The sound of voices woke me up from a deep sleep. I sat up, looking around the room, a bit confused about where I was. Last night was the first night all week that my head had not hurt to the point where my sleep was fitful. Restless. Nonexistent. I didn’t even need any of Miss Lovenia’s magic teas last night. Maybe because my body was just plain worn out. Maybe because my mind was so full that sleep was the only reprieve it could find.
The voices in the other room were getting louder, and I wondered what was going on. I could hear my uncles talking to Granny in a tone I had never heard them use with her before.
“You had no right to keep from us that Opal was hurt,” Uncle Myron said.
“I had every right not to tell anyone anything about this mess. Opal is mine. I make the decisions for her well-being,” Granny said. “Y’all might be my grown-up sons, but I still run this house. Ain’t neither one of you my ma or my pa. Let’s not forget that.”
“Mama, what happened to Opal could have happened to any Colored girl or woman. In fact, it still could,” Uncle Myron argued. “Keeping that situation to yourself could have put this entire community in harm’s way. It could have put you and Opal in harm’s way. How do we know that animal won’t come at Opal again? Or you? Or some other Colored woman?”
“Watch your mouth, Myron. What happened didn’t happen to just any Colored girl or woman. It happened to my Opal, and I had to protect her and I had to protect you boys from rushing out to try and find that white devil who did this to her. I did what was best,” Granny said.
“I know that’s what you think, Mama, but you was wrong,” Uncle Myron said.
“And what about that newspaper article, Mama? Did you agree to that? Did you agree to tell them Parsons what happened to Opal before telling it to her uncles?” That voice was my Uncle Little Bud. His words got me up. What newspaper article?
I slowly tested my feet on the floor. This was the first time in days I had felt steady enough to walk without Granny holding me up. I put my robe over my gown, and I went out into the living room where Uncle Myron, Uncle Little Bud, and Granny were all sitting. No one noticed me. I cleared my throat.
“What newspaper article?” I asked. They all turned and looked at me, but no one spoke at first. “What newspaper article?” I asked again, trying to ignore the horrible looks on their faces when they saw me.
“Father God, what did they do to you, baby?” Uncle Myron said as he stood and walked over to me. He cupped my chin with his hand and raised it slightly so he could see my face better, and I was shocked to see tears in his eyes. I had not seen Uncle Myron cry since Aunt Josephine died. I knew he loved me, even though we were constantly at odds over my being a housekeeper like Granny, but I didn’t know, until that moment, just how much he loved me.
“I’m okay, Uncle Myron,” I said in a soft voice. He gently hugged me. In that moment, I felt closer to Uncle Myron than I had ever felt before. Uncle Little Bud came over and hugged the both of us. He had the newspaper in his hand, and I took it.
“Baby, don’t. You don’t need to see that mess,” Granny said.
“If it has to do with me, I have a right to see it,” I said. I turned the pages in almost slow motion. I didn’t really want to see what was to come, but when I did, the headline almost jumped off the page. “Young Colored Girl Assaulted,” it said. “My God,” I muttered under my breath. I read out loud. “‘Parsons, Georgia, was once a place young women could feel safe to walk the backcountry roads with or without the accompaniment of an older brother, cousin, uncle, or father. Not anymore. On Monday, June 15, 1936, a young Colored girl was attacked as she walked back home after working all day in a local home as a housekeeper. She doesn’t remember who hurt her, which makes this all even more terrifying. This attack was not just an attack on this young Colored girl but an attack on all women and girls.’”
I stopped reading and looked up at Granny. “She said she wouldn’t print it,” I whispered. Uncle Myron led me over to Grandpa’s rocker. I gratefully sat down. I was feeling wobbly from my head injury and this conversation. He and Uncle Little Bud went back to the couch and sat on either side of Granny.
“No. She never said those words. She never promised us,” Granny spat out. “I shoulda never let that gal inside this house.”
Before we could say anything else, there was a loud knocking at the door. Uncle Myron got up to answer it. Before he could reach the door, Cedric came inside, his face filled with rage. He was wearing his work clothes, and his face was dripping with sweat. I couldn’t tell if it was from the heat or from his anger. Maybe both.
“It was you,” he said, his voice sounding all gruff. “You the one the paper was talking about, ain’t you?” I couldn’t say anything. My face was still bruised. There was a bandage around my head. There was no way I could deny the obvious.
“Stank, what you mean bursting in here like somebody outta their fool mind?” Uncle Myron asked. “You need to go. We got family business to tend to.”
Cedric walked over to me like Uncle Myron hadn’t said a word. He stopped in front of the rocking chair I was sitting in and knelt down on one knee.
“This ain’t the time for you to come calling. My brother done told you we busy, son,” Uncle Little Bud said. “Go on about your day. We’ve got this under control.”
Cedric reached up and gingerly touched my face. “You okay?” he asked. Still ignoring my uncles.
I nodded. It was like I couldn’t find my words with his fingers brushing against my cheek. It was like there was no one in the room but me and Cedric. Finally, I found my words again. “I’m okay.”
“Boy, get your hands off my niece,” Uncle Myron said, coming over to where Cedric knelt. I thought he was going to yank Cedric away, but Uncle Myron just stood clenching and unclenching his fist. Cedric still didn’t pay him no attention. He took my hand and held it.
“Who did this to you?” Cedric asked in a soft voice. “Who hurt you like this, Opal?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember,” I said. I felt a tear slide down my face. Before I could wipe it away, Cedric took his thumb and blotted it, and every tear that fell behind it. It was the sweetest, kindest thing I had ever experienced. Just that one thing, wiping away my tears, made me feel like the luckiest girl ever. In that one gesture, it was like he was trying to wipe away every tear I had ever shed. I wasn’t thankful I got hurt, but I was glad that getting hurt brought Cedric to our house this morning.
“Cedric Perkins, you best go on home now. My sons are riled up enough,” Granny said.
I looked around and saw everyone’s faces and realized as much as I wanted Cedric to stay, I had to convince him to go because my uncles were spoiling for a fight and I didn’t want it to be with Cedric.
“I’m okay, Cedric,” I said. “I appreciate you coming over to see about me, but you didn’t have to do that. I’m okay.”
“Yes, I did have to come see about you,” he said as he got up from the floor. He stood looking straight in the eyes of Uncle Myron. “Sir, I mean you no disrespect. I mean none of you no disrespect, and I understand I’m not who y’all would probably want for Opal, but I care about her. Miss Birdie, Mr. Myron, and Mr. Little Bud, I hope you will let me and her start keeping company.”
“Keep company,” I heard Granny snort. “Opal is too young to be keeping company.” Before I could say something, Cedric spoke again.
“She’ll be eighteen in a few days, ma’am,” he said in a quiet voice. I was shocked he would know such a thing. I guessed my cousin M.J. and he had been talking about more than baseball. “I haven’t been the best person I can be. I’ll own up to that. But the thought of having Opal by my side someday makes me want to be a better man. I know I will need to prove myself to all of you, but I am willing to do what it takes to win y’all over.”
“God is the only somebody you will need to prove yourself to. And son, if the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost don’t make you want to be a better man, there ain’t nothing my Opal can do for you,” Granny said. “Now, Cedric, don’t make us have to tell you again. This is family business. You need to be on your way.”
“I—” he started, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Lord have mercy. Is all of Parsons gonna knock at my door this morning?” Granny asked, slowly raising herself off the couch to go to the door.
Uncle Little Bud motioned for her and the rest of us to be still as he took a gun out of his pocket.
Granny gasped. “Boy, put that thing away.”
Uncle Little Bud ignored Granny and went to the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Jimmy Earl Ketchums and Sheriff Ardis,” Jimmy Earl called out. Uncle Little Bud slipped his pistol back inside his pocket. He opened the door and let Jimmy Earl and the sheriff into the room. Uncle Myron motioned for me to go to the bedroom. Grateful, I got up to leave, pulling my robe tight, but before I could make it to my bedroom door, the sheriff spoke.
“Young lady, I need to speak to you, please,” he said. His voice was so loud I jumped, and Granny jumped up with a quickness I couldn’t remember seeing for some years. She came over to stand in front of me, shielding me from the view of the sheriff.
“What do you need to speak to my niece about?” Uncle Myron asked, walking over to the door and standing by Uncle Little Bud, keeping Jimmy Earl and the sheriff from getting any closer to me. “She ain’t got nothing to say about nothing.”
I looked over at Cedric. His face was blank, but I could see the anger in his eyes. He finally looked at me, but I couldn’t take his stare. I turned my eyes to the floor.
“I believe your niece has got something to do with that article in the newspaper,” Sheriff Ardis said. “And judging by the bruises and the bandage, I ’spect I’m right. Ain’t that so, gal?”
Before I could say something, Uncle Myron spoke again. “We don’t know nothing about that newspaper story.”
“Then what happened to your niece’s face?” he asked. He pulled out a bag of Red Man chewing tobacco and packed his jaw full of the sickly smelling stuff. No one said anything. It was like we was all frozen and couldn’t speak. “Well, I see now. Nobody wants to answer me that. Well, why don’t we talk about something else? Let’s talk about that burnt-down chicken coop. What happened to that?”
Uncle Little Bud finally spoke up. “An accident. We was burning trash for my mama, and it got out of hand.”
The sheriff pushed his way around Uncle Myron and Uncle Little Bud. “I ain’t here for no games. I know the Klan rode through Colored Town this past Sunday. I know the next day a Colored girl from Colored Town got beat up by somebody, and lo and behold, this young girl looks like she’s gone a few rounds with Jack Dempsey. So I need y’all to cut the crap and tell me once and for all what happened to this girl.”
“She fell,” Uncle Little Bud said.
“She fell,” the sheriff repeated with a harsh laugh. “She fell. Well, I imagine she did after somebody knocked the mess out of her. So if y’all are ready to speak the truth, I’m ready to listen. And right now, I want the girl to speak for herself. I don’t have all day. Jimmy Earl over there can’t seem to tell me the truth, either, so I need this gal to tell me who or what bashed her face in like that.”
“Officer, we don’t want no more trouble,” Granny said. “We don’t know nothing about what you’re talking about.”
“Gal, I said for you to speak,” the sheriff said, ignoring Granny and focusing his eyes on me. “You people say you want the law to protect you, and when we try to, y’all lie and give us half-truths. So, gal, I’m gonna ask you one more time, who did this to you?”
“I don’t know, sir,” I mumbled. “All I remember is waking up with my granny looking after me.” I didn’t want to bring Miss Lovenia into this conversation. I didn’t know what she might say. I felt bad enough that my kinfolks were lying on my behalf.
“You heard my niece. She don’t know nothing,” Uncle Myron said. “Now, Sheriff, if you know all the things you say you know, why are you over here asking my niece questions? Why aren’t you somewhere talking to them white boys who like to dress up in white sheets? Everybody knows who they are. They ain’t trying to keep no secrets about it.”
“Then you name some names. If you know who the Klan is, name them and I’ll gladly go find them and question them,” the sheriff said.
The room got quiet again. The sheriff let out a loud sigh. “I don’t have time for this. When you people are ready to talk, y’all come find me; otherwise, I guess y’all are on your own.” The sheriff turned on his heels and left out of the house with a loud slamming of the door. For a good few seconds, didn’t nobody say nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Jimmy Earl finally said, looking around the room at everyone. “I didn’t know what to do. The sheriff had already spoken to Lori Beth, so he knew the girl in the newspaper story worked for Gran. I’m—”
“Sorry,” Cedric said, his voice full of anger. “You’re sorry. You—”
“Not your battle, Stank. It’s time for you to head on out,” Uncle Myron said.
This time, Cedric took Uncle Myron seriously. “I’ll be back this afternoon when I’m done working, if that is okay with you, Miss Birdie?”
“We’ll be here, Cedric,” Granny said.
Cedric looked at me hard until I turned away. His stare was so intense, it made it almost impossible to look him in the eye. I heard the door shut, and then the room got quiet again.
“Bean, I’m sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt. I swear I didn’t,” Jimmy Earl said. I turned and looked at him, but I had no words of comfort to offer him. So I hurried out of the room to my bedroom. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes, praying sleep would find me again, but all I could do was stare up at the ceiling. After a while, I started hearing doors close. I figured my uncles and Jimmy Earl all went on to work. I didn’t get up, though, and finally Granny came into the room and sat in the chair by my bed.
“Opal, are you—” Granny said.
I raised myself up in the bed. “I want to keep company with Cedric Perkins. I will be eighteen next week. That’s old enough for me to have a beau. And I want to start helping Miss Lovenia a couple afternoons a week. I won’t get behind on my work at Miss Peggy’s. I promise,” I said.
I didn’t look Granny in the eyes. I couldn’t. This was the first time in my life that I had ever challenged a decision Granny had made about me, and in this one breath, I was challenging two of them. But I wasn’t going to back down. Considering what I had endured this week, I had earned the right to make some decisions for myself.
Granny sat for a few more seconds without saying a word, but then she cleared her throat and said the words I never thought I would hear her say. “You got a right to keep company if you like, and Cedric Perkins seems to want to do right by you. I won’t argue with you. And if you are bound and determined to work for Miss Lovenia, you just make sure you keep your Bible with you at all times, and you don’t let her practice any of that hoodoo magic on you.”
“Thank you, Granny,” I said.
I watched Granny as she left out of my room. This seemed like a victory, especially the part about seeing Cedric. And going to help Miss Lovenia only seemed right, considering her sons may have saved me from something unspeakable. And even though she had to know what Granny thought about her and her hoodoo, she still took care of me. We owed her, and I meant to repay her kindness, even if it did scare me just a little bit.
Ordinarily, I would have said a prayer asking God to give me courage, but I wasn’t ready to say too much to God yet. I was still wondering where he had been while that evil person was beating me up by the side of the road.