Like One of the Family (27 page)

E
VERY ONCE IN A WHILE
you read about something that really stays with you, something that makes you keep faith in people in spite of how the world is always at sixes and sevens in the midst of so much hatred and greediness and pure downright meanness. Sometimes what you read is just a few lines tucked away in some far corner of a magazine…. Yes, isn't it strange that all the ugliness is spread across the front pages of the newspaper where you couldn't miss it if you wanted to! When it comes to findin' the good you have to look sharp between the ads and things in order to find it.

This piece that I read was in a magazine and it told all about how some white women down in Capetown, South Africa had done a truly fine and beautiful thing. Just readin' about it gave me a glowy feelin' and although they are in a way-far-off place, I felt real close to them!

Well, it happened like this. It seems that the lawmakers down in that part of the world are terrible hard and mean on the African people and any other colored people that might be around…. Yes, I know that Capetown is in Africa, but all the say-so is done by white folks. You know how they have been doin' about keepin' the Africans down and makin' it against the law for them to do anything that any citizen should have a perfect right to do!

Well, accordin' to this piece I was readin', it seems that they had kept most of the African people from votin', but that they allowed a few colored folks to vote a little bit. Well, after them lawmakers studied over it for a while, they decided that even this was too much and they passed a law declarin' that
no colored
could vote at all!

The day they were passin' the law in their courts, a lot of white women got together and marched before the courthouse with black mournin' bands stretched across their dresses. They were doin' this to show that they were mournin' the death of justice!

Some of the women went into the courtroom and sat down. And those black bands they were wearin' upset the court so much that the lawmakers made them take them off…. Oh yes, they took them off, but then they went in their pocketbooks and each one of them took a black artificial flower out of her purse and pinned it on her dress. That upset them, too, but they didn't try to make them take it off because it seems like a flower is supposed to be a decoration for ladies' dresses.

… Yes, I'd say it was just a small, orderly little way for them to show that all white people did not uphold those people in carry in' out their meanness and cruelty! But what got me was how those women were treated in the streets! Do you know what they did to them?

… Oh, yes, they did somethin'! A bunch of mean, devilish, ignorant white folks gathered in the streets and threw garbage and stones at those women! … You heard me! So, you see, it wasn't safe for them to even
quietly
and peaceably show what was on their minds!

Marge, that's why a lot of white people don't speak up when they see how ugly the darker peoples are treated…. Sure, they're afraid
they'll
be stoned to death or run out of town! That's why I feel so respectful about what those women have done.

It takes a lot of strength for a white person who has privileges to take a just stand for everybody's right. He knows that the bad folks will not spare him just 'cause he is
white!
… No, indeed, he will treat them like dirt, take their jobs, threaten his life and even take it sometimes!

But I think what is even more hurtful than that is the treatment they get from folks who are near to them like relatives and friends! They will give them a hard way to go, too, and shut them out of their homes and things like that! I imagine that a whole lot of white people do not go along with all this hatred and meanness that's goin' on, but they are scared stiff to speak out and maybe get garbage and stones thrown at them and perhaps lose their jobs and everything.

… Well, you're perfectly right! It does mean that they are not free either, or else they would be able to speak up as free citizens and say whatever happens to be on their minds without losin' their lives about it!

… Yes, I'm sorry that so many of them are frightened and hidin' their heads in the sand…. No, I don't think those white women that I mentioned were braver than anybody else. Who knows? Maybe they were kinda frightened when they did that. But I do believe that they were the kind of folks that would have felt more miserable if they hadn't done something to let everybody know where they stood and what was in their hearts. It would have cost them too much to be quiet and still and not listen to the voice of truth that was whisperin' to them. You know, Marge, some people
have
to do right even if it kills them!

Yes, readin' about that gave me a good feelin'. And wherever those women are tonight I wish them pleasant dreams and happy goin' in all that they might ever do because I know that it will always be something that is fine and helpful to everybody.

Marge, can't you just see them standin' up straight and proud, wearin' those black flowers! … No, I would not call them ladies although I know exactly what you mean. I call them
women
. And I feel as proud of them as I do of my folks who are fightin' to go to school and get all of
their
rights. There are a lot of good folks on this earth!

No, M
ARGE
, I don't think you have any more hard luck with men than anybody else. Neither do I go in for this downin' of men all the time like they are so many strange bein's or enemies. I think men are people the same as women and you will run into some bad characters in this life be they men or women!

… Well, I'm in perfect agreement with that! A lot of men
do
think that they are just the cock o' the walk and oughta have the last word about everything! There are also a lot of them that look down on women and make fun of everything we say and do, I'm tellin' you they really can rile me when they end up sayin' something like, “Women! can't live with 'em or without, bless their souls!” Of course, rilin' is what they usually got in mind when they say those things.

But, Marge, we women are also the first ones that get a crack at these men…. Well, I mean, ain't we the ones that get to raise them from the time they are babies? While it's true that a heap of women have drawn some sad pick of husbands, it is also true that they raise their sons to make somebody else a mighty poor kinda spouse!

It is not a easy thing to raise a boy so's that he'll be as close to right as you can make him! It takes more than a bit of commonsense and a whole lot of tryin'. If I had a son, I would want him to be fair and square and good and worthwhile and at the same time not let anybody walk over him. Well, you know how Marie can hang-dog her husband around! … No, that is not at all necessary, and he shouldn't allow it! I would raise a son of mine to think for himself and get a good feelin' for the right and wrong of things! And I think a little application of the golden rule toward everybody oughta get him off to a good start! … Sure, everybody
says
they live by the golden rule, but how many people really and truly treat other folks like they'd like to be treated themselves? Not too many, you can be sure, 'cause everybody wants the tip-top best for themselves and then a
little bit more!

I stopped off to see Tessie the other day in order to go over her club minutes. You know, I would never have gone if I thought Clarence was gonna be home from work that day! He can make me so mad 'til it ain't funny!

That man can say and do some of the worst kinda things! In the first place, he is
grumpy
. Yes, always frownin' up and mumblin' under his breath about nothin' in particular! … That alone would get me in a fistfight or a strait-jacket or both! I couldn't stand somebody goin', “mumble-mumble-make me sick-mumble-mumble-my dinner-mumble mumble-tired of this….” Yes, that's the way he goes on all the time! And don't let her have a visitor 'cause that's when he'll do it most!

It gets real embarrassin' to sit around pretendin' that you don't notice it. Lots of times when I've been there he would come walkin' in and say, “Where's my dinner?” before he would say good evenin' to anybody! And no matter how I try to recollect I can never remember a time when I could say I saw him laughin'!

The other day she went in the kitchen when he called her, and I could hear him sayin' “Where's that ten dollars I gave you last week?” And Tessie was whisperin' soft-like so's I couldn't hear what she was sayin', but it was plain to see that he was mad 'cause she wanted to pay out two dollars for club dues. When I left, I said, “Good night folks!” and he says, “mumble-mumble-night.” Like it was killin' him to even do that much. He acts that way with everybody but mostly with Tessie!

I'll never forget the time when I went out with his brother Wallace! He was supposed to be takin' me out on this bang-up dinner date! Honey, as soon as we got in the restaurant he says, “The hash is real good in this place, they make it better than any other restaurant.”

…. No, dear, I wasn't payin' him no mind! I hadn't asked him to take me out to dinner! Neither had I told him to pick out a expensive restaurant, so I went ahead and ordered me some spring lamb chops with a salad on the side! I can stand a
broke
man but I dearly detest a
cheap
man! And he was just pure
cheap!

Next thing he started lookin' in his newspaper for a good movie and the way he told it everything that was playin' at the high-priced picture houses was
no good
, but there was a couple of fine things showin' in the neighborhood places! So, since he'd asked me what I wanted to see, I picked out the exact one I had in mind. However, I didn't pick it out 'til I had ordered me a cocktail!

Then you should have heard him twistin' and turnin'! Started talkin' 'bout how long he'd been alone since his wife died and how he really
needed
somebody and things like that. I just sat there sippin' and noddin' in a understandin' way, but every once in a while I'd take a peek at my watch 'cause it was gettin' mighty close to bein' too late to catch a movie.

Next thing you know, he starts talkin' about
wastin'
our time. He says, “We're both grown and there ain't no need of us wastin' each other's time if we're not gonna get anywhere!” … Honey, I caught on real fast! He was lettin' me know that he didn't
want
to go to the movies unless I would come on out and declare how obligin' I was gonna be in the love-makin' department! … So I say, “It's gettin' late Wallace, I have a splittin' headache and I think I'd better get on back home before we waste any more time
or
money!” And that was that! … Yes, he took me home and when we got to my door he says, “Do you want to give me a little kiss?” I just looked at him real calm-like and says, “Get off of that act, Wallace. You can tell whether somebody wants to kiss you or not, you don't have to ask! Now look at me and tell me whether I want to kiss you or not!” He didn't say another word, all he did was turn around and go on home!

I hate any man to be creepin' and pinchin' along tryin' all kinds of tricks and foolishness with me…. Of course, he had money, Marge! He has been workin' on a good steady job for the last fifteen years and ain't never missed a day's work in all that time…. Tessie was the one who really talked me into goin' out with him 'cause she told me I ought to go out with a “good steady fellow who has a reliable job.”

I guess she was takin' a dig at Eddie 'cause he is a salesman and don't seem to be doin' so hot at sellin' them race-records and books. But I'll take Eddie any day and you can
have
Wallace! Eddie is the kind of man I like. He doesn't play any games or try no four-flushin'!

Whenever Eddie's in town I have a grand time and even a letter from, him is worth more than a whole evenin' with somebody else. Sometimes he will say, “Well, honey, there ain't but five dollars in the cash register so let's try and stretch it into a good time!” And he can figure out a lot of swell things to do. We will go dancin' and then have a few beers and take the subway home or sometimes walk even! But the whole time we're laughin' and talkin' and enjoyin' ourselves so much 'til you couldn't believe how happy I feel!

Some Sunday afternoons Eddie is
broke
and then we go walkin' and he will take me up to a pawnshop window and turn it into a regular movin' picture show…. Well, I mean he will make up stories about the things that he sees in the window and try to figure out who they belonged to in the first place and how they happen to be in the pawnshop window now…. Oh, foolishness stories like, “I see where some cat had to pawn his saxophone, now why do you think he did that?” And I'll say, “To pay his room-rent!” And he'll say, “No, he got a letter tellin' him that If he came to East Jalappi, there would be a fine old steady job waitin' for him, so he hocked his horn in order to buy a ticket, only when he got off the boat he didn't have no horn to play so the poor old guy is hangin' 'round Jalappi tryin' to save up enough money to buy him a second-hand horn, and this horn is hangin' here in the window tryin' to tempt some youngster into takin' up music so that he can get to Jalappi some day himself!”

I like him to tell me them pawnshop stories. He can tell electric-iron stories, radio stories, ring stories, suitcase stories, silverware stories, and all manner of tales about cocktail shakers, toasters, suits and overcoats, cameras and all such things as that!

Eddie will do me favors, too. Like goin' downtown to buy things that I don't have time to pick up, washin' dishes for me, mindin' my cousin's kids so's she can go to church and a whole lot of other things like that. But what I really like about him is that sometimes when I ask him to do a lot of things, one comin' right after the other, he will say, “You runnin' a good thing in the ground, and furthermore I don't feel like it, what do you take me for?” I'm glad when he does that, too, 'cause just like I don't want nobody walkin' all over me, I sure wouldn't have any use for a man that's gonna let people trample him!