Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1 (8 page)

me, I smelled flowers.

S u l l i v a n ’ s I s l a n d

41

“Hey now, Miss Susan! Lemme have a look at you!”

She held me back and looked hard in my face, smiling and

teasing.

“Now, iffin I find y’all another lady to help y’all’s momma—

and that’s a mighty big if—y’all gone let she have she privacy?”

“Harriet, I had nothing to do with it, cross my heart and

hope to die! Henry pulled that one without consulting a soul! I

promise!”

“Talk to them, will you, Harriet? I’m worn out from telling

them how to behave,” Daddy said.

The dogs stirred from their rest. Daddy walked down the

steps to scratch one of the dogs behind the ears.

“I know you wasn’t mixed up in this ’eah fool business, your

daddy done told me it was that Mr. Henry, but you ain’t always

been an angel yourself, have you now?”

“No, that’s true. But, shoot, Harriet, I’m thirteen now and,

believe me, when the women you send us walk out on Momma,

who do you think winds up having to do laundry and change

beds and pull the vacuum cleaner around the house?”

“You?”

“Yeah, me! And Maggie. If you find us somebody good, I’ll

make it my personal responsibility to make sure nobody messes

with them. Okay?”

“Listen to you! You sure enough are growing up, Miss

Susan. Soon you gone be a young lady! Getting so pretty and

tall! And them blue eyes! Lawd! Y’all gone break hearts!”

“Oh, gosh, thanks.”We smiled at each other for a moment.

“Harriet? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How do you get your vegetables to grow so good?”

“I’ll tell you a little secret.” She leaned down to me and

whispered in my ear, “I sing to the earth!” When she saw my

suspicion, she said it again. “Yes, I do! All us women out ’eah

sing to the earth. The earth is mother and mother provides for

her children. Ain’t that so?”

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D o r o t h e a B e n t o n F r a n k

“Yes, but . . .”

“Ain’t no but about it! All you be doing is singing praise to

your momma and she provides for y’all. Makes sense, now don’t it?”

“Whatever it is, it sure works. I’ve never seen watermelons

like the ones you grow in my whole life!”

“Gone get yourself one for y’all to have for supper.Tell your

momma I’ll be finding her somebody real quick, all right?

Maybe my cousin Livvie might be crazy enough to take the job.

I don’t know. Have to see.”

“All right! Thanks! Some corn too?”

“Sure enough.Take some corn and a few tomatoes for your

salad.”

I heard her chuckling at my boldness. She came down the

steps and stood next to my daddy. “That chile’s got a quick

mind,” I heard her say as I put the vegetables and fruit on the

floor of the backseat.

“And a hard head like a mule,” he answered.

We drove home, stopping at the Piggly Wiggly for a loaf of

bread and a head of lettuce. Next, he stopped at Simmon’s

Seafood on the causeway and bought five pounds of flounder

with some hushpuppy mix.

“Reckon you and Maggie can fix hushpuppies and baked

potatoes if me and the boys cook the fish? Y’all’s momma likely

laid up in the bed for the night.”

“Sure, Daddy. No problem.And we have corn, tomatoes and

watermelon!”

He just shook his head.

We were all deep in thought driving over the causeway.The

gong started ringing, signaling that the bridge was going to

open.We were right at the top of the bridge and could’ve made

it across, but Daddy decided not to race the swing arm barrier

like he usually did.We all got out of the car and leaned over the

railing to watch the big fishing boat come down the waterway

from the Isle of Palms, headed toward Charleston harbor.A man

and woman waved at us from the deck and we waved back and

S u l l i v a n ’ s I s l a n d

43

I thought how nice it would be to float across the water, smiling

to people as I passed them. I’d wear a white chiffon scarf around

my neck and huge sunglasses.

Daddy was in no hurry to get home, and who could blame

him? He couldn’t help it if he had a trigger temper, I just wished

he wouldn’t pull the trigger so often. He was so nice to Harriet

and all the women she sent us. It made me think about the way

most white folks treated colored people.

“Daddy? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, princess.What’s on your mind?”

“How come Sadie didn’t use the bathroom in the house?”

“Because your grandfather didn’t want her to,” he said.

“Because she’s colored?” I asked.

“Yep,” he answered.

“That stinks,”Timmy said.

“Sure does,” he said. “It’s stupid. I could rebuild the out-

house and make it brand-new, but I’m not doing it.”

“Why not?” I said.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Daddy said.

“You mean, that you won’t fix the outhouse because it

shouldn’t be there anyway?” I said.

“You got it,” he said. “It’s one of many things I can’t find a

way to discuss with your grandfather. There’s too much wrong

with this world.”

He was thinking about work, I guessed. The breeze was so

delicious I think we could’ve stood at the railing forever but the

boat had gone through and the bridge would be passable in a

few minutes. I wanted some more answers before Daddy got

out of the mood to talk to me.

“Daddy, why do we live with them?”

He sighed a great sigh, thinking for a minute before he

replied. Then, in an uncommon moment of tenderness, he put

his arm around my shoulder and the short version of the story

came out.

“When I was away in the war, your momma came back

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D o r o t h e a B e n t o n F r a n k

home to stay with them.We were just married and didn’t have

much money. Back then I was glad she had a place to live that

didn’t cost me anything. Then, when I came home I realized

how feeble they had become. They needed
us
to take care of

them.
Look, some things take time to change.Your grandfather

is a good man, you know? I mean, his point of view on segre-

gation is ridiculous, but other than that he’s a pretty good

guy.”

“I guess so, but he’s so grumpy these days,” I said.

“Yes, well, your grandma isn’t doing well and I suppose that

worries him a lot. And you children kick up such a ruckus all

the time.”

“Well, maybe the next one can use the bathroom inside,” I

said,“if you talk to him about it.”

“If the outhouse fell down, she’d have to,”Timmy said.

Daddy and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing,

and we all started laughing.

“Don’t worry, Daddy,” I said, “the notorious Hamilton kids

can handle the job!”

All the way home Timmy and I made crashing demolition

noises and Daddy sang along with the radio. Even though I was

scared to death of him half of the time, the other half of the time

I adored him, at least I did on that night.There was nothing like

a conspiracy to build loyalty.

I had a viable plan in place by Monday. Everyone had a role

except Maggie, who said she wouldn’t go near the outhouse

even if it was full of money. Finally, after I called her a traitor and

a priss-ass coward, she reluctantly agreed to be lookout and

stood guard at the back door. I had the sledgehammer, Timmy

had the crowbar and Henry had a shovel. We had to wait until

Tipa went to the grocery store and old Sophie was snoring.

Momma was resting. I didn’t think she cared if the whole house

came down, never mind the outhouse. She didn’t care about

anything in those days, including us. It was so hot and she was so

pregnant, she was half out of her mind.

S u l l i v a n ’ s I s l a n d

45

Our outhouse wasn’t much by outhouse design standards. It

was a two-seater and had two doors, but it was a breezy thing

that had somehow withstood all the storms and weather Mother

Nature had thrown at us over the decades. In the old days I

imagine all the old Island houses had one in the backyard, but by

1963 most of them had been torn down. Now ours would be

the next to go.

I gave the warm-up speech to my little brothers.

“Okay, y’all, when I count to three, start whacking this

thing in this spot right ’eah. Don’t clobber each other, don’t

clobber me and remember, we gotta work fast or Momma’s

gonna come out ’eah and cut our butts! If we all take a good hit

on this side of it, and that one wall caves in, the roof might fall

and then we’re done. We don’t want to rubbleize the thing; we

want it to fall down looking natural. Got it? No screaming!”

“Okay,” they said.

On three, we started swinging. As predicted, after a few

good hits, the wall came down and the whole thing collapsed

on an angle. I should be an engineer like Daddy, I thought.We

looked at each other, covered our mouths to repress screams of

delight and ran like all forty to put the tools away.We were cov-

ered in perspiration and just full of ourselves over the cleverness

and success of what we had done. Henry had redeemed himself

by helping and even Maggie was laughing with excitement.

When we came back in the yard from the garage, Alice Simpson

stepped out of the oleanders.We froze in position.

“I saw what you children did,” she said in a mocking,

singsong voice.

“So what?” Henry said.

“Shut up, Henry,” Timmy said, and turned to face our

accuser.“What of it? We have our reasons,” he added bravely.

I just looked at her. She was a washed-out blond with faded

blue eyes. My momma always said she looked like the cat that

swallowed the canary and I never really knew what that meant

until now.

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“I have my reasons too,” Mrs. Simpson said with the slip-

periest smile I’d ever seen. “My flower beds need weeding. If

you children would be willing to pull a few weeds, Hank

Hamilton will never have to hear about you destroying prop-

erty. It’s against the law, you know. I could call the authorities.”

“Mrs. Simpson, no offense,” I said, with all the courage of an

admiral,“you’re not calling any policeman, we ain’t pulling your

weeds and you go right ahead and tell Daddy. It’s fine with us,

right, y’all?”

“Right!”

Even Maggie had come down to join us by now. Although

she was nervous about what Tipa would say, she wasn’t gonna let

her brothers and sister be blackmailed by this horrible woman.

Old Alice was stunned that her threats didn’t scare us. She stood

there gasping for breath.

“Well! I never! I don’t know what’s come over children

today! First they take a sledgehammer to the outhouse and then

to be so rude!”

She spun around on the heel of her sandal and swung her

behind back through the oleanders. Why a woman of her age

would wear a top with no bra was incredible to me. She must’ve

been thirty-five if she was a day! And she called herself a real

estate agent! I wouldn’t rent a house from her in a hurricane.

We stood there planted like a patch of asparagus for a few

minutes until we heard her screen door slam.

“This calls for a celebration,” Maggie said. “Come on, let’s

walk down to Buddy’s.Timmy, if you’ll go in, I’ll buy everyone

a Coke!”

“Deal!” he said, and off we all went.

I turned back and looked at the pile of boards, tar paper and

rubble. The job was completed. It seemed as though the old

outhouse got so tired it just sat down. It didn’t look to me like a

gang of hoodlums had done this vicious thing. No. It looked

like a reasonable thing that could’ve happened all on its own. I

was satisfied.

S u l l i v a n ’ s I s l a n d

47

We were cloistered in our rooms or at friends’ houses until

suppertime, wanting Tipa to make his discovery without us

within his reach to scream at and question. No one said any-

thing about it at the table. We munched on fried chicken and

gobbled up a mountain of stewed tomatoes over rice and butter

beans as though everything was normal.We could’ve gotten an

Academy Award for our performance: Best Liars on Sullivan’s

Island. We children did the dishes, Momma went to bed, Tipa

went to see about old Sophie, the Queen of Fumes, and Daddy

went to the porch to read the paper.After drying a million forks

and plates, my brothers, Maggie and I went out on the porch to

catch the breeze.Tipa was sitting in one of the metal chairs and

Daddy was lying in the glider.

“Is that a fact?” I heard Daddy say.

“What are y’all talking about?” Henry said, racing Timmy

to the hammock.“I called it first!”

“Oh, move over, shrimp!” Timmy said, climbing in the

other end.

“I am not a shrimp!” Henry said.

“For the love of Pete, will you boys settle down?” Daddy

said, and not unpleasantly.“Sophie and y’all’s momma have gone

to bed!”

Maggie and I plopped in the porch swing at the other end

of the porch.

“Now, I’d like to ask you a question. Do any of you rascals