Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
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Mr . or Miss before tre first names<br />
of grown-ups and address them'<br />
that way . We didn't know it was<br />
wrong until we had grown older .<br />
By then, it didn't matter .<br />
Everybody thought Miss Ruth<br />
was pretty . Men liked her . They<br />
were always coming around to see<br />
her . There was one who used to<br />
come around a lot . He was very<br />
tall-much taller than my dad, who<br />
was five feet ten . He had curly hair .<br />
Mama used to say that men like<br />
that are blessed with the hair their<br />
sisters should have had . After all .<br />
what's good hair to a man? Curly's<br />
yellow skin was smooth and soft<br />
looking . I always wanted to touch<br />
it t~ see if it were really as soft as<br />
it looked . One of Curly's eyes was<br />
smaller than the other . When he<br />
looked at you, it seemed as if one<br />
eye was looking at you while the<br />
other one was looking at something<br />
on the other side of the room . I<br />
used to hang around waiting for<br />
Curly . Sometimes I played jacks on<br />
the front porch and watched Miss<br />
Ruth and Curly out of the corner<br />
of my eye. She said he was her<br />
cousin . But one day I overheard<br />
Miss Mabel tell Mama that they<br />
were "the funniest cousins" she had<br />
ever seen . Then she laughed .<br />
Mama shook her head sadly and<br />
talked about the Lord . Mama knew<br />
all about the Lord because she was<br />
saved . I think she was the only person<br />
in the whole house who was<br />
saved .<br />
Most of the time, Curly came to<br />
see Miss Ruth at night . He usually<br />
5 6<br />
brought a carton of beer with him .<br />
We would stay up late playing hide<br />
and seek and Curly would still be<br />
around when we went inside . Once,<br />
I even saw him leaving Miss Ruth's<br />
house early in the morning . Then,<br />
for no reason at all, Mike, Jim, and<br />
Tina started whispering and giggling<br />
every time Curly came to the<br />
house . On that day, the game started<br />
. I don't remember who started<br />
it, probably Mike . He was always<br />
thinking of things to do . Anyway,<br />
I wanted to play too .<br />
One evening, while Mama and<br />
Dad were looking at T.V ., I went<br />
out to play on the porch . Janice<br />
was already there . She sat in a<br />
kitchen chair, on her side of the<br />
porch . Her head was buried in a<br />
book, and her feet were propped<br />
up on the bannister . I looked at her<br />
with envy . She had on a pair of old<br />
blue jeans which someone had cut<br />
off at the knees and a dirty white<br />
shirt . My mother wouldn't let me<br />
wear shorts . I sat down on the top<br />
step and took a small rubber ball<br />
out of my skirt pocket . I tossed the<br />
jacks on the floor . Janice didn't pay<br />
any attention to me . I bounced the<br />
ball on the porch several times . But<br />
she didn't even look up . I waited<br />
until Tina came out .<br />
"Hey, Tina," I said, "will you<br />
play jacks with me?"<br />
Tina shook her head "no ."<br />
"Why?" I asked .<br />
"cotta talk to Mike," she said .<br />
"Can't you play until he comes?"<br />
"No . He's coming now," Tina<br />
said . She rushed to the screen door<br />
March 1968 NEGRO DIGEST