THE TRUE VINE BAPTIST YOUTH SINGERS are here again, bringing us Easter songs. They start with “Oh, He Has A-Risen,” then go on to “Believe in the New Day.”
This time I have set my dayroom chair right close to where they are. Hibernia’s behind the other kids, like before. And she’s singing just as beautifully. But today she’s holding something back, not letting her voice fly as high.
Then the lady at the piano says, “We will now have a solo selection sung by Hibernia Lee Tyson.”
Willie bumps his shoulder to mine. “Ain’t that ya girl?”
“Shhh,” I whisper. “She’s coming to the front.”
Hibernia steps out from the back row. She goes to where the lady at the piano is seated. That’s when I see it around her neck. Hibernia Lee Tyson is wearing the gum-wrapper chain woven by me and Willie! She’s fastened each end to make a necklace! The wrapper necklace is a pretty strand of colors against her blue collar.
“See that?” Willie says.
I can’t even talk. All’s I can do is nod.
The lady at the piano strikes a chord. Hibernia takes a breath. She is looking straight at me. She is running her fingers along the gum-wrapper-chain necklace. Then she lets her voice free:
“I’m gonna sing when the Spirit says siiiing!
I’m gonna sing when the Spirit says siiiing!
I’m gonna sing when the Spirit says siiiing!
And obey the Spirit of the Lord.”
The first verse is soft and full.
At the next verse, the choir behind Hibernia joins in. Hibernia’s singing goes from sweet to sassy. She’s put a raspy twist on the song.
“I’m gonna preach when the Spirit says a-preeeaaach!
I’m gonna preach when the Spirit says a-preeeaaach!
I’m gonna preach when the Spirit says a-preeeaaach!”
There is brass and brown sugar in Hibernia’s way of delivering this tune. If a Packard could sing, it would sound like this, all shiny and bold and rolling.
Everybody is swaying to the beat of this celebration. But the piano lady doesn’t look too pleased.
Now comes the third verse, more sassy than the other two.
“I’m gonna shout when the Spirit says a-shooouuut!
I’m gonna shout when the Spirit says a-shooouuut!
I’m gonna shout when the Spirit says a-shooouuut!”
The kids in the choir get to clapping. Hibernia curls her shoulders with a sure rhythm. She presents both her palms, inviting all of us to clap along. Hibernia Lee Tyson owns this song.
Lila’s feet are keeping up with the music, and she’s singing full out. Lila’s nod tells me to join in.
I clap so hard, it hurts. There is a happy, steady stomp dancing its way all over my insides. Everything feels so good from having gladness big in my heart.
Willie’s clapping just as much as me. His hands don’t even stop him from slipping into the music. The clapping comes so natural. All that puckered skin and his melted-together fingers don’t hold Willie back. When I take a good look at Willie’s hands, they’re freer somehow, ready to rejoice.
Willie says, “Ya girl is fine.”
Now Hibernia’s voice is ten times higher than cloud nine. She is swinging us to joy’s fullest place.
When I look behind me to see who else is taking in our celebration, there is the bleach man, leaning hard in the door to the dayroom. His arms are folded tight. He refuses to clap. But his foot won’t obey. It pumps on the floor, following the rhythm of this Easter gift.
After the concert, Willie pulls me over to where Hibernia is standing. He nudges me toward her. “My name’s Willie, and this’s Otis.”
I say a soft hello. Then, “I’m glad you sang a solo.”
Hibernia plays with the button on her sleeve. “I liked being in the front. I could see you clapping,” she says.
My tongue is knotted up tighter than my shoelaces. Hibernia puts her hand to the necklace she’s made from her gum-wrapper chain. “This is so pretty,” she says.
Willie is quick to say, “Otis made it, and I helped!”
Before I can even say anything, Hibernia is just as quick to speak. “Thank you, Otis. You, too, Willie.”
The piano lady comes after Hibernia. I watch her go off with her friends. A brown-skinned girl in a blue dress, her necklace woven from my gum-wrapper chain.