The Truth Is the Light

by Vanessa Davie Griggs

  She couldn’t do anything but shake her head.

  Chapter 52

  The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

  —Proverbs 20:29

  Johnnie Mae walked in on Angela and Gramps as they sat in the activity room.

  “Well, hello,” Johnnie Mae said to Angela, since she was most surprised to see her there.

  Angela stood up and greeted Johnnie Mae with a hug and a kiss even though they had seen each other at work at church earlier.

  “I came by to see my mother,” Johnnie Mae said. “If you had told me you were coming this way, we could have come together.”

  “I wasn’t sure I was coming until the last minute,” Angela said.

  “Hello there, blessed woman of God,” Gramps said.

  Johnnie Mae realized that with her preoccupation in trying to figure out why Angela might have been there, she had failed to acknowledge Gramps.

  “Gramps, I’m so sorry. I guess you thought I was completely trying to ignore you.” Johnnie Mae hugged him. She looked down and noticed the photograph he held in his hand. “Who is that a picture of?”

  Gramps handed it to her. “That beautiful, feisty woman is Pearl during her younger years,” Gramps said.

  Johnnie Mae took it and looked at it. “I remember seeing this.” She glanced at Angela, hoping she might shed a little more light on what was going on. But the more she thought about it, it did make sense. Ransom knew Angela’s great-grandmother, and not only had Angela been close to Pearl, but Pearl had raised her. Of course she would want to talk to the person who knew her great-grandmother back in the day. He could fill her in on things while she filled him in on the Pearl she’d grown up knowing.

  “And do you know who that fine fellow is standing beside her?” Gramps said.

  “He looks like you,” Johnnie Mae said. “But that can’t be you, can it?”

  “I had this friend named Sam, Samuel L. Williams—”

  “That’s my great-grandfather,” Angela interjected.

  “I got a photo almost identical to that one,” Gramps said, nodding his head in the direction of the picture. “It’s funny how people tend to save the same things. That proves how close Pearl and I were. Angel was telling me that Pearl had this photo in a cigar box. I got one similar to it in my room, inside my Wings of Grace box. You two care to see it? It’s a little different.”

  “Sure,” both Johnnie Mae and Angela said. Angela was at least thankful to know there were two photos around of her great-grandfather with her great-granny.

  “All right,” Gramps said, slowly standing to his feet.

  Johnnie Mae turned, still holding the photo, trying to decide who she should give it back to. She decided on Angela, since it was hers. Gramps would have enough to occupy himself with.

  He found the picture rather quickly. “This little box has really come in handy. The things that are most important to me can be found right in here. Amazing how we can reduce our lives to fit ever so neatly into a box. Birth records, important papers, copies of your will if you have one, captured images in time that hold memories even when your own mind no longer can.” He handed the photo to Johnnie Mae first.

  Johnnie Mae looked at it, smiled, then handed it over to Angela.

  “My great-grandfather is a lot more animated in this photo. In the one Great-granny had, he looks so stiff—like he didn’t know quite what to expect. Here, he’s playful. I like your photo, Gramps.”

  Gramps started to chuckle. “I’m sorry, but that’s not your great-grandfather in that photo. The man in that photo as well as your photo is me. Sam and I did look somewhat alike, so I can understand you mistaking him for me. But that’s a photo of me and Pearl, not Pearl and Sam.”

  Angela looked at the photo again and allowed her legs to ease her down slowly onto the tan leather recliner.

  Chapter 53

  I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

  —Psalm 35:14

  “Angela, are you sure you’re okay?” Johnnie Mae said as she handed Angela a cup of water she’d gone out and gotten for her. “Angel?”

  Angela took a sip of the water. “I’m okay,” she said. “I’m okay.” Then turning back to Gramps, she asked, “Are you certain this is you?”

  “Of course I’m certain.”

  “But earlier you said it was your friend, Sam. When we were in the lobby area, you said something about this being Samuel.” Angela looked from the photo to Gramps.

  “Actually, I was trying to say that I had a friend named Sam who took that photo. He’d borrowed the camera from another friend who had one, which was rare to have back in my day. Sam took that picture.” Gramps laughed. “We didn’t know how to take no picture. He must have given Pearl one and me another. I didn’t know she had that one; she probably didn’t know I had this one. These are the earliest known photos of me, before pictures ever became the norm.” He scratched his head, then rubbed his chin.

  “Come to think of it,” Gramps said, “my daughter asked if I had any pictures of me when I was young. I didn’t even think about that photo when she asked. She wanted to use them for my birthday celebration.” He smiled. “She told you about my birthday party when we were at your house,” he said to Johnnie Mae. “And Angela . . . Angel, you certainly are welcome to come if you like. It’s going to be Saturday, November seventh, at Pastor Landris’s church, from what my daughter told me the other day.”

  “Yeah,” Johnnie Mae said. “Pastor Landris and I are definitely going to be there. In fact, your family has asked him to say a few inspirational words, nothing long, since it sounds like it’s going to encompass lots of people saying all kinds of wonderful things about you and your life.”

  “I told my daughter to keep things short and simple. But she ain’t paying me much attention. I think she’s trying to go all out.”

  Angela hadn’t said a word. She was staring at the photo Gramps had allowed them to see.

  “I suppose you’re thinking about your great-grandmother right about now,” Gramps said when he noticed Angela was preoccupied with his picture. “If you like, you’re welcome to take that picture and get a copy of it. I’d like to keep the original, though. You understand. It’s all I got left of me and Pearl.” He smiled upon saying Pearl’s name. “That woman know she cared about me. She was truly one in a million.”

  Angela was polarized when it came to what to do at this point. Should she tell him what she suspected to be true and see what light he might be able to shed on it? Should she do it right now, since the perfect opening had presented itself? Or should she wait until Johnnie Mae left and discuss it alone? Should she talk to Arletha first? Maybe she should ask Johnnie Mae to step out of the room and ask her advice on the matter.

  God, I need You to tell me what to do. Please . . . just tell me what to do. Please.

  Chapter 54

  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

  —Psalm 46:5

  “Well, I hate to cut this short, but I really need to go see my mother,” Johnnie Mae said. “I saw the two of you when I was passing by, and I thought I should stop and say hello.”

  “I’m so glad you did,” Gramps said. “You definitely are a ray of sunshine. But I guess you can’t help but to be since you’re born of the Son.” He snickered. “Get it?” He chuckled some more. “S-o-n instead of s-u-n? A ray of S-o-n-shine like the s-u-n that shines.”

  Johnnie Mae smiled. “I get it.” She stood up. “Gramps, it’s always good seeing you. And I will see you again. If not here, then with bells on at your birthday party.”

  “I’ll be looking for you.”

  “Just save me a dance,” Johnnie Mae said. “And Angel, I’ll see you tomorrow at work,” she said to Angela. She then left, closing the door behind her.

  Angela cleared her throat. “Mister Perdue . . . I me
an, Gramps, are you certain that the man in this photo is you? You’re sure?”

  “Oh, there ain’t no doubt about it. I remember when we took it back in 1943. I’d just come back to town. The only ones who knew I was still there was Pearl and Sam. It’s a long story you may or may not have heard before. But Pearl had been hiding me out because there were still some people who wanted to do me harm. I was trying to find Sarah and my daughter. Pearl was trying to help me, to fill me in on everything she knew. That picture there”—he indicated with his head—“was taken a couple of weeks before I took off again. I never went back. I should have. I regret it. But after I left, I never went back.”

  Gramps sat back in the straight-back chair. “Most folks thought I’d merely run off the first time I disappeared, or worse: gotten lynched. Only a handful of folk knew the real truth. And only two knew the whole truth, and that was your great-grandparents, Pearl and Sam—true friends ’til the end. Although I admit, I was surprised, but glad to hear they married. It proves life goes on, no matter what bad we have to overcome.”

  Angela took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Mister Perdue . . . Gramps, I don’t know exactly how to say this, other than to just come right out and say it. But I have reasons to believe that you might possibly be my great-grandfather.”

  He tilted his head upward and stared into her face. “What you say?”

  She opened her purse and pulled out a photo she had brought with her of a younger Arletha. She got up and handed the picture to him.

  “That’s my grandmother. Her name is Arletha. I might be wrong, and if I am, then at least it’s just between you and me, and you can straighten me out about it. But I believe Arletha is your daughter. The photo Great-granny had in that box is a photo of you. You and Arletha look so much alike it’s chilling. It’s almost like you spit her out. And I didn’t just come here with a half-baked theory. My grandmother was born January 28, 1944. When I count back nine months from that date, it puts her conception around April of 1943, although it’s possible she was born premature, which would make that date later.”

  “I left Asheville April twenty-ninth,” he said, staring hard now at the photo of Arletha. “She looks just like my second son. They could pass for twins,” Gramps said.

  “So you don’t think I’m crazy or merely reaching here?”

  “No. I believe”—he started wiping at his eyes—“I believe you have given me a gift I was never expecting in my life. I don’t know how much of God’s goodness I can take in one year. First, I finally find my oldest daughter, Memory. After all of these years, I never thought that would happen. And now, it looks like I have one more daughter I never even knew had been created.” He was crying now.

  Angela hugged him. “I didn’t know how to bring this up to you. I prayed for God to lead me to do the right thing.” She sat back down, allowing him to quietly process this.

  “So, she”—he shook the photo of Arletha—“doesn’t know anything about this?” he finally said. “Not even it remotely being a possibility?”

  “No. I thought it best to talk to you first. If you weren’t anywhere near Great-granny during that time, there’s no way what I was thinking was even possible.”

  “When did you suspect this?” Gramps reached inside his pocket and took out his handkerchief. “My goodness. My, my, my.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Whew!”

  “The day I met you at Johnnie Mae’s house. Looking in your face was like looking into my grandmother’s face. I did some research, found that picture, thought it was you. I even asked my husband . . . Oh! My husband!” Angela said, springing up. “I need to call him and get him to pick up our children. My husband’s name is Brent.” She took out her cell phone. “We have two little boys: Brent the Second and Shaun.”

  “Boy, oh boy, my family is certainly growing by leaps and bounds. First Memory and all of them, now Arletha and all of you. When can I meet Arletha? I got to see her.”

  “I need to figure out how to tell her this. Arletha is not your normal family girl,” Angela said. “That’s a story I’ll tell you about later. But it took me a while to find her, and then to get her to admit that she and I were even related. I don’t know how she’ll react to the news of you. But knowing her, it could be bad. You never know.”

  “I want to see her. I want to meet her as soon as you can arrange it. I have to. Then I need to tell my other children. My daughter, Zenobia, is probably going to flip. At first she had no sisters, and now she has two.” Gramps stood up to keep his legs from stiffening up. “You just arrange for us to meet. I’ll take care of the rest. This ain’t exactly your row to hoe. I’m her father. It’s my job and my responsibility to tell her.”

  “Thank you,” Angela said as she called Brent on her cell phone about getting the children. After she hung up with him, she tried to think of the best way to bring Arletha and Gramps together so the two of them could talk.

  She called Arletha. “Grand, I need to come by your house. I’ll be there in a little while. Oh, and Grand, I’m not going to be alone. I’m bringing someone with me.”

  “Who?” Arletha asked. “Who are you bringing?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “You know I don’t like surprises. I told you that.”

  “Grand, please. I promise you’re going to love this. I’ll see you in a little while.”

  “Angela, you can come, but I don’t feel like company tonight.”

  “Bye, Grand. I’ll see you in a little bit.” Angela clicked off her cell phone so her grandmother wouldn’t be able to argue with her. “Okay, now, if I can get you out of here, I’ll take you to meet Arletha.” She tick-tocked her head, slightly satisfied with herself, then smiled.

  Chapter 55

  For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

  —Nahum 1:13

  Gramps tried explaining things to the director after the head nurse told him she couldn’t allow him to leave. It didn’t matter that he was a grown man old enough to be her great-grandfather or that he was capable of coming and going as he pleased. He couldn’t leave.

  “Mrs. Underwood, while I’m sure she is a decent and honorable woman, is not on your approved list of people authorized to sign you out,” the director said to Gramps.

  “You’re telling me that I’m almost two weeks away from turning a hundred and I can’t leave this place without someone else’s permission?”

  “Mister Perdue, it’s for your own safety and protection as well as ours,” the director said. “What if something happens to you? Then we’re the ones responsible.”

  “What do you think? This sweet young lady here, who is young enough to also be my great-granddaughter, is going to kidnap me or run off with me?”

  “I know you think you’re making a joke, but sir, do you know how many young women manipulate older men for their money or their insurance if they have any?” The director sighed. “The data would astound you.”

  “Johnnie Mae Landris!” Angela said. “She can vouch for me. She was here visiting her mother. We belong to the same church . . . her husband is my pastor. I’m her assistant. Can you ask her about me? She’ll tell you I’m who I say I am and vouch that I’m not a threat or a danger to Mister Perdue.”

  “I’m curious what the urgency is for you to take him? What’s your angle? From what you’ve told me, you’ve never stepped foot in our establishment before. And the first time you come, you want to take one of our residents off with you? And you think that’s okay.” The director shook her head. “Someone who is authorized to sign him out will need to come down here and do it in person. Not tell us over the phone, because who can really say who’s on the other end. Gramps, if someone from your approved list comes in and signs you out,” the director said, “you can go. Otherwise, you can’t leave with her.”

  Gramps shuffled away as Angela walked beside him. “Can you believe this? Do you know how humiliating this is for me? I’m a grown man, and it’s like I�
��m locked up or some baby that has to have a parent sign me out.”

  “Mister Perdue—”

  “I told you to call me Gramps.”

  “Gramps, I can see where they’re coming from. I could be someone shady trying to take advantage of you. I know your family would have a fit on them if they let you wander out of here, either by yourself or with someone they don’t know. So can you call your daughter and have her come sign you out?”

  “I don’t want Zenobia to come. I’m not ready to tell her what’s going on. Not yet. I want to talk with Arletha first. Then Zenobia and I will have this discussion. If Zenobia comes, she’ll ask fifty million questions. And if I tell her, she’ll want to go,” Gramps said as they walked back to his room. “I don’t suspect from what you’ve told me about Arletha that she’ll fancy both of us showing up on her doorstep. No, it’s better if we don’t let Zenobia know anything is going on.”

  They reached his room and went in. “I will tell you who we can call, though—my grandson, Clarence. Clarence won’t push to ask a lot of questions if I tell him not to. And he won’t tell his mother anything if I ask him not to. Now, Knowledge, that’s my other grandson, is his mother’s son. Knowledge don’t trust nobody, not nobody. I’m sure he would grill you, and then call his mother and blab everything to her no matter what I ask of him. Let me find Clarence’s number here and we can call him to come sign me out. He’ll do it, no questions asked.”

  Gramps flipped to the back of his Bible and found Clarence’s phone number. Angela dialed the number and gave her cell phone to Gramps so he could do all the talking.

  Chapter 56

  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry.