Chapter 30
“Girl, you somethin’ else.”
“Do you remember me sayin’ we gotta be smart about this usin’ thing?” Johnnie asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve been thinkin’ about this for a while, ever since Earl mentioned investing my money. If we’re smart, we can be rich one day. If we can just be smart about it.”
“What are you talkin’ about, girl? You’re talkin’ in riddles.” Marguerite frowned.
“It’s like you said earlier, Mama. Men will do just about anything for sex, but if you do to them what they do to you, they cain’t handle it. For all of their brawn and brute strength, they’re emotional weaklings. I’m learning to use and control them without them knowing it. I’m learning to make them do things I want them to do. And get this. I make them think it was their idea.”
“Girl, women have been doin’ that to men for centuries. That ain’t nothin’ new. What are you going to do that hasn’t been done?”
“Well, women may have been doing it for centuries, but I’m just startin’ to understand this thing. So, the first thing I’m gonna do is be picky. I’ll make the choice, not them. I’ll only deal with men who have something to offer.”
“Details?”
“I mean I’ll choose men who have something I need, no matter what that something is. Take Martin. He wants me, but he knows he has to teach me what he knows first. That’s what I mean. I cain’t afford to just take their money and be satisfied. What good is money if you don’t know what to do with it? That’s why you were upset earlier, right?”
“Right. That and that big-ass house you have.” Marguerite nodded her head. “But what if all they have is money? What then?”
“If all they have is money, we charge ’em more. If they cain’t afford us, too bad. This is business, and we gotta think of ourselves as businesswomen, not whores.”
Marguerite listened to her daughter. She certainly is smart. Why couldn’t I think like that when I was her age? Ain’t no tellin’ where I’d be now if I had.
“The second thing I’ll do is be fickle. When they’ve served their purpose, I’ll cut ’em loose and move on.”
“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t want to let you go?”
“Then I’ll use whatever methods I need, up to and including callin’ his wife, his mother, or his priest if I have to.”
Marguerite laughed. “Girl, you somethin’ else.”
Johnnie looked her mother in the eyes and said, “Mama, this is serious. I’ve made up my mind. There’s a better world out there for people with the know-how and the guts to live good. Look around you. Here we are relaxing by the pool, being waited on hand and foot. And how much is this costin’ you?”
“Nothin’,” Marguerite said.
“Me neither. But it’s costin’ Earl something. And that’s what we have to do. We make them pay for everything. In return, we give them whatever they cain’t get at home. I don’t see myself livin’ the way we lived ever again.”
Marguerite nodded her head slowly. She had already formulated a plan to get more money out of Richard Goode. It’s not like he can get what I give him from anybody. I know what he likes and how to give it to him.
“The third thing I’ve got to do is learn to talk the way my new neighbor does. I notice you have a little savoir faire around white people too.”
“That’s because I don’t want white people to think I’m just some ol’ uneducated nigga, so I make sure I speak real good around them.”
“Well, we gotta learn to do it regularly. We gotta remember this is a business. As businesswomen, we gotta do the things that business people do. We gotta talk the way business people talk. That means we gotta keep our eyes and ears open and learn all we can from people who know things we don’t. And—”
“Johnnie, do you really think this’ll work?” Marguerite asked.
“Do you want to keep livin’ where you livin’, wishin’ you was livin’ in Ashland Estates?”
“No.”
“Then you better do something to make a better life for yourself.”
“Telephone call for Johnnie Wise,” the bellhop repeated a few times.
“Over here,” Johnnie said, raising her hand.
The bellhop brought the telephone to her and plugged it in.
“Hello.”
“Where have you been?” Earl demanded. “I’ve been calling your room for hours. Then it occurred to me that you might be enjoying the amenities of the hotel.”
Johnnie looked at her mother and rolled her eyes.
“Who is it?” Marguerite mouthed.
“Earl, honey,” she said and rolled her eyes again, “I’m just relaxin’ a little. You comin’ by?”
“No, I just wanted you to know that I talked with the men fixing the house and they’re going to put a rush on the job. You should be able to move in next weekend.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he said. “Did you get a chance to look for some furniture and things like that?”
“I went to Sears this morning and the store detective harassed me. If it wasn’t for the store manager, he might have raped me in his office.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll speak to the manager before I leave tonight.”
“Leave? Where you goin’?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I have to go to Chicago tonight. West is having some big meeting and he wants me to go with him.”
“When will you be back?”
“In a couple of weeks.”
“A couple of weeks,” she repeated, attempting to sound disappointed.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am, Earl,” she said, trying to keep from smiling. “But what am I going to do for money? I don’t have any furniture or food or nothin’. By the time you get back, I want you to be able to come home to a good meal and a place to lay your head.”
“How about I stop by the hotel before we go to the airport and give you some money to take care of everything?”
“That would be great, Earl,” Johnnie said, looking at her mother. “You think you’ll have enough time to give me a little tonight, just to tide me over ’til you get back in a couple of weeks?”
“I’ll try, okay?”
“What about the hotel bill? Will you be able to take care of that too?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“I hate to be pushy, honey, but you know I want some nice furniture, right?”
“I know, Johnnie,” he said, speaking in hushed tones. “I gotta go now.”
“You know it takes a lot of time to get around this city on public transportation.”
“No way. I’m not buying you a car,” Earl said through clenched teeth. “Now, I gotta go.”
He hung up. Johnnie heard a second click, then put the receiver back on the telephone. She ignored the extra click and said to her mother, “See, that’s how it’s done.”
“Girl, you somethin’ else.” Marguerite laughed. “You remind me so much of my mother. So, is he goin’ to get you a car?”
“Not yet, but he will.”