Black and White

by Dawn Lee McKenna

  “What if I want to press charges or something?”

  Jennifer shook her head. As she did, she saw someone standing on the corner across the street.

  “For what? Not liking you?” Anthony asked. “I don’t think that’s illegal. Or uncommon, either.”

  It was Reggie Goode, or Good Reggie Goode, as people used to call him. He was just standing there, both hands on his cane, smiling at her. He wore gray trousers with sharp creases, a white, short-sleeved shirt with a red bowtie, and a straw bowler.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jennifer said as she stepped off the sidewalk.

  As she crossed the street, she saw that his light skin was still unlined, though he had to be at least forty by now. She couldn’t see much of his short, curly hair, but what she saw was still black as night.

  Reggie Goode had been sent to prison at the age of sixteen, for accidentally killing another boy in a fight. He’d hit the boy, and the boy had struck his head on the edge of a piece of broken concrete. Jennifer couldn’t remember what the fight had been about.

  Reggie had become a little famous while still a prisoner, when the Chicago Tribune published one of his poems. A bigtime New York publisher published a slim volume of Reggie’s poems, and he was the darling of Civil Rights activists for a few months before the press moved on to someone else.

  When Reggie had been released at the age of twenty-four, he’d come back home to live with his aging mother. When she passed shortly after, he stayed on, and frequently volunteered with Claire, writing up heartfelt fundraising letters or penning poems that sometimes made the Florida or Alabama papers. Jennifer’s mother had adored Reggie. Jonah had once wondered aloud if Reggie were actually a little in love with Claire.

  Reggie was in an interesting position in Dismal. He was black, and vocal about Civil Rights and other hot social topics, but the rednecks left him alone. There were rumors that Reggie had killed an older, white man in prison when he was eighteen or nineteen. That he’d not only stabbed the man with the man’s own homemade knife, but also cut out his tongue and thrown it away.

  The rumors also said he’d killed the man for making advances. Nothing had ever been proven, no one in jail admitted to knowing anything, and Reggie had never been charged. He’d also been smart enough not to deny the rumors once he got home.

  His smile got wider as Jennifer stepped up onto the sidewalk. His teeth were still brilliantly white and perfectly straight.

  “Well, if it isn’t Miss Jenny, come home to little Dismal after all,” he said. His voice was gentle and smooth and almost aristocratic. As a kid, she’d loved the way he spoke.

  “How are you, Reggie?”

  “I’m quite fine, thank you,” he answered. “And how are you, my fair one?”

  “I’m good, thank you,” she replied with a smile. “It’s good to see you.”

  “And it’s good to see you as well, though I question the wisdom of your return.”

  “I wanted to come home. This is my home.”

  “It used to be, yes,” he replied. “But what is here for you to return to? Even your wonderful grandmother is gone.”

  Jennifer swallowed. “Friends. The house I grew up in.”

  “Yet your coming is already causing strife,” Reggie said, still smiling.

  “That? That’s not my fault.”

  “You come home to stir that pot that has been idling on a low flame, and all of the aromas, good and bad, start wafting through the air.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You are, at the very least, an unpleasant reminder, my Jenny.” His smile dimmed a bit, his warm, brown eyes lost the laughter that shone in them. “For the white man, you’re a reminder of ugliness and shame. For the black man, loss and injustice.”

  Jennifer tried to smile, but mostly failed. “Thanks. It’s so good to be home.”

  “Don’t misunderstand me. Your home is your birthright, and many of us are happy that you’ve come back to claim it. Inez, certainly. Young Daniel most assuredly.”

  Jennifer wasn’t in the mood to enlighten him about that one.

  “But you’re not just here to get back to the soil in which you were cultivated, are you, Jenny?” he asked. “You’ve come looking for reparation, have you not?”

  “If you mean answers, sure,” she said.

  He smiled at her again, then leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. He smelled of Afro Sheen and Aramis. When he straightened, he tipped his bowler to her with one long, manicured finger. Then he started walking away, his cane tapping gently beside him.

  “In the fullness of time, my Jenny,” he said over his shoulder. “All truth is revealed in the fullness of time.”

  It was Mama Tyne’s orchestration.

  The day after the incident in front of Patterson’s, Jennifer went over to the Tynes’ to visit with them for a while and immerse herself in their contented noise, rather than going home to the silence of her own house.

  Jennifer and Inez were in the bathroom bathing Isaac and Ruthie when Mama Tyne popped into the doorway.

  “Jenny. My baby. You need to get Inez out this house,” she’d said.

  “Oh, come on, Mama,” Inez laughed.

  “When?” Jennifer had asked the woman.

  “This evening, baby,” Mama had answered. “This girl’s not been out of the house without those kids in months.”

  “Now, Mama, you know that’s not true,” Inez said.

  “Grocery shopping don’t count, little girl.” Mama Tyne looked at Jennifer. “After you get these babies bathed, I’ll get them into bed. Y’all go do something.”

  “Okay,” Jennifer said.

  “Like what?” Inez asked. “I don’t feel like making myself presentable just so I can say I left the house.”

  “Why don’t you just come over to the house, then?” Jennifer asked her. “We can watch a movie or something?”

  “Y’all don’t have to get all that wild,” Mama Tyne said.

  “I’m tired, mama. Besides, Jen and I like just hanging out.”

  “We could make some caramel corn,” Jennifer said, smiling.

  “See, Mama? We’ll get good and wild.”

  Forty-five minutes later, they pulled into Jennifer’s driveway, and she groaned. Daniel’s truck was parked there.

  “So what?” Inez asked, laughing. “Daniel can eat caramel corn, too.”

  “I just—”

  “You just what? You don’t want me watching you two watch each other?”

  “No. We don’t do that,” Jennifer said. “I just don’t know how to be when we’re around each other.”

  “Be? Who else are you gonna be? Shut up and get out of the car.”

  Daniel was sitting on the top porch step, toothpick in his mouth, wearing jeans and an Alabama jersey.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey, Daniel,” answered Inez.

  “Hey. What’s up?” Jennifer asked.

  “What do you mean, what’s up?” He stood up.

  Jennifer shrugged. “You just come by to say hello or what?”

  Daniel squinted first at her, and then at Inez. “No, I did not,” he told Jennifer snippily. “Mama Tyne said you guys wanted me to come over and watch a movie.”

  Inez laughed. “Daniel. You’re a cop. Did you ask her why she was telling you that?”

  He looked at her, one side of his mouth curving upward. “Well, no, as a matter of fact.”

  Jennifer felt her face go warm.

  “So, what is she up to?” Daniel asked.

  Inez waved him off. “Ah, she just wants us all together again. All her little babies.” She looked at Jennifer. “So, are we gonna watch a movie or what?”

  “Yeah. Come on,” Jennifer said, walking to the door.

  “So, do you actually want me to stay,
or should I go hang out with Mama Tyne?”

  “Yes, we want you to stay,” Jennifer said. “Geez.”

  She unlocked and opened the door. She always left the lamp on by the front door, but she went ahead and turned on the overhead light as well, and led them inside.

  “You got a TV Guide around here?” Inez asked.

  “On the coffee table,” Jen answered. “You guys take your shoes off, get comfortable. I’m gonna go put my things away and change into some shorts or something.”

  Jennifer heard Inez telling Daniel about caramel corn as she walked down the dark hallway to her bedroom. She reached in and flipped the light switch, and felt her world tilt just a little.

  “Daniel!” she shouted without meaning to.

  She heard him hurrying to the hallway, and then she heard Inez right behind him.

  “What’s wrong?” Inez called.

  Jennifer swung around as she heard Daniel stop behind her. “Don’t let her in here!” she yelled.

  Daniel’s eyes widened as he took in the room for just a second.

  “What’s wrong, Jen?” Inez called, her tone now touched with alarm.

  Daniel spun around and grabbed Inez by the shoulders. “Go—just go back out there for a minute.”

  “Inez, go back to the living room!” Jennifer said.

  “Why? No. What’s wrong?”

  “Inez, just go!”

  “Inez, honey, just go wait for us—” Daniel said.

  Inez pushed past him, flinging his hand from her shoulder. “Get off me, Daniel! What’s go—”

  She looked first at Jennifer, like she was checking her for injury, but then she looked past Jennifer. She stopped dead, and her mouth hung open just a bit. Her eyes grew immediately, impossibly, wide as she looked at the wall in front of her.

  “Don’t look at them, Inez,” Jennifer said.

  “What is this?” Inez asked quietly.

  She slowly turned around where she stood, her eyes flicking from one wall to another. All of them covered with 8x10, black and white pictures. Daniel came into the room beside her, and they all looked around in silence.

  Every wall was covered with the pictures of dead people that they had loved.

  Jennifer looked over at Inez, and she felt helpless as she watched tears slide down her beautiful friend’s beautiful face, as she watched her walk slowly over to the wall where Jennifer’s dresser was.

  Just at Inez’s eye level was a picture of Jonah lying on a sheet on the ground. His head had turned toward the camera, and his eyes were open, looking at nothing, looking surprised. A hank of his blond hair had fallen across his forehead, and there was a smear of blood in it.

  Inez reached out slowly, her hand trembling, and touched the photograph.

  “Inez, let’s go out of the room,” Daniel said.

  She turned around, looked first at him, then at Jennifer. “What the hell is happening?” she asked softly. “Why are these here?”

  Jennifer swallowed hard. “I don’t know.”

  “Where’d they come from?”

  Jennifer glanced over at Daniel, then back at Inez. “They were in the kitchen.”

  “Were the doors locked when you left?” Daniel asked her.

  “Yeah, but they’re just flimsy old locks.”

  “You telling me somebody came in here, come in Grammy’s house, and put these up on your wall?” Inez asked, incredulous. Her reddish-brown curls bobbed, and there was a shiny line from her nose to her upper lip.

  Jennifer looked at Daniel.

  “Why do you even have these things?” Inez asked her, bending at the waist to make Jennifer look at her.

  “I got them from Ray.”

  Inez looked from one to the other. “Y’all aren’t seeing each other; you’re looking for them, aren’t you?” She looked at Daniel. “Aren’t you?”

  “Not really,” answered Jennifer. “I just—we wanted to look at the file.”

  Inez pointed over her shoulder at the wall behind her. “And who was in your house? In your bedroom? Putting pictures of our people all over your walls?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know,” she said softly.

  “I’m getting these down,” Daniel said. “Do you have any gloves?”

  “Just Grandma’s dishwashing gloves.”

  He nodded, then walked out of the room. Jennifer looked at Inez. Tall, stunning Inez, who looked like a frail flower suddenly, as she stared at another picture of Jonah.

  “Inez…” Jennifer started.

  Inez looked at her, her face stricken, then suddenly covered her mouth and ran out of the room.

  Jennifer sat on the side of the old tub, holding a yellow-flowered hand towel in her lap. Inez spat a mouthful of water into the sink, then cupped her hand under the faucet to get another. She swished it around in her mouth before spitting it out, too, then splashed a couple of handfuls of water over her face. The light reflected in a rivulet that ran from her delicate chin.

  She turned off the water and looked at Jennifer, and Jennifer handed her the hand towel. Inez took it and held it to her face for a moment, then sat down on the side of the tub next to Jennifer, their shoulders touching.

  “I’m sorry,” Jennifer said softly. Inez nodded. “What can I do?”

  “You can shoot ’em in their face,” Inez answered quietly. “Just shoot ’em, ’cause people like that have no right to live in this world.”

  Jennifer swallowed. She had no response to that. Inez looked over at her.

  “That person was in this house,” she said. “In your room, where you sleep and stand around naked and don’t look for evil people to be under your bed. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes.” Jennifer took the hand towel from Inez, just for something to do, somewhere else to look. She stood up and arranged it on the pink porcelain towel bar.

  “I need a drink,” Inez said behind her. Jennifer turned around. “Tell me Grammy made some of her blackberry wine before she died.”

  Jennifer pulled a full quart jar down from a shelf in one of the kitchen cupboards, then turned and showed it to Inez, who sat at the table.

  “Blackberry wine?” Inez asked.

  “Elderberry tincture,” Jen answered. “There’s no wine.”

  “Oh, that stuff tasted so awful,” Inez said. “What’s in it?”

  “Vodka.”

  “Gimme some.”

  Jennifer reached into another cupboard and got two small glasses down. She poured them each an inch or two, then handed Inez a glass as Daniel walked into the kitchen with the accordion file.

  “I’ll give these to Ray in the morning,” he said, putting the file on the counter.

  “Oh, this is foul!” Inez exclaimed.

  Jennifer had just taken a mouthful, and she winced as she swallowed.

  “What is that?” Daniel asked.

  “Elderberry tincture,” Inez answered.

  He put his hands on his hips. “Y’all have colds, now?”

  Jennifer coughed. Inez held out her empty glass. Daniel took it and held it out to Jennifer, who poured another couple of glugs into it. Daniel took a swallow, then coughed as he handed it to Inez.

  “Oh, man,” he said roughly. “Is that grain alcohol?”

  “Vodka,” Jennifer said.

  “I’ll take some.”

  Jennifer got another glass and poured some tincture into it, then handed it to him. He pulled a .38 from the back waistband of his jeans and set it on the counter.

  “You just carry that around now, like you’re on Streets of San Francisco?” Inez asked.

  “No, wiseass. I got it out of the truck while you were in the bathroom.” He took a swallow of the tincture, then winced as it went down. “Whoo. That’s hard.”

&nbs
p; He shook his head and took another sip, then looked at Jennifer. “The lock on the utility room door is all scratched up, and it was unlocked when I checked it. Did you open it before you went to Inez’s house?”

  “No.” Jennifer shook her head. “I never use it. I just use this door,” she said, pointing behind her at the back door.

  “Well, I’m sure there are all kinds of prints all over it, but we can see if Ray will send somebody out to dust the knob and the door.”

  Jennifer shook her head. “It’ll still be there tomorrow morning. I really want to try to keep this as quiet as we can. Ray’s gonna flip to begin with, and for all we know, the person that did this isn’t even one of the guys that killed Mom and the boys.”

  “But it probably is.”

  “Probably. But it could have just been someone who broke in here to ransack the house or cut up my underwear, whatever, just to scare me, and they saw those pictures and got a better idea.”

  “This is crazy,” Inez said. “I can’t believe we have to talk about stuff like this. Again. Still.”

  “I know,” Jennifer said. “I’m sorry.”

  Inez looked at the two of them, then looked around the kitchen slowly. “Man, I love this house. I always loved this house. We had some good times here, y’all.”

  Jennifer nodded. “We’ll have more.”

  “Yeah.” Inez finished her glass, and held out her other hand, wiggling her fingers. Jennifer handed her the jar. “Hey, you remember the time you polished your doll baby black?”

  The two women smiled. Daniel looked at Inez. “I don’t know this story.”

  “Yeah, you do,” Inez said, waving him off.

  “We were like six or seven,” Jennifer said. “I think it was only the second or third time Inez had been over. Anyway, when she had been over before, I had felt badly when we were playing dolls, because all my dolls were white.”

  “So, the next time I come over here with Mama, we go in the room, and this girl’s gone and painted one of her dolls black with Grammy’s shoe polish. Mama never did get it all out of my dress.”

  Jennifer smiled and looked over at Daniel. He was smiling at the floor, but it looked like a sad smile, somehow.