trembling.
“Don’t worry, baby, I won’t let that happen. Never!” Jimson took her hand in his, and I was touched by the tenderness in his voice and in that gesture.
“Was Treyman Barnes the person who called her this morning?” I asked.
“Ain’t nobody talking to you!” he said, the anger in his voice surprising me.
“I’m talking to you,” I said, getting tough. “Is he the man who called to speak to Thelma Lee this morning?”
“You think Treyman Barnes deserve that baby?” he asked. “I know what Treyman Barnes is. You think he deserve that baby?”
“I have no idea, and it’s not my decision anyway,” I said, striving to sound reasonable. “I just work for the man.”
“Then you working for the Devil!” Jimson Weed said evenly, his eyes not leaving mine.
For a moment, his voice, with its streak of old-time religion, brought back my grandma, but hers was always softened by compassion and love. Surprisingly, though, I was hit by a stab of shame like the kind I used to feel when I was a kid.
Never be about the Devil’s work, my darlin’. Never be about that.
I shoved that memory back where it belonged.
“It’s not my place to judge, Mr. Carter,” I said. Truth was, I’d probably worked for “the Devil” before, usually unaware of his horns and tail until he singed my hair. But this particular devil—if that was what he be—had paid me well for my burned scalp, and I had a growing son to feed.
“Are you trying to tell me that Thelma Lee isn’t here because she met with Treyman Barnes this morning?” I pointedly asked Sweet Thing.
“She ain’t trying to tell you shit!” said Jimson Weed.
“Then where is Thelma Lee with Lilah Love’s baby?” I turned to him now. “I don’t want to get the police involved, but stealing a child is kidnapping. I represent the child’s rightful family, who intend to fight for custody because they believe that Lilah Love is an unfit mother, as you said yourself a few moments ago.
“I was told last night that Thelma Lee would be surrendering the child to me this morning so she can be returned to her grandparents. I’m here to make sure she keeps her word.”
“But we’re rightful family, too!” said Sweet Thing. “That baby is part Lily, so we have a right. Just ’cause they have money don’t give them the right to claim her.”
“I think that may be up to the courts to decide,” I said, wishing like hell I hadn’t been put in this situation. Lilah Love had managed to get me again.
“But Thelma Lee is just a child her own self! She don’t know what she’s doing!” Sweet Thing buried her face in her hands. “We don’t want to get that girl in trouble. She’s just trying to do right by the baby. Trying to keep her away from evil.”
“But evil is always in the eye of the beholder,” I said.
“If you don’t know what evil is, then you evil, too. I know deep in my soul what evil is, deeper than you’ll ever know. I know evil when I see it, and I done cast it out of me!” Jimson Weed said with the conviction of a jackleg preacher in a storefront church.
“I don’t know what evil is, but I do know one thing. I want that baby and I want her today,” I said as patiently as I could. Suddenly, I was sick and tired of these two and this discussion on the nature of evil. “I know the baby was here, and I need to talk to Thelma Lee. If Thelma Lee changed her mind, that’s fine. But if I haven’t heard from her by six p.m. tonight, and Treyman Barnes doesn’t have his grandchild, I am going to report it to the police.”
I knew I was on shaky legal ground. Technically, Thelma Lee could have been accused of kidnapping the moment she snatched the child, and the moment I agreed to try to get the child from her, some wily prosecutor could accuse me of aiding and abetting. But Jimson and Sweet Thing didn’t strike me as legal hounds. The bad thing was, I was beginning to have second thoughts about the ethics of taking
“Don’t worry, baby, I won’t let that happen. Never!” Jimson took her hand in his, and I was touched by the tenderness in his voice and in that gesture.
“Was Treyman Barnes the person who called her this morning?” I asked.
“Ain’t nobody talking to you!” he said, the anger in his voice surprising me.
“I’m talking to you,” I said, getting tough. “Is he the man who called to speak to Thelma Lee this morning?”
“You think Treyman Barnes deserve that baby?” he asked. “I know what Treyman Barnes is. You think he deserve that baby?”
“I have no idea, and it’s not my decision anyway,” I said, striving to sound reasonable. “I just work for the man.”
“Then you working for the Devil!” Jimson Weed said evenly, his eyes not leaving mine.
For a moment, his voice, with its streak of old-time religion, brought back my grandma, but hers was always softened by compassion and love. Surprisingly, though, I was hit by a stab of shame like the kind I used to feel when I was a kid.
Never be about the Devil’s work, my darlin’. Never be about that.
I shoved that memory back where it belonged.
“It’s not my place to judge, Mr. Carter,” I said. Truth was, I’d probably worked for “the Devil” before, usually unaware of his horns and tail until he singed my hair. But this particular devil—if that was what he be—had paid me well for my burned scalp, and I had a growing son to feed.
“Are you trying to tell me that Thelma Lee isn’t here because she met with Treyman Barnes this morning?” I pointedly asked Sweet Thing.
“She ain’t trying to tell you shit!” said Jimson Weed.
“Then where is Thelma Lee with Lilah Love’s baby?” I turned to him now. “I don’t want to get the police involved, but stealing a child is kidnapping. I represent the child’s rightful family, who intend to fight for custody because they believe that Lilah Love is an unfit mother, as you said yourself a few moments ago.
“I was told last night that Thelma Lee would be surrendering the child to me this morning so she can be returned to her grandparents. I’m here to make sure she keeps her word.”
“But we’re rightful family, too!” said Sweet Thing. “That baby is part Lily, so we have a right. Just ’cause they have money don’t give them the right to claim her.”
“I think that may be up to the courts to decide,” I said, wishing like hell I hadn’t been put in this situation. Lilah Love had managed to get me again.
“But Thelma Lee is just a child her own self! She don’t know what she’s doing!” Sweet Thing buried her face in her hands. “We don’t want to get that girl in trouble. She’s just trying to do right by the baby. Trying to keep her away from evil.”
“But evil is always in the eye of the beholder,” I said.
“If you don’t know what evil is, then you evil, too. I know deep in my soul what evil is, deeper than you’ll ever know. I know evil when I see it, and I done cast it out of me!” Jimson Weed said with the conviction of a jackleg preacher in a storefront church.
“I don’t know what evil is, but I do know one thing. I want that baby and I want her today,” I said as patiently as I could. Suddenly, I was sick and tired of these two and this discussion on the nature of evil. “I know the baby was here, and I need to talk to Thelma Lee. If Thelma Lee changed her mind, that’s fine. But if I haven’t heard from her by six p.m. tonight, and Treyman Barnes doesn’t have his grandchild, I am going to report it to the police.”
I knew I was on shaky legal ground. Technically, Thelma Lee could have been accused of kidnapping the moment she snatched the child, and the moment I agreed to try to get the child from her, some wily prosecutor could accuse me of aiding and abetting. But Jimson and Sweet Thing didn’t strike me as legal hounds. The bad thing was, I was beginning to have second thoughts about the ethics of taking
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