop her arms around more and look over her shoulder. “This is called Looking Back at the Moon.”
I look over my shoulder. “You see a moon in here?”
Biddy make like she holding a big ball ’gainst her stomach. “Now I’m rolling the chee.” She grinned at me real big. “At first I thought Miss Lizzy was talking about cheese, but it’s just one chee.”
I went to the kitchen.
“Girl, I think you done got the duck rabies for sure. I cain’t tell if you’re washin’ ’em up or hangin’ ’em out.”
Biddy stop flopping and whirling and put one hand on her hip.
“This here is tie chee. It’s Miss Lizzy’s exercise for her dizzy ear. I watch her do it and she tell me about it. It’s fun. I couldn’t remember none of it until she tell me the name is kind of like what you do. Look, see, this is Monkey Holding Up the World.”
Biddy push her arms up like she holding something heavy.
I shake my head. “This be Quincy Leaving the Loony Bin.” I head for Lizabeth’s.
When I walk into the kitchen, I found Lizabeth in a heap by the refrigerator. She was crying and pounding the floor with her fist.
“Lord, what happen? You hurt?”
“Just help me get up.”
Lizabeth was crying, but crying mad, so I easied down some. I got holt of her under her arms, and she slid one arm over my shoulders.
“I know you don’t like to be touched, Quincy, but . . .”
I didn’t say nothing, I just got her over to the kitchen chair. Her walker was setting right there.
Lizabeth pull a handkerchief out her pocket. Wouldn’t you know she wouldn’t use no tissue? She dry her eyes and wipe her nose and then sigh real big.
Similar Books
