by Ward, Vivian
“You’ll see when we get there,” I smiled at her. She didn’t look amused. “I’m only kidding. I’ll explain on the way there, but we need to get moving so we’re not late.”
During the drive to the restaurant, Judy was quiet as she peered out the window. I couldn’t help but notice that she was likely wearing her best dress, which was a little dated and fraying at the edges.
“The two of you look beautiful this evening,” I complimented her.
“Thank you. Where are we going?”
“There’s a restaurant that a business partner of mine owns about an hour from here. I figured we could go there, enjoy the food and get better acquainted.”
As I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw that Natalie had a sour look on her face as we drove down the highway.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
“What? Why?”
“Your daughter. She doesn’t look too happy.”
Judy glanced in the backseat and signed something to her daughter. They continued signing for a few moments before she finally turned around.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes,” she smiled.
At the restaurant, Natalie’s behavior grew increasingly more annoyed. Originally, I’d thought maybe she was hungry and wanted dinner, but as the night wore on, it was apparent that wasn’t the case. I watched as her and Judy signed to each other throughout most of the meal. Natalie’s signing appeared hostile as Judy frantically conversed with her.
“What are you two saying?” I finally asked.
“She’s not happy that we’re here. She thinks we’re on a date, and she says it’s too soon to date anyone. I told her that we’re only friends, but she doesn’t understand.”
“Can I ask why she is deaf? Was she born that way?”
“We think so. When she was near the age when most babies begin to talk, we couldn’t get her to say momma or dada. She was almost a year old before we made an appointment to take her to see the doctor.”
“What did he say?”
“Initially he said that some babies have slow speech development, but we scheduled a follow-up appointment when she was 15 months old. When she still wasn’t speaking, he performed auditory testing and determined that she was deaf.”
“It’s a shame that she’s never been able to hear.”
“I know, but God still gave me the best gift any woman could ask for. My Nat is an angel from up above.”
“Can she read lips?”
“No, she doesn’t know how to do that. They generally teach that at deaf schools, but her father and I could never afford to send her to one so she only knows how to sign. I home school her so she knows basic skills like reading, writing and math.”
“Can you tell her something for me? Tell her that I said we’re only friends and that I just wanted some company for dinner tonight.”
Judy started signing to her daughter again, but she only seemed to grow angrier.
“She said that’s not true and she doesn’t like me taking her on dates.”
“Oh, man,” I sighed. “Maybe she’ll lighten up before the evening’s over. I’m sorry if I’ve caused any problems between the two of you.”
“Don’t apologize. I know you have good intentions, or so I think.”
As the night wore on, Judy told me a lot about her life. It was fascinating how talented she was, and her daughter, too. I could definitely see where Natalie picked up her abilities from. The evening was smooth and relaxed, except for Natalie. It was obvious that she was protective of her mom. Listening to Judy talk, I came to the realization that she had an old soul; well beyond her years. She was a beautiful woman—inside and out. Thomas was a very lucky man. If I could be half as lucky, I’d be the happiest man on earth.
On the way home, I made a confession to Judy.
“I’d like to take the two of you out again, and hopefully make Natalie happy. I know she didn’t have much fun tonight, but I’d like to take her someplace where she could enjoy herself.”
“Jeff, I know you mean no harm, but I don’t think that’s something she’d be up to. It was sweet of you to take us out to dinner. The food was fantastic, and I had a good time.”
“Do you and Natalie go to church every Sunday?”
“Why do you ask?” she sounded suspect.
“It seems like you’re heavily involved in your fellowship. I could only assume that you go regularly.”
“We worship the Lord every day, not just Sunday’s,” she replied with a smile.
“Would it be all right if I came to church with you two this Sunday?”
It was obvious that my question caught her off guard.
“I…no, that would be a bad idea,” she appeared confused at first before telling me no.
“Why?”
“Jeff, haven’t you noticed how segregated this town is? Our church is predominately black. You should attend one of the white churches if you’d like to praise God.”
“Would your church take offense to me coming to a service?”
“My church? No, my church wouldn’t mind, but you’d receive a lot of backlash from the whites in this town.”
“I don’t care what others think. Do you?”
“If I took you to that church, do you know what the repercussions would be? We’d be looked down upon in the worst way possible in the eyes of the town. And again, it wouldn’t be my church members, it would be people of your color.”
“You let me handle that problem if and when it arises. Judy, despite what you think, I’m not a bad guy.”
“Oh? I don’t know if I’d say that.”
“Why do you mean?”
“You trying to come in and low ball me on the house after my husband died. That was a pretty cheap thing to do, and the comments you made. You didn’t have to be so…”
“Such a jerk?”
“Yeah, a jerk.”
“I can’t apologize enough for that, Judy. I’m sorry. Now about this Sunday, can I come with you?”
“Service begins at 9 AM, but I have to be there early to help set up,” she said reluctantly.
“I’ll be here at 8,” I said as I pulled into her driveway.
“If you’re late, I’ll leave without you,” she warned as she and Natalie made it inside. “And Jeff? Thank you again for the dinner, it was very nice.”
§
After my non-date with Jeff, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. We’d had such a good time at dinner, and he was very patient with Natalie and her nonsense. Most men would’ve gotten angry over her behavior, but he surprised me quite a bit. I could already hear the talk of the town after he attends church with me this Sunday. It’s a shame. In the eyes of the Lord, we’re all the same, but not in the eyes of the people.
I must admit, Jeff is punctual. When Sunday rolled around, he wasn’t a second late to pick Nat and me up for service. This time, he was driving the SUV again.
“I just need to carry a couple of more things,” I told him as I sat the cookie trays in the car.
“Here, let me help you,” he insisted and followed me inside the house.
I handed him the pie, leaving me only the cake to carry. “I have to get Nat real quick. We’ll be right out.”
While Natalie wasn’t happy that Jeff was joining us, she was excited to partake in the Easter activities. She raced out of the car as fast as she could to join her youth class while Jeff helped me carry things inside. Everyone turned and stared as he made his way in behind me. The First Christian Church wasn’t racist, but a white man had never once attended a service there in all the church’s history. After introducing him to everyone, the service got underway as we opened our Bibles and praised God for the glorious day. When church was over, Jeff offered to come inside the house for a little while, but I declined. Natalie was having a great day and I wanted to spend some quality time together.
Drifting off to sleep that night, I heard something—or someone. I was so sleepy that it was hard to te
ll. Listening more carefully, I still couldn’t tell what I was hearing. Our outside light had burned out a week ago and I hadn’t had the chance to change it. Peering out into the dark, I could see someone. It was a man, of medium build, and he was doing something to my house. Lifting the window, I yelled out to him, “Hey! What are you doing?”
Chapter 6
The morning after scaring away whoever was in my yard, I went outside when the sun was up to see what they’d done. After seeing that man near the house, I didn’t sleep well. All I could do was toss and turn while I woke up intermittently. I even got out of bed a few times to look out the window to make sure whoever it was didn’t come back. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like there was only one person. I wondered all night if they’d return, and if they did, would they bring back more people. Were they trying to break in? Did they want to hurt Nat and me? Or was the creep going to do more vandalism to our home? Thomas and I never had any enemies so I couldn’t imagine who’d be tormenting us. The only problem we’d ever had with anyone was when Pincetti Properties came in, trying to buy us out before the eminent domain actually passed. But even then, it wasn’t what you would call “beef”, and Jeff had recently been very perceptive to Nat and me. I’d once wondered if he wasn’t behind the vandalism, but with his recent actions, I seriously doubted that he was.
I went to Natalie’s room to check on her before going outside. The few times I’d gotten up in the middle of the night, I’d checked on her and she was out like a light. Opening her door, I found her splayed out across her bed, with one leg hanging off the side as usual. One of these days that child’s going to fall onto the floor, flat on her face. Smiling at her peacefully sleeping, I closed the door behind me and went outside. What I saw stunned me as I looked at the side of the house. My jaw dropped as tears trickled down my cheek when I saw “Nigger” spray painted on the side of the house that faced the road. Why would anyone do that? Embarrassed, shocked and frightened, I ran back inside.
Natalie and I were supposed to plant our vegetable garden that afternoon. There’s no way I could take her out there with the house looking like that. She would begin asking questions, and I didn’t want to scare her. It angered me that anyone would do this. Yes, our town is deeply segregated by color, but my husband and I have ran a respectable business for the last 12 years. We’ve been supplying the whole community—black and white—firewood, and have never once refused to help someone. There were plenty of times Thomas would spot a family wood for the winter with the promise to pay him back. Most of the time he was paid back, but there were a few times the families couldn’t afford to. It didn’t matter though, Thomas would never refuse wood to someone simply because they owed him money or didn’t have the ability to pay him on the spot. I couldn’t imagine who would be so hateful that they would want to victimize my daughter and me.
She would be awake soon. I had to come up with an excuse why we couldn’t make our garden. I also had to figure out a way to pay to have the house painted to cover up the spray paint. It was nearly 8 AM; I put on a pot of coffee and started to make breakfast. As I was cracking the eggs, the phone began to ring.
“Hello?” I cradled the phone on my shoulder as I put the skillet on the burner.
“Judy? Are you busy?”
“Hello to you, too, Jeff. I was making breakfast, but I have a minute.”
“Something happened last night, and I…I don’t know if I should tell you about it.”
What? How did he know about the house? “What are you talking about?”
“I was getting ready for bed when my phone rang. When I answered it, I heard someone breathing…heavily. I said hello a few times and then they said something that I was shocked by.”
“What did they say? Who was it?”
“I don’t know. Whoever it was blocked their number, but right before I hung up, they said something,” his voice became hushed. “They called me a nigger lover. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say the n-word to you, but that’s what they said.”
“Did they say anything else?”
“They said, ‘You nigger lover, you need to stick to your own kind, you sick bastard’. I asked who it was, but they wouldn’t answer. They kept breathing heavily into the phone.”
“Oh, my. Did you happen to recognize the voice?”
“No, I couldn’t make out who it was. They had the phone covered with something…like a rag, or maybe their hand.”
“That’s interesting,” I said as I got a mug from the cupboard.
“Interesting? That’s all you have to say?” he sounded shocked.
“I think you should come by—if you can, I mean. I’ve got something to show you; although, I don’t know if I’ll have to point it out to you once you get here.”
“Let me get dressed. I’ll be there in about an hour, is that okay?”
“That’s fine. Would you like some breakfast? I’m already cooking. I can throw on a little extra for you if you’d like.”
“That’d be great. See you in a bit.”
Whoever this is isn’t just targeting me. From the sound of things, it seemed like they were targeting us. But why would someone call Jeff and say such a thing? Everyone in town seemed to love him, from what I could tell anyway. A lot of people were excited about the development. Even Mayor Goodwin promised the community that the eminent domain would bring a lot of jobs and new houses to the town. As far as I knew, the whole area was on board with the plan. Well, everyone except my family. Our family were the only ones who would be grossly affected and be put out, but that’s because most of the development would run through our property. I whipped up some more eggs and some pancakes before Jeff arrived. As I was getting plates out of the cabinet, I heard his car door. Luckily, Nat was still fast asleep so I could join him outside to discuss what happened to the side of the house.
“Did you see it?” I asked, making my way out the front door.
He shook his head, “Yeah that looks awful.”
“Come on inside. I don’t want Natalie waking up and coming out here to see it.”
“We can talk in a minute,” I explained as we walked inside. “I have to go wake Nat up for breakfast.”
I went down the hall into Natalie’s room and found her in the same position she was in earlier. Shaking her shoulder, she stirred from her sleep.
“Good morning,” I smiled at her. “It’s time for breakfast.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” she signed back, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
Walking back into the kitchen, I found Jeff making his coffee.
“Oh, here, let me do that,” I tried to help him.
“No, I got it. Did you wake up Natalie?”
“Yes, she’ll be ready to eat in a minute,” I began making the plates. “Who do you think is behind this?”
“I don’t know, but I’d venture to say that it’s someone who doesn’t like interracial dating.”
Dating? Hm, I didn’t know he liked me that much. “Jeff, I have something to tell you…”
He put his hand up to stop me. “Judy, you don’t have to say anything. Maybe I shouldn’t have presumed we were dating. I apologize. It’s just that…ever since I met you and Natalie, and started to get to know you, I’ve been so drawn to you. You have such a beautiful soul, and Natalie…I know she’s tough, but she’ll come around—if you…”
“Jeff, stop. That’s not what I was talking about. We can talk about that in a minute. I didn’t say anything to you before, but this isn’t the first time that something like this has happened to me.”
“How did you and Thomas deal with it? And who was it?”
“No, this is new. Things didn’t start happening until after he died…after I turned down your offer.” I looked down at my plate, feeling shame and guilt. “I thought it was you.”
“Me?” he was obviously stunned. “Why would I do anything to you? What happened?”
Natalie walked in the room, and by the looks of her face, she wasn’t happy
that Jeff was there.
“I made your plate,” I signed to her. She gave me a death stare. “Jeff is only here for a few minutes. He had to stop by for something important.” Natalie rolled her eyes at me as she took her seat. “And don’t you give me attitude.”
“I take it she’s having a bad morning?” Jeff asked.
“She doesn’t know anything. She’s upset that you’re here.”
“Should I go?”
“No, it’s fine. Anyway, you were asking what happened. One morning, I went outside and found trash thrown all over the lawn. At first, I thought maybe a dog had gotten into the bins, but I saw my trash was untouched, and the bags in my yard were a different color than what I use. Not long after that, someone TP’d my entire yard the morning that they were calling for snow. I had to run outside in the freezing cold and take it all down before the bad weather came and matted the toilet paper to everything.”