CHAPTER 46
I
T TOOK FAT FANNY ALMOST HALF AN HOUR TO DRIVE TO THE
neighborhood where Wally Yoakum lived. Even in the dark, Ruby could see that this was a location that catered to a very high level of white society. It contained large expensive-looking houses, most appearing very similar to one another, and each one very well tended. Impressive decorations dominated the large front lawns. Expensive cars and even a few buggies occupied most of the driveways.
“Damn,” Fat Fanny mouthed, looking up and down the street where Wally’s house was located. She was glad to see that there were no lights on in his house. “It must take a real pretty penny to live in this neck of the woods.”
“And the right color of skin,” Ruby added, not trying to hide the anger in her voice. “I bet every last one of these crackers got up this high by takin’ advantage of people like me.” Ruby rolled down the window on her side and breathed in some of the night air. “It even smells white over here.”
They parked across the street from the large, two-story beige house that Wally shared with an aging tabby cat and a lot of sad memories of the wife and six children who had deserted him. A shy black man, who worked as Wally’s cook and butler, occupied the studio apartment above the two-car garage attached to the house.
Fat Fanny had cooled off considerably during the drive. She was already regretting that she had agreed to assist Ruby. She liked Ruby and didn’t want her to get in trouble. She knew that it was one thing for a white woman like her to exact revenge against a white man. But the law would treat her differently, and way more humanely than they would Ruby.
“Uh, maybe we should go on back home and forget about this man,” Fat Fanny suggested, silently praying that Ruby would agree with her. “I am sure he’ll be all right once he cools off. By the way, what made him so mad at you?”
“Uh, it was just a little misunderstandin’. Kind of delicate and embarrassin’, so I really don’t want to go into it right now. You know how it is.”
“I guess,” Fat Fanny said with a shrug. “I had a problem with a trick last year. After he’d rode me like a cowboy, he had the nerve to tell me that I had such a loathsome pussy, he wanted his money back. He slapped me when I didn’t give it back to him. Thank God Buster got up to the room in time. A week later, that same client came back and apologized, and he wanted to ride me again. That’s a man for you.” Fat Fanny chuckled. “Well, like I said, I’m sure Wally’ll be all right, once he cools off,” she added with a hopeful smile.
“What if he don’t cool off? Then what?” Ruby asked through clenched teeth. “I don’t let nobody get away with hurtin’ me.” She rubbed the side of her arm, which was sore and bruised from Wally’s attack. “What if he comes back to the house with a gun or somethin’, and finishes me and Miss Mo’reen off?”
Fat Fanny released a loud sigh. “Well, that could happen, but it’s highly unlikely. Um, the other two men you mentioned that you chastised? Were they colored?”
Ruby looked at the side of Fat Fanny’s face. “Why? What difference does the color make?” She had changed into one of her low-cut blouses, but this one had long sleeves. Sleeves that were long enough to cover the bruises on her arms, and the top half of the handle of the switchblade she had in her hand.
“Color will make a big difference if you get caught, Mama Ruby.”
Ruby looked straight ahead. “Them other two low-down, funky devils was colored.”
“What did you do to ’em?”
“Huh?”
“Did you hurt ’em real bad?”
Ruby recalled the incident with Glenn Boates, something she thought about almost every day. She was sorry about what she’d done to him, but she rationalized her actions by reminding herself that he’d gotten what he deserved.
“Uh, yeah you could say that,” she admitted. “The last one especially.”
“Oh. Well, do I want to know exactly what you did to them two colored men? The last one especially?”
Ruby looked down for a few seconds, and then she faced Fat Fanny and shook her head. “Naw. You don’t want, or need, to know none of that. But I can tell you this much. That last man won’t be attackin’ no other woman, no time soon. He threatened to kill me and Othella. It was him or us. . . .”
“I see.” Fat Fanny was moved by the look of sorrow on Ruby’s face. She gave her a gentle pat on her shoulder and a quick hug. “You poor thing, you. In that case, the law don’t care too much about whatever you done to that man. Him bein’ colored and all. But this is different. See, not only is Wally white, he ain’t no redneck from the bayous. He’s one of them highfalutin lawyers that’s never lost a case, so you know he’s a man with a bunch of money! You can see that from the way this neighborhood looks. I’m sure he’s got a whole lot of powerful friends. He might be plottin’ somethin’ else to get back at you and Miss Mo’reen by now hisself. You thought about that?”
“I ain’t thought about nothin’ but that. That’s why I wanted to get to him—in case he’s plannin’ to get back to me and Miss Mo’reen first.”
“Mama Ruby, I’m a whole lot older than you, so I know a whole lot more than you. I know you are still upset, and I am, too. But don’t mess with this man. You’ll only make things worse. I realize that now. Let me carry you on back to the house so we can check on Miss Mo’reen. I noticed a knot risin’ on her forehead when I put her to bed. I’ll fix you a highball myself. Or better yet, one of my real strong hot toddies. If that don’t calm you down, nothin’ will.”
“I don’t need no highball or no real strong hot toddy,” Ruby snarled. “I need to settle my business with Wally.”
“It don’t look like he’s home no how, sugar. Ain’t a single light on in his house,” Fat Fanny said, breathing a sigh of relief. “And I ain’t surprised. This is his birthday, so he’s probably at another whorehouse or some joint gettin’ drunker.”
“Do you know where that might be?” Ruby mumbled, caressing the tip of her switchblade some more.
“No, I don’t know the man like that. I just met him in person tonight,” Fat Fanny said, starting up the motor again. Before Ruby could object, Fat Fanny made a U-turn and headed back to Maureen’s house.
On the way, just one block from Wally’s house, Fat Fanny almost hit a squirrel that was trying to cross the street. Two blocks down the street, she almost ran into a tree.
“How come you so nervous?” Ruby wanted to know. “Wally didn’t try to beat your brains out like he done me and Miss Mo’reen.”
“It don’t matter. Anything that happens in Miss Mo’reen’s house affects all of us,” Fat Fanny replied. “I hope you keep that in mind until this thing blows over.”
Maureen’s house was completely dark by the time Ruby and Fat Fanny returned.
“Listen up. I advise you not to tell nobody where we went tonight,” Ruby whispered. “Not even Othella or Miss Mo’reen. Do you hear me?”
Fat Fanny was not stupid. She had this crazy young black woman’s number. She could tell a veiled threat when she heard one. “I didn’t plan on doin’ that no how.”
Fat Fanny made herself a hot toddy and then she rushed upstairs and checked on her children. She pulled Viola from her bed and took her to her room across the hall. After saying her prayers on bended knees, she climbed into bed with her drink in one hand, her daughter in the other.
Ruby gulped down a few beers standing over the sink in the kitchen. Then she retreated to her room where Mazel was snoring like a bull. She stayed up all night, sitting on her side of the roll-away bed, staring at the wall, looking out the window, and pacing the floor. As soon as it got daylight, she crept upstairs to Fat Fanny’s room and entered without knocking again.
Fat Fanny was still asleep, but Viola was sitting up in bed, cooing, grinning, her fingers playing with her mother’s matted hair. As soon as the baby saw Ruby, she started to whimper and reach for her. It was the sight of that precious little baby that softened Ruby’s vengeful heart. She let out a mighty sigh and padded across the floor and pulled Viola into her arms.
“If I still had my own child, I wouldn’t be in this mess,” she said to herself. She gently placed the baby back into the bed and quietly left the room.
Othella rose early enough to have a serious conversation with Ruby in the kitchen before Maureen or any of the prostitutes got out of bed. Mazel was hunched over the sink marinating an enormous rump roast. As usual, she looked like she was angry enough to cuss out the world.
“Mama Ruby, can I talk to you about somethin’?” Othella asked, rolling her eyes at Mazel. “It’s private so we need to go out on the back porch, if you don’t mind.”
“Y’all ain’t got to be hidin’ nothin’ from me. I know all about that ruckus that went on upstairs last night,” Mazel said with a smirk, directing her attention toward Ruby. “I declare, all these years I been workin’ for Miss Mo’reen, I ain’t never knowed nobody, man or woman, to hit her.” Mazel sniffed. She gave Ruby and Othella a scornful look. “Things was fine till y’all got here. . . .”
“So you keep tellin’ us,” Othella snarled.
With a snort, Mazel turned her attention back to the rump roast in the sink as Othella and Ruby walked briskly out to the back porch.
“With all of this sneakin’ around that me and you do, I feel like a criminal,” Othella complained as soon as she and Ruby got outside. They stood at the top of the porch steps, facing one another. It was windy, but it was still warm. So warm that the maid who worked in the brothel next-door was outside hanging just washed sheets on the clothesline. There was a sudden burst of cold air between Ruby and Othella that they both felt on their faces; neither could understand what it meant. Ruby assumed that it was just because she was nervous and uncomfortable. Other than the fact that it was so odd and unexpected, Othella didn’t know what to think about the cold air on such a warm day. Neither one shared her thoughts about it, but they both experienced an ominous feeling because of it.
“I know what you mean. I feel the same way,” Ruby admitted with a mild groan. Looking at the three chicken coops in Maureen’s backyard made her nostalgic. It seemed like it had been years since she’d stood on her mama’s back porch steps and looked at her chicken coop. But it had only been a few months.
Othella touched Ruby’s arm and leaned closer, her stale breath on Ruby’s cheek. “I think Miss Mo’reen’s goin’ to be all right. One of her doctor man clients is with her now,” she reported. “White as her skin is, she’ll be black and blue for a few days, though.”
“Don’t forget I got a few bumps and lumps on various parts of my body from where he hit me, too,” Ruby whined.
“I know you do, but you are way younger and tougher than Miss Mo’reen. White women, especially old white women, they got real delicate skin and thin, brittle bones. A big, strong strappin’ girl like you can take a beatin’ better than any white woman ever could,” Othella decided.
“I can take a beatin’, but I ain’t goin’ to,” Ruby vowed. “And you know I mean it.”
Ruby’s tone of voice and her choice of words made Othella’s chest tighten. She was glad that her best friend was so fearless, and she felt sorry for anybody who crossed her. The most important thing was, fortunately, that she and Ruby were on the same side. Other than the situation with Ruby’s baby, Othella had never done anything to make her mad enough to “chastise” her. And Othella knew that if she wanted to keep her name from moving up any higher on Ruby’s shit-list in the future, she’d go out of her way to keep their friendship intact. But she knew now that she had to feed Ruby with a very long-handled spoon.
“Ruby, I love you like you are my own blood kin, and I don’t want to see nothin’ bad happen to you,” Othella declared.
Ruby gasped. “Somethin’ bad done already happened to me,” she reminded. “Wally Yoakum beat me like a dog.”
“I know, I know, and I don’t want it to get no worse. But the thing is, I think we need to be gettin’ ready to haul ass,” Othella insisted, her voice trembling. “We need to get away from this place before we do somethin’ crazy.”
“I don’t know about you, but
I
ain’t goin’ to do nothin’ crazy. Fat Fanny talked me out of it,” Ruby said.
Othella shook her head. “I ain’t talkin’ about Wally and that mess that he caused last night.”
Ruby’s eyes searched Othella’s. “Is there somethin’ else goin’ on that I don’t know about?” she asked, her eyes narrowed into snakelike slits. Othella hated when Ruby did that with her eyes. It made her look even more menacing, and that was one thing that she didn’t want to deal with right now.
“Ain’t nothin’ else goin’ on, other than what’s been botherin’ me for the past couple of weeks.” Othella stopped talking and looked off to the side. When she looked at Ruby again, she was disappointed to see that her eyes still looked like the slits of a snake’s.
“I just don’t want to keep doin’ what we been doin’ in this whorehouse no more. I can’t.” Othella stopped again. She was crying. “If we do stay on here, all I will be willin’ to do is help you and Mazel cook and clean,” she sobbed. She wiped a string of snot from her top lip with the back of her hand and sniffed hard. “I wasn’t meant to be no hoochie coochie woman!”
“But what about all of them boyfriends you had back home? You didn’t complain about bein’ no hoochie coochie woman then.”