Authors: Mary Monroe
CHAPTER 61
W
e had to wait one more hour for the next flight to Miami. By the time we got on the plane and crawled into our seats, I was so disoriented and upset I couldn’t even sleep. I was glad that Charlotte was able to doze off right away, though. She slept all the way while I sweated and cried. I looked so distraught when we landed that a flight attendant offered to get me a wheelchair.
I stumbled through the airport like a zombie. I don’t even remember getting in the cab that took us to Lillimae’s house in Miami’s predominantly Black Liberty City.
With Charlotte stepping on my heels, I stumbled up on Lillimae’s porch that afternoon. I started pounding on her front door so hard that a woman in the house next door ran out on her front porch waving a whisk broom at me like a sword.
“Lillimae ain’t home!” The scowling woman shouted.
Lillimae had told me more than once that I was welcome to visit her anytime I felt like it. She was one of the few people I believed who said that and really meant it. However, dropping in on anybody unannounced was never a wise thing to do. I could have called her before I left my house, or from either one of the airports. But I didn’t think do to so. I had so much on my mind that I didn’t know if I was coming or going.
“I’m her sister,” I said meekly, bowing my head. “Do you know where she is and when she’ll be back?”
The woman moved closer to the edge of her porch, grabbed her glasses, which were hanging from a chain around her neck, and held them up to her face, which made her look like a pie with a nose. Shading her eyes with one hand, she looked me up and down before responding. “You and Lillimae is
sisters
?”
“Uh-huh. It surprises a lot of people, until I tell them we are half sisters,” I explained.
Even though Lillimae and I looked a lot alike, I was Black. Technically, she was too, but she could pass for White. I had visited Lillimae several times over the years. We had just met ten years ago after Daddy had pestered me until I visited him in Florida.
“She at work at the post office. She usually get home around six,” the woman said, her voice much softer now. The scowl was gone from her face, but her face still looked like a pie. “She usually goes for happy hour with some of the post office folks after work, though. Almost every day. I guess workin’ at the post office’ll make you want to drink.”
“Oh.” I looked around. The cab was too far away for me to summon him back. “Well,” I said, looking at my watch, “I’ll just wait for her.”
The woman shook her head and went back into her house.
“What do we do now?” Charlotte asked.
“Sit down,” I sighed, waving her to the glider on one side of the porch.
“For what?”
“We’ll wait here for your auntie,” I said, my voice cracking.
And that’s just what we did. For three hours we sat on that porch awaiting my sister’s return. I felt that I had no other place to go.
Charlotte got fidgety and angry real quick, and I could understand her feeling that way. I encouraged her to go play in Lillimae’s front yard. She found a piece of chalk on the ground and had been playing hopscotch for about ten minutes when Lillimae’s noisy old Ford crawled down the street. It was just beginning to get dark. I was disappointed to see that Lillimae’s battered old car still had only one headlight. With all the noise her old car made and the one headlight, anybody else would have thought that she was riding up on a motorcycle.
“Annette, what in the world is goin’ on?” Lillimae yelled as soon as she parked in her driveway. She slid out of her car like a seal, with her muumuu flapping around her body like a parachute. She had told me once that she always changed out of her postal worker uniform before she came home, choosing to get back in a comfortable muumuu as soon as she could each workday. I was glad that I didn’t have to wear uniforms to work. I had more muumuus in my wardrobe than anything else.
I was disappointed to see that Lillimae had gained a few more pounds since the last time I’d seen her. She was now dangerously larger than I was.
Lillimae waddled up the walk and stumbled up the steps. I was so tired and weak, I couldn’t move from my seat on the glider. I just sat there blinking. Charlotte ran back up on the porch and hugged Lillimae.
“We ran away from home!” Charlotte hollered eagerly.
“So I heard,” Lillimae said, looking at me. “I called my answering machine from the Black Oak Saloon to find out that I had nine messages. Your husband called a few times, your mama, and your girl Rhoda. What in the world is goin’ on, Annette? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
I rose. “They all called?”
“Yes, they all called, and you better get on that telephone and call every one of them back. What in the world has happened?” Lillimae fumbled in her large denim purse for her keys. We followed her into her neat little living room. “Your husband thinks you might be havin’ a nervous breakdown. And Rhoda was beside herself with worry.”
“Did Rhoda say anything else?”
“Like what? She wanted to know if you was here. She said her daughter told her Charlotte called her from a pay phone and told her y’all was on the way to visit with me.”
“Is that all she said?”
Lillimae shrugged and eased down on her sofa, pulling Charlotte down next to her. Our luggage sat on the floor in front of Lillimae’s feet.
“She’s worried half to death! I wouldn’t be surprised if she came down here with your husband,” Lillimae exclaimed, fanning her face with her hand.
Charlotte looked tired and I knew she was. She had slept on the plane, but that had been hours ago. And neither one of us had eaten or drunk anything since we’d left the Miami Airport. Lillimae must have been reading my mind. She gave Charlotte a mild hug before she wobbled up from the sofa and took Charlotte into the kitchen.
“He’s coming down here?” I asked Lillimae as soon as she returned to the living room.
“That’s what he implied,” Lillimae replied, fanning her face some more. “He thinks that if you are losin’ your mind, you ain’t got no business draggin’ this child with you. He told me to call him when and if I seen you. Now if you don’t get on that phone and call him up, I will.”
“I don’t want him to come down here!” I yelled, almost choking on my own tongue.
Just then Lillimae’s living room telephone rang. She grabbed it on the first ring.
“It’s Rhoda. She wants to speak to you,” Lillimae told me.
CHAPTER 62
“A
nnette, what the hell is goin’ on? What happened? Why didn’t you call me? How could you just up and leave without sayin’ anything to anybody?” Rhoda demanded.
I didn’t know which one of her questions to answer first. I didn’t know what to say to her. I stood in the middle of Lillimae’s living room floor. My hands were so sweaty, I had to use both of them to hold the telephone and keep it from slipping to the floor. Lillimae stood close to me, her ear tilted toward the telephone receiver. I was glad that her arm was around my shoulder. Had it not been, I probably would have slumped to the floor.
“Annette, talk to me!” Rhoda yelled. I could usually hear a hum of activity on her end when we talked on the telephone. Other than her heavy breathing, there was nothing else but an ominous silence.
“I had to get away,” I mumbled.
“Apparently! What did that fuckin’ bitch say to you?”
“Huh? Who?”
“The bitch that’s been terrorizin’ you! Isn’t that what this is all about?” Rhoda demanded.
“What did Jade tell you?”
“This is not about Jade! This is about you! Somethin’ really fucked up had to happen for you to just up and run off the way you did. Pee Wee is on a rampage. He’s talkin’ about havin’ you committed! And to be honest with you, I am with him all the way. You are not well! You need some professional help. But don’t you worry, you are not in this alone! Somebody has to do somethin’ before you hurt yourself or walk out in front of a bus or somethin’.”
“I’m not crazy,” I mumbled with uncertainty. I might not have been crazy according to the medical definition, but my mind was not on the right track. And it hadn’t been since this mess started with that blacksnake! “Rhoda, what did Jade tell you?” I asked again, the back of my head feeling like it wanted to drop off.
“About what? You didn’t tell her why you took off the way you did. She’s just as stunned by all this shit as I am. I can’t imagine what this stunt is doin’ to poor Charlotte. And your poor mama and daddy are beside themselves. I am surprised that your daddy has not had another heart attack!”
“Rhoda, I need to know exactly what Jade told you.”
Rhoda let out a loud, angry sigh. “Look, like I said, this is about you, not Jade. I want you, not Jade, to tell me what the hell happened. Now I really regret lettin’ my daughter in on this whole mess.”
“I can’t talk about that right now. Not until you talk to your daughter. I want you to hear it from her.”
“Hear
what
from her? What I want to hear needs to come from you! I want to hear an explanation from you!” Rhoda yelled so loud I had to hold the telephone away from my ear. “I can’t believe you shared this with Jade and not me. I thought I knew you better than that.”
I excused myself and went into Lillimae’s kitchen for a glass of water. It took a lot of effort for me to return to the telephone. By that time Rhoda was snorting like a bull.
“Look, Pee Wee is packin’ up to come down there to get you to bring your ass back here, so we can get you some help. Whatever you want to talk about, if you do, you can do it then. I’m sorry about yellin’ at you, but this is too much. I love you to death and I am not goin’ to stand by and let you go to pieces, not if there’s anything I can do about it.” Rhoda gasped, as if she’d suddenly had a revelation. “Wait a minute! Does this have anything to do with your work? Did Jade do somethin’ stupid at the office? She’s been actin’ mighty peculiar since you disappeared.”
“No. This has nothing to do with the office,” I mouthed, biting my bottom lip so hard I trembled.
“So then this is about those telephone calls and notes and the rest of that shit from whoever that bitch is, right?”
“Uh…Right.”
“I figured that. But I can’t imagine anything she could have said or done to you, or sent to you, that was so bad you couldn’t call me. Haven’t I been there from the beginnin’ of this shit? Me and Jade!” Rhoda didn’t wait for me to respond. “I want to settle this shit just as bad as you do. As far as I am concerned, we are still in this together.”
“Where is Jade now, Rhoda?”
“The poor little thing is in her room bawlin’ like a panda. You know how crazy she is about you!”
“I’ll be home as soon as I can get another flight back,” I said calmly and meekly. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this shit, the better. I’m…I’m tired,” I muttered.
“Don’t you leave Lillimae’s house. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be roamin’ around by yourself. Pee Wee is comin’ down there to get you and I just might come with him myself.” Rhoda paused. “This has gone on long enough! Do you want me to come with Pee Wee to get you? I am truly afraid that you might flip out even more, and wander off and hurt yourself.”
“No, you don’t have to come down here. I am fine. Believe me, I am capable of bringing myself back home. Call Pee Wee and tell him not to come down here,” I insisted.
“No, you call him. He’s your husband. I mean, despite all this shit that’s been goin’ on, because of him, he is still your husband and this is somethin’ you really need to work through with him. I mean, I don’t blame you if you decide to divorce him after all is said and done. But the least you can do is get to the bottom of this mess. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.”
“Rhoda, I need to get off the telephone now. I really need to get some rest.”
“Annette, if you are not back here by tomorrow, I’m comin’ down there myself, whether Pee Wee comes or not. Do you understand me?”
“Rhoda, I appreciate all you do for me. I appreciate you wanting to see me through this mess. But…it won’t be that easy for us to work through this time.” An eerie silence followed.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I know I don’t need to remind you, but we’ve worked through some pretty serious shit before.”
“I know we have. But this time it won’t be that easy.” I don’t know why I was surprised that Jade had not told her mother about our confrontation. “I will call you when I get home so you can come to my house. We can talk then.”
“All right.”
“And, Rhoda, come alone.”
“Oh, you know I wouldn’t drag Otis along with me for something like this.”
“I know you wouldn’t, but I didn’t mean him,” I choked.
“Are you tellin’ me you don’t want me to bring Jade with me?”
“Don’t bring Jade with you,” I said firmly. Every time I thought about what Jade had put me through, my blood boiled. I didn’t know what kind of future I would have with Jade or Rhoda after my meeting with Rhoda.
CHAPTER 63
“L
illimae, thanks for letting me use your telephone. I will leave some money with you to cover these long distance calls I need to make,” I said after I’d ended my conversation with Rhoda. I was just about to dial when Charlotte ran into the room, nibbling on an apple and holding a large glass of milk.
“Can I go back outside?” Charlotte wanted to know, looking from me to her confused aunt.
“Don’t leave the front yard,” I told Charlotte, glad she would not be in the room when I talked to her daddy.
I could feel Lillimae’s eyes on my back as I turned back to the telephone. I didn’t dial until I heard the door slam. Pee Wee didn’t answer the telephone at our house, or at his barbershop. I was in no shape to talk to Muh’Dear or Daddy, so I didn’t try to reach him there.
“What are you goin’ to do now?” Lillimae asked as I slowly returned the telephone to its cradle.
“I’m going to be on the next plane back home,” I said, so tired I could barely stand anymore. My legs felt like jelly as I struggled to make it to the sofa in the middle of Lillimae’s living room floor.
“What did Rhoda say? And do you think you can tell me what this is all about?” Lillimae asked with her arms folded. She stood over me as I stretched out on my back on her sofa. I was the one fanning now.
“Lillimae, I don’t want to put you in the middle of this mess, but I need to talk to somebody.”
“I’m listenin’.” Lillimae sat down on the arm of her sofa.
“A few weeks ago, somebody started sending me some nasty notes and other nasty shit through the mail.” I stopped and rose up high enough to look out the window. I had to make sure Charlotte couldn’t hear what I was saying.
Lillimae shrugged and gave me a puzzled look. “Go on.”
“The notes were bad. I was threatened and called some ugly names.” I paused and shook my head with my eyes closed. I didn’t like the look that was on Lillimae’s face when I opened my eyes. She was clearly losing patience, and she was one of the most patient and understanding people I knew. “It was a female. She called me up, too. At home and at work.”
“And what was the reason? Who was this person?”
“She didn’t say it right away. She took her time telling me why she was doing what she was doing to me. Finally, she told me that she was going to take my husband from me.”
“Is that all? Girl, do you know how many times my husband’s whores called me up and told me they were goin’ to take my man and beat my ass if I stood in the way? That’s just the way these ignorant hussies behave. They are too stupid to get a man the normal way.”
“This was different. This person sent me a pair of Pee Wee’s shorts. A used, dirty pair that I had seen him wear a few dozen times. She even called up some other married women and told them that I was fooling around with their husbands. Then they started to harass and threaten me, too!” I was waving my arms and didn’t even know it until Lillimae grabbed my arms and held them down. But I kept talking. “She even sent a male prostitute to my house. I don’t even remember all the shit she did. I even received a box full of horse shit in the mail from her!”
“She sent you some shit through the mail?” Lillimae screamed.
“Yes!” I exclaimed, blinking to keep from crying. I didn’t really need to do that, because I was too angry to shed any more tears for a while.
Lillimae gave me a serious look as she bit her bottom lip. “Damn. Well, it sounds like you had a real cuckoo on your tail. Sounds like it’s worse than I thought.”
“It gets worse.” I coughed to clear my throat, giving Lillimae a look so hard she flinched. “You remember Rhoda’s daughter, Jade?”
Lillimae nodded. “She’s not an easy person to forget. She’s just a younger version of Rhoda. A little too mature for my taste. I never said anything when I was up in Ohio, but I thought that the girl spent too much of her time around grown folks. But she’s still a child and it’s a good thing she didn’t stumble into this mess. If this is as serious as it sounds and she finds out about it, it could have a bad effect on her.” Lillimae let out a loud breath and blinked. “If she doesn’t already know about this, I don’t think you should tell her.”
“Jade knows all about this,” I said hoarsely, staring off into space. I didn’t need to tell Lillimae any more than that. One look from her told me that she knew it all.
“My God, my God. Maybe you better stay down here with me after all. You can’t go back there yet, and face Rhoda with this mess!” Lillimae frantically wrung her hands as she spoke. This was the first time I had ever seen fear on Lillimae’s face. “Does Pee Wee know it was Jade?”
I shook my head. “You’re the only other person who knows. I just found out yesterday and I am still trying to deal with it. Now can you understand why I ran away the way I did?”
Lillimae nodded. “Girl, if I was you, I’d keep on runnin,’” Lillimae said.