Queen (120 page)

    of the door.

    Alec's presence and Little Bit's departure calmed the children, and

    Minnie organized everyone in helping with the dinner. She and Alec served

    the meat and beans, and cooked the turnip greens, while Freeland and

    Julie laid the table, and George did his best to tidy up, but he was tall

    for his age and got in everyone's way. As they ate their dinner, the

    youngsters complained of Little Bit, giggling that she was a little bit

    worse than useless, until Alec told them to shush. They sat together as

    a family for a while and told their father their stories of the day, and

    then one by one, Alec dispatched them to bed. Minnie and Julie slept in

    a small room at the back of the shack, and Freeland shared the shed with

    George. Alec said prayers with the young ones, tucked them in, and kissed

    them good night.

    He looked at the shack and shook his head. The children were right,

    Little Bit was a little bit worse than useless; the place looked like it

    hadn't been properly cleaned in weeks. He thought sadly of Tennie, who

    had kept the little house in such apple-pie order. He was too tired to

    tackle the mess, and went outside to sit on the porch with George, as was

    their evening ritual.

    The rain had eased and it was a pleasant night. Alec sat in his old

    rocking chair, and puffed on his pipe. George was comfortable on the

    steps. There was another, empty rocker next to Alec, but no one ever sat

    in that, for it had been Tennie's chair.

    They talked for a while about George's day, and the prospect of a

    plentiful crop that year, then lapsed into reflective silence.

    "Dey's need a mammy," George said after a while, and Alec nodded.

    "An' you need a wife," George said after another small silence.

    Alec knew that was true, but wasn't quite ready to admit it yet.

"Watch yo' mouth," he told George, affectionately cross.

    A WIFE AND MOTHER, LOVED 733

    George grinned, Alec was more than his employer, his boss; he was like

    a father to George, who had never known one.

    "Y' cain't leave it fo'ever," he said, untroubled by Alec's admonition.

    "You's gettin' old, an' one day you gwine wake up and be too old."

    "Hush yo' mouth, I said," Alec told him again, for George had hit a raw

    nerve. "Y'ain't so big I cain't whump you."

    George grinned again, for he was already bigger than Alec. "Like to see

    you try," he said. He got to his feet, said his good-nights to Alec, and

    went to the shed.

    Alec sat alone, puffing on his pipe and staring at the night. It was bad

    enough that Dora was always telling him to find another wife, and Massa

    Cherry, and most of his friends, but now even George was on about it.

    The image of a tiny, frightened woman with a child on her hip came into

    his mind, and he felt protective toward her, and intrigued by her, and

    wanted to know more about her.

"Dadgummit," he said softly.

    He saw her the following afternoon, back from a shopping expedition into

    town with Dora, to buy new clothes, and he smiled and waved, but she

    ignored him. Dora looked at him knowingly and shook her head. Alec

    decided not to speak to Queen for a few days, until she was in better

    temper, but he thought about her often when he was steering his ferryboat

    across the river, and once was in such a reverie that he almost forgot

    to slow down the boat and came close to smashing into the jetty. Only the

    shouts of his passengers brought his attention back to the business at

    hand.

Mr. Cherry returned from a business trip to Memphis, and was introduced

to his new housemaid. Usually his wife handled all the domestic matters,

but she was visiting relations in New York. Wearing a smart black dress

and white apron and cap, Queen looked lovely, fit and rested, but she was

still suspicious of kindness and generosity. Mr. Cherry bade her welcome

to his house, and hoped she would be happy with them. If she worked hard

and well, she could be with them for a long time.

"Oh, I ain't staying," Queen said, to Mr. Cherry's surprise.

No, sir, Massa. Soon as I's back on my feet, I's going North, to start a

flower shop."

734 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    It was the dream that she clung to, her defense against the world.

    "I understood from Dora that it was to be a more permanent situation," Mr.

    Cherry said, slightly offended by her manner.

    " No, sir," Queen insisted. "I ain't planning to be a kitchen skivvy all my

    life."

    The edge to her manner was so sharp and dismissive, she managed to rile

    even the tolerant Mr. Cherry. He nodded as if in approval of her ambition,

    but sent her back to work.

    "Be that as it may," he said, "I'm paying you as a maid, so perhaps you

    should be about your business."

    "Yes, suh!" Queen snapped impudently. "I's going now, suh! "

    Mr. Cherry very seldom lost his temper, but he came close to it, briefly.

    He went into his study and rang for Dora to find out if the new maid was

    always so bad-tempered.

She was. She worked hard and well, but no one, except occasionally Dora,

could get a smile from her. She snapped at everyone else for imagined

slights, and spent her free time in her room with Abner. She kept him there

when she was working, and sat him on her knee when she was eating her meals

in the kitchen. Gradually, she began to trust Dora sufficiently to keep an

eye on the boy, but otherwise she would not let anyone near him. Especially

not Alec.

    Alec found some pretext to call at the house almost every day, to discuss

    business with Mr. Cherry, or gossip in the kitchen with Dora. He tried hard

    to find some conversation with Queen but was always rebuffed.

    " You lookin' better," he said to her, as he often did, for he could not

    think of any other opening.

    She would sniff and find something else to do, or walk away, and if Abner

    was near she would pick him up and remove him from Alec's vicinity. Her

    exclusion of them began to get on everyone's nerves.

    But Abner excluded no one. A quiet and reserved child when he first

    arrived, he blossomed into a happy, chubby boy, had a smile and a laugh for

    everyone, and was especially fond of Alec.

He accepted his mother's absences at work, but was hap- A WIFE AND MOTHER, LOVED 735

piest when he was near her, or anyone. One warm day, he was sitting on a

rug in the garden, while Queen put carpets over the line and beat them,

to get the dust out of them. The sun was shining, the gardener was working

in the vegetable plot, and Abner was playing happily with a toy that Dora

had given him.

    Only Queen was immune to the general goodwill, and thwacked the carpets

    vigorously, as if she were beating everyone who had ever done her harm.

    Alec had been working on his land, and was on his way home for the midday

    meal. He had stopped in the kitchen to deliver some fresh beans to Dora,

    and when he came out he saw Queen. He decided to vary his ritual

    approach.

"Pretty day," he said, for it was the prettiest of days.

Queen didn't respond.

    "How's the job?" Alec asked. Queen was fed up. It was a pretty day, but

    she had to work, and didn't want to be reminded of it.

    "If'n you're looking for me to say thanks fo' getting me the job, or

    summat," she said, still hitting the carpet, "you can forget it. I'd have

    managed, somehow."

    "Sure you would," Alec agreed, but did not leave. He couldn't work out

    why he felt so protective toward this wretched, ill-mannered woman. His

    continued presence irritated Queen even more.

"Ain't you got a ferry to run?" she called as she beat.

    "Saturday, George and my boy Freeland do it. I work the land," he told

    her. "Ain't the biggest block of land, but with the ferry, we get by. "

    "How well you do or how well you don't do, ain't nothin' to do with me,"

    Queen snapped, refusing to be drawn by him. Because she wouldn't look at

    him, she didn't see that Abner had toddled over to Alec, and was tugging

    on his jacket for attention. Alec looked down at him.

"Well, now, young fella," he said, picking Abner up, what's your name?"

He knew Abner's name but had not been introduced, and wanted to make

contact with the boy.

    Queen turned and saw her beloved son in Alec's arms, and she panicked.

    She dropped the carpet beater and ran to Abner, grabbed him from Alec.

736 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    "You leave him be!" Queen shouted at Alec. "He's mine, and no one ever

    going to take him away from me."

    Alec was astonished by her ferocity, and Dora, who had come out to talk to

    the gardener, looked on in amazement.

    "Lord, woman, I was jus' askin' his name," Alec protested, but Queen hardly

    heard him.

    "He ain't no business of your'n," she cried, and took Abner into the house.

    Alec was baffled and hurt by Queen's reaction, and looked at Dora.

"Abner," Dora said calmly. "The chile's called Abner."

    Alec nodded, for he knew that. "Fine name fo' a boy," he said. "Biblical."

    He walked home to his shack puzzling at the depth of Queen's unhappiness,

    and while part of him wanted nothing more to do with her, part of him was

    determined to discover the reason for her distress. He lost his temper with

    Little Bit, who had taken it on herself to spank Julie for some trivial

    naughtiness, and he sacked her.

    Dora, who was as puzzled as Alec by Queen's behavior, took the gardener to

    task for the scrawny carrots he had picked.

    "Yes, m'm, Miss Dora, dey's the biggest I c'n find," the gardener said to

    placate her. He was used to her.

    But Abner cried, and Queen could not comfort him. Abner didn't understand

    why his mammy had dragged him away from the nice man. But then Abner was

    luckier than Queen. Abner knew he was home.

    "She been hurt bad," Dora told Alec. They were sitting in the kitchen,

    shelling peas. "She got a bellyful of anger against the world. 7'

    Alec nodded, popping more peas into his mouth than into the pan.

    "But Massa Cherry like a happy house," Dora cautioned. "She carry on like

    this, she won't have a job."

She slapped Alec's hand, for eating too many of the peas.

It came to a head at a formal dinner party that Mr. Cherry gave. A

gregarious and hospitable host, he kept a fine table, and enjoyed good

conversation. Because of his position in the county, his guests were of some

standing, though not necessarily of good manners.

    A WIFE AND MOTHER, LOVED 737

    Queen was serving, and a female guest snapped her fingers and demanded

    water. Perhaps it was the finger snap that grated on Queen, or perhaps

    she was tired, but when she poured the water, a little of it spilled on

    the woman's dress.

    The woman shouted at Queen impatiently, demanding cloths to clean up the

    mess, and turned to the other guests.

    "These nigras!" she said disparagingly. "Nothing's been the same since

    the war."

    The thoughtless comment made Mr. Cherry angry, and he was about to chide

    his guest, but Queen got there first.

    "I ain't a nigra!" she exclaimed. "My pappy was white, and his pappy

    afore him, all the way back to Ireland."

    Her explosion caused a startled silence at the dinner table, and in the

    silence Queen felt her frustration rising. It was true that she had as

    much Irish blood in her as black blood; she didn't feel Irish, and she

    wasn't treated as Irish, but why was she considered more black than

    Irish? She knew she'd said too much already, but she couldn't stop

    herself from saying more.

    " Just because I got an itty bit of black blood in me, you think you can

    snap yo' fingers at me like a dog and have me dancing to yo' beck and

    call." She was shouting now, unstoppable.

    - Well, if you take yo' family tree, you'll mebbe find you've got an

    itty-bitty little bit of black blood in you," she told the amazed woman.

    "And even if you ain't, that don't give you the right to call people

    names."

    - Queen, that will do!" Mr. Cherry told her sharply. "Since you cannot

    control yourself, go to the kitchen, and send Dora to serve, -

    It was a hard, sharp order, and Queen stared at him for a moment, still

    angry and unapologetic for what she done, but understanding that she had

    gone too far. Although she would admit it to no one, she had come to

    respect and admire Mr. Cherry, and was furious at herself for having

    embarrassed him. Pride would not let her apologize, and she did as she

    was told.

    Dora was as angry with Queen, and would have sacked her if she had not