Hidden Memories

by Robin Allen

“I know,” Sage said. “My schedule can be erratic. I was just thinking if I hadn’t run into you at the mall, we might not be doing this.”

  “We were always running into each other,” Ramion said, remembering the weekend that changed his life.

  * * * * *

  It happened like a summer shower, unexpectedly and unplanned. They ran into each other at Lenox Mall on a Saturday afternoon. Sage was riding the escalator up to the main level of the mall, and Ramion was riding down to the food court. Passing each other, they spoke, and Ramion impulsively asked her to wait for him at the top of the escalator.

  While riding back up, Ramion knew his life was about to change. He felt a magnetic pull every time he saw her and imagined touching her skin, tasting her lips. He wanted her and knew, from some voice within, that he needed her.

  “You’re not going to call me, are you?” Ramion asked when he met her at the top of the escalator.

  “I was waiting for you to call me,” Sage said with a teasing smile.

  Over café au lait and beignets, talking and laughing, their long-simmering attraction began to bud. Saturday turned into Sunday and, before the weekend was over, their relationship was in full bloom.

  * * * * *

  Ramion pulled his black 750 BMW into his parents’ driveway. “Eventually we were going to stop running from each other,” he said.

  “Oh, they’re beautiful,” Sage said, indicating the rows of flowers decorating the yard.

  “Mama probably spends three to four hours a day in the yard.”

  “It shows,” Sage said. She paused before continuing, “I’m a little nervous.”

  “My parents are going to love you. I promise you.” Hearing the familiar squeak of the screen door opening, Ramion looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway, waving at them. “There’s Mama,” Ramion said. “See? They can’t wait to meet you.”

  Ramion stepped out of the car and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Sage. After climbing out, she reached back inside to retrieve the rum cake she had baked for dessert.

  They walked up the steps of the tidy red-brick ranch house with black shutters around the windows. “Hello, hello!” Linnell called, clapping her hands together in excited welcome.

  “Hey, Mama!” Ramion said, as he hugged and kissed his mother on the cheek. Short and a bit stout, Linnell had to reach up to put her arms around her son’s waist. Her nose was flat and broad, her black eyes deep-set, and her lips full and wide. Her hair was completely grey and softly fluffed around her chestnut-brown face. She never missed her weekly appointment with her beautician, who roller-set her hair. Linnell had been wearing the same hairstyle for more than twenty years.

  Ramion introduced the two women.

  “So good to meet you, Sage,” Linnell said. She took one of Sage’s hands, and then changed her mind and impulsively hugged her.

  “I’m happy to meet you too,” Sage said. “Ramion talks a lot about his family.” Handing Linnell the Tupperware container, Sage said, “Here’s a cake I made for dessert.”

  “Honey, you didn’t have to do that.”

  “I wanted to,” Sage said. “It’s rum cake. I hope everyone will like it.”

  “Umm, smells delicious,” Linnell said. “Come on in. Olivia and the kids are downstairs.”

  Ramion and Sage smelled collard greens and sweet potato pie as they entered the house. They followed Linnell down the narrow hall, passing the living room and dining room along the way. The large kitchen was bright and cheery, decorated in yellow-and-green wallpaper scripted with the names of herbs and spices. The yellow- and white-tiled floor complemented the yellow valances draping the windows.

  Ramion peeked inside the porcelain pots on the stove. Some food was prepared, while other dishes were still cooking. He tasted a forkful of collard greens.

  “Stay out of my pots, Ramey. You know better,” Linnell chided.

  “I had to taste the greens, Ma. They’re just right.”

  “I know, boy. I been cooking greens longer than you been on this earth.”

  Raymond Sandidge came into the kitchen followed by his seven-year-old grandson, Richie. “Hey, son. About time you got here,” he said, looking at his watch. Raymond Sandidge was narrowly built and, unlike his wife, his body and hair had thinned over the years.

  “Hi, Pops. This is Sage,” Ramion said after a quick hug.

  Sage extended her hand, and Raymond reluctantly shook her hand. “I’m from the old school, I’m afraid. Don’t much like shaking ladies’ hands, but it’s good to meet you. Ramion has talked a lot about you.”

  Sage smiled her greeting at the deep-brown man wearing bifocal glasses. “How are you, Mr. Sandidge?”

  “I’m doing fine. I’ve watched two football games, and I can’t wait for the big game at eight.”

  “Hi, Uncle Ramey,” Richie said.

  “Hey, Richie, what’s happening, little man?” Ramion asked, peering down at his nephew who was tall for his age. Richie was caramel brown, and his black curly hair was cropped on the top and clipped close around his ears and the back of his head.

  “Nothing much.” Suddenly his black eyes lit up behind his brown-framed, square-lens glasses. “We don’t have to go back to school until next week,” he smiled, revealing the gap left by two missing front teeth.

  “That’s great. You deserve a break,” Ramion said.

  Richie looked at Sage and asked, “Are you Uncle Ramey’s new girlfriend?”

  “Yes, I suppose,” Sage replied.

  “I didn’t like his other girlfriend,” Richie said.

  “Humph, neither did I,” Raymond said. “Edwinna looked down on us. Miss High and Mighty.”

  “That’s not polite,” Linnell said.

  “It’s certainly something you’ve said yourself many times,” Raymond said to his wife of thirty-seven years.

  “Go on downstairs,” she said, moving her hands in a shooing motion. “Out of my kitchen. No offense, Sage, but I’m trying to get dinner ready.”

  “I understand,” Sage said, realizing full well that Linnell was trying to get out of an awkward moment.

  Downstairs in the den, Sage met Ramion’s sister, Olivia, and her four-year-old daughter, Courtney. Olivia was petite and wore her reddish-brown hair in an ear-length bob.

  The den revealed a lot about the Sandidge family. From the comfortable, well-worn red-and-black plaid sofa and love seat and a lazy chair positioned diagonally from the 40-inch television, it was obviously a room where the family came together. From a bookcase brimming with VCR tapes, most of them old movies like Casablanca, Duel in the Sun, Stormy Weather, Carmen, Imitation of Life and The Count of Monte Cristo, Sage learned that Ramion’s parents appreciated quality.

  Olivia motioned for Sage to sit next to her on the sofa while she pulled out the photo albums filled with family pictures chronicling their lives from childhood to the present. As they flipped through the album, Ramion commented or laughed about the pictures or pleaded with his sister to turn the page. Sage found herself enjoying the trek through Ramion’s childhood.

  The stroll down memory lane was interrupted when Linnell appeared on the steps, calling for them to come and eat.

  Upstairs in the dining room, they sat down at the table, ready to devour the food before them. Linnell had prepared a virtual feast from turkey, ham, oyster-and-cornbread stuffing to yams, greens, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, cornbread and homemade rolls.

  Before eating, the family held hands while Raymond began the grace, and each member added his or her individual blessing. Sage enjoyed the family’s ritual of passing the food so each person could serve themself, then waiting until everyone’s plate was filled before they began eating together. Sage was comfortable with Ramion’s family, although observing the close family bond reminded her of the missing piece in the puzzle in her life.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago since Sage had eaten dinner with her family. She remembered
sitting at the kitchen table with her brother and sister, Aaron and Ava, her mother busy at the stove, fixing their plates. Her stepfather worked the night shift at the car plant, so he wasn’t home for dinner. Things were always better, Sage recalled, when her stepfather wasn’t around to leer at her, his eyes hungry with desire.

  Sage was drawn back to the present as Ramion’s family talked about the election, the movies and the latest trends in music. Linnell lamented that “rap music is ruining our kids”, and the conversation invariably went back to politics.

  “I’m glad you didn’t let that bomb scare you away from the campaign,” Raymond said.

  “I thought about it for a split second.”

  “In that split second, I would have said ‘see ya, gotta go’,” Olivia said, laughing. She added, “Seriously, I would have been terrified.”

  “I’m just glad it all worked out,” Linnell said.

  “So what does the new governor plan to do about the flag?” Raymond asked. “There was a lot of talk about the flag for a while, and then it died down.”

  “Cameron is determined to change the flag,” Sage said. “It’s a priority of his.”

  “I don’t think he would have been elected if he had made that an issue,” Olivia said.

  “That’s why we avoided talking about it as much as possible,” Sage explained.

  “When Miller tried to change the flag, supporters of the old flag came out the woodwork. Those people will do anything to keep that old Confederate flag,” Raymond commented.

  Olivia said, “They act like that flag is something to be proud of. I don’t understand it. It’s so racist.”

  “Well, times are a-changing,” Linnell said. “And some people will always be opposed to change.”

  “Which is why Governor Hudson will be risking his political career if he pursues this,” Raymond said.

  “He knows that,” Sage said.

  “Well, that man sure can give a speech. He just wows you with his words,” Linnell said enthusiastically. Turning toward Sage, she moved the conversation closer to home. “I’m sure Ramion has told you about his plans to go into politics.” With a soft chuckle, she said, “Maybe one day he’ll run Mr. Hudson out of office. I always knew he would make a fine lawyer. When he was a little boy he used to argue with me about everything.”

  “We used to call him little Perry Mason,” Raymond said. “He and Olivia would go at it. There wasn’t anything they wouldn’t debate. Sometimes I’d forget they were just kids.”

  “Smart kids. All my kids were good students, even Mackie,” Linnell said. “Did Ramion tell you that he graduated from high school a year early?”

  “No. I’m not surprised, though,” Sage replied. “As a matter of fact, I graduated a year early too.”

  “Ain’t that something,” Linnell said. “Ramion was the youngest to graduate from law school too. Only twenty-three! Graduated from Harvard Law School. That’s the best school in the country. He tell you that?”

  “Yes ma’am,” Sage said. “I saw his degree at his office.”

  “I was so proud to frame his degrees. Did he tell you he was third…”

  Ramion cleared his throat. “Mama, please. Enough.”

  “Well, I know you’re not going to brag about your accomplishments, so I thought I’d fill her in.”

  “Actually, Ramion has told me a lot about himself and his family,” Sage said.

  “Well, I suppose I do go on,” Linnell said. “I just can’t help myself. I’m so proud of him. He worked so hard to put himself through school.”

  “Mama, I’m sure Sage knows all that stuff,” Olivia said. “Besides, you take one look at my brother, and you know he’s got it going on. And you know he knows it.”

  “All right, Olivia, you don’t have to get in on it,” Ramion said.

  “Okay, I’ll hush up,” Linnell said, before sipping from her glass of iced tea.

  When conversation turned to the youngest son, Mackie, Sage felt tension creep into the room. Raymond kept his eyes glued to his plate, as Linnell chattered on and on about Mackie’s talents as a basketball player.

  “Mackie just couldn’t face the fact that his playing days were over when he hurt his leg,” Olivia said, not putting much sympathy in her tone.

  “You got to know when to give up,” Raymond said. “There was no way he was going to make it to the NBA.”

  “You never give up on your child,” Linnell said, chastising her husband with her eyes. Raymond looked away.

  It was obvious that their young son was a source of great pain and disappointment. Sage wanted to say something soothing and comforting, but knew it wasn’t her place to speak on family matters.

  Looking over at Ramion, Olivia asked, “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “Last Saturday. I took him some money and some new books,” Ramion replied. “I hate it, though. It’s not fair he got so much time.”

  Raymond said, “Son, it’s not your fault.”

  “I can’t bear to see him there. Locked up. Not my baby brother,” Olivia said.

  Silence fell thick and heavy on the room until Courtney suddenly asked, “What does Barney eat for Thanksgiving?”

  Laugher erupted. Courtney’s innocent question had the refreshing effect of a window thrown open.

  “He eats rocks and grass,” Richie explained authoritatively. “That’s what dinosaurs eat. That’s just the way it is.”

  Laughter filled the room again, and Sage looked around with an approving smile. Richie didn’t know it, but he’d not only explained dinosaurs, he’d explained his family. They had known adversity and tragedy, but they would survive because that was part of living and loving. That’s just the way it was.

  * * * * *

  After dessert and more family conversation, Ramion and Sage bid his family good night. Backing out of the driveway, Ramion pressed the button on the car’s CD player, and the plaintive sounds of Babyface filled the air.

  Sage leaned back against the plush leather seat and looked over at him. “I really like your family. I felt so at home with them.”

  “I knew you would fit right in.”

  “Can I call you Ramey too?” Sage said with a soft giggle.

  “If you want to,” he said with a light smile.

  “It didn’t sound like anyone cared for Edwinna but you.”

  “Past tense. I’m glad to be free of her and her father. Don’t get me wrong. I like Edwin. He’s done a lot for me. I learned a lot working for him. But he can be controlling.”

  Changing the subject, Sage asked, “What did your father mean when he said it’s not your fault about your brother?”

  Ramion’s hands tightened visibly on the steering wheel. “I’ll tell you about it one day.”

  “Okay,” Sage said. “I’m really tired, honey. I don’t feel like going to a jazz club.”

  “I know,” Ramion said, turning out of the subdivision. “Drop you at your house or take you to mine?”

  “My house.”

  “Good. I want to wake up beside you. You have this crazy habit of going home in the middle of the night.” He kissed the back of her hand.

  “I can’t help it,” Sage said.

  * * * * *

  Marika rushed into her boss’s office. “Sage, come quick. Ramion’s on TV.”

  “He is?” Sage questioned, as she leaped up and followed Marika into the conference room where a large television hung on the corner wall.

  Television reporters and cameramen gathered around Ramion and his client, Sidney Royster, who had been charged with the murder of his ex-wife.

  “Mr. Sandidge, why do you think the jury found your client not guilty?”

  Ramion flashed a grin. “Because he is innocent. The evidence was circumstantial. The prosecution’s case was based entirely on hearsay. And, finally, there was no concrete evidence linking my client with his ex-wife’s death,” Ramion said.

  The cameras zoomed back to the street reporter, and Marika turn
ed down the volume on the television. “Umh, umh, umh, Ramion is really making a reputation for himself. This is the fourth high-profile case he’s won.”

  “You’re right. And I’m going to treat him to dinner. Someplace special. Marika, call the Mansion and make reservations for two for tomorrow night.”

  * * * * *

  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Sage was awakened by the ringing phone. It was three o’clock in the morning. It didn’t ring two times before she picked up the receiver, her stomach nervously fluttering with anticipation of the voice on the other end. “Hello,” she grumbled sleepily.

  “Hi, Sage!” Ava said cheerfully. “Did I wake you?”

  “What else would I be doing at three in the morning?” Sage growled.

  “Maybe the wild thing,” Ava teased. “Will you come get me?”

  Ava was supposed to be at home in Baltimore, Maryland. Sage sat up in bed and turned on the light. “Where are you?”

  “At the bus station.”

  “In Atlanta?”

  “Hurry! The people here are creepy!”

  “What are you doing here?” Sage asked.

  “I’ll tell you everything when you pick me up.”

  “Give me a half hour.”

  Sage got out of bed and went into the bathroom. She quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She took off her blue satin nightshirt and slipped on a sweater and black jeans, then grabbed her purse and keys and went out the door after activating the security alarm.

  A thousand questions turned in her mind as she drove to pick up her sister. She hadn’t seen Ava since July when she came down with her twin brother, Aaron, for their annual summer visit.

  An hour after being awakened, Sage pulled her red two-door 450 Mercedes-Benz in front of the Greyhound bus station. She felt a little nervous getting out of her car, observing the street people lurking around the station. She passed several men passed out on the street, the stench of liquor in the air. An old toothless woman screamed at her, “Take me home, take me home.”

  Another homeless woman spoke with her eyes, pleading for money with a tattered hat in her hand. Sage fished in her purse and tossed a $5 bill into the woman’s tattered bat.

  “What about me, sister?” a shrill voice screamed as Sage opened the door of the bus station and went inside.