‘Y’all have a nice time in the classroom now sassy,’ he says, kinda drunk. I shoot one of my stares his way, ’cause he’s a fella and I ain’t sure about any of them. He kicks Pappy’s gate shut and I walk away, just about as mad as if he kicked at Pappy himself. I ain’t taking to Quince at all, and he ain’t treating my Mambo right neither. Can’t figure out what’s happened to her since she’s taken up with him. She’s all over the place, and from what I see, he ain’t worth nothing.
Madame Bonnet is still coming over with Tout de suite though, and he’s still calling me Miss. Ain’t nothing I can do about it. Quince fits right in with all that giggling and before I know it our place is full of his pals hanging round Madame Bonnet like she’s the queen of the bees. Ain’t no learning French with all that flirting and giggling going on, ain’t no learning at all, so I take myself off over to Safi’s place to help out with her chores. Ain’t got nothing else to do.
‘S’pose Mambo feels if she keeps them partying in ya cabin, then Quince ain’t gonna go staying out all night and straying.’
‘I guess, but it sure is noisy. Tout de suite been telling me he’s carrying Madame outta there half the time, she gets herself so full of liquor.’
‘Well, she’s used to all that fine wine, moonshine’s gotta be knocking her sideways.’
One day I come off the school bus and find Mambo sitting out on our porch wearing that look she takes on when I’m in big trouble.
‘Arletta, it’s time for ya to leave.’
‘What? I ain’t leaving school, I told ya that already Mambo.’
‘I ain’t talking about no school Arletta. Ya leaving home, gettin’ work and starting ya own life.’
‘Leave home? I’m only fourteen.’
‘Ya nearly fifteen Arletta, and that’s plenty old enough to be getting out there and finding y’self a job, finding ya own way. Most kids wanna be getting off and leading their own life. Like they’s wanting to find out about life in this world and …’
‘What ya talking about? How the hell ya know about it Mambo? Ya ain’t never leave home.’
‘I ain’t taking none of ya cheek young lady,’ she says, raising her voice. ‘I’m telling ya and that’s all there is to it. Ain’t no conversation we having here, I’m telling ya. All of us gotta work and put food in our own bellies.’
That layabout Quince got her head turned good and proper. She ain’t nothing but miserable since he started coming round here. And I ain’t hearing her telling him to get on out there and be putting food in his own belly. Course, that ain’t something I oughta have said to Mambo.
‘Ain’t long ago I was washin’ ya mouth out with carbolic for talking like that,’ says Mambo.
But my mouth’s already off running.
‘He’s too busy preening and pruning like he’s one of them screen idols. Ain’t nothing in his head but jumping on ya, and like he’s getting his belly filled up and paid for doing it too. That’s the way it seems to me …’
Thwack.
My mouth got me heading for that I guess. Mambo ain’t raised her hand to me in years and I see it don’t come easy.
‘Can’t ya see Mambo, he ain’t good? He ain’t gonna stick around here …’
‘Okay, enough Arletta.’ Mambo flops back down in the rocker. ‘I ain’t wanting no fight.’ The chair creaks, the boards creak, and the colour drains outta her lips. She’s looking tired. I ain’t paid it no mind till now, but it looks like something’s wearing her out. That Quince is just bleeding her dry.
‘I’m gonna have a baby.’
‘Not his! No, Mambo.’
‘Arletta, I ain’t no spring chick and I’m taking what chance I’m getting here. Quince already got himself a job on a wharf in Baton Rouge with United, so we’s gonna be all right. There’s plenty work goin’ down on the river in Baton Rouge.’
Oh, that’s what he says, I bet. Like he knows anything about working. I ain’t saying nothing but I reckon my face is saying plenty.
‘Hell, Arletta, at least be happy about the baby. Why ain’t ya?’
‘Ain’t the baby I ain’t happy about, it’s him. He’s no good, he’s just full of himself, and full of lying round the place, combing his hair and preening himself in that mirror. Looking at other women too; I seen him do that when his pals bring them here. And hanging out till all hours of the night with all them good-for-nothing cronies he’s got. And they’re all just like him, lazy as hell. Mambo, he ain’t never gonna look after no baby. Ya can’t see that’s the way it’s gonna be?’
‘Well, what I’m gonna do? I’m having a chile and that’s all there is to it. Arletta, I’m glad I’m having another chile, I’m wanting that, and he says he gonna stick around for it. That’s what he wants too, he’s ready for it. That’s why he’s gone got himself fixed up with work. Quince ain’t no bad man, Arletta. Ya wrong about him honey.’
I offer to help. I figure between us we can look after the baby. I can carry on at school so I can get a real good job when I finish, not cleaning or darning. Folks like us are getting educated now, we’re getting on, and up till then Mambo can go part-time or something, work after I get home and I’m able to look after the baby. And I can even sneak into the King of England to help out without her ever having to know about it.
She don’t go for that at all. Says she gotta clean when they tell her to clean. And as soon as she ain’t able, they gonna find somebody else and she’s gonna be outta there for good. That’s how it is. She don’t think I oughta be expecting to find a good job neither.
‘A good job? Where ya gonna get that exactly Arletta? Ain’t none round here. Girl, ya gonna be telling me ya wanna be a doctor next. Look around y’self Arletta, look who we is round here. We ain’t able to go on out there telling folks in this world what we wanna be and what we ain’t wanna be. That ain’t our world honey, and learning is fine, ya done good, that’s for sure, but ain’t no time for dreaming …’
‘We’ve gotta stick together, Mambo. Just don’t throw me out for him. He ain’t worth it.’
‘I ain’t throwing ya out. It’s time, that’s all. That’s all there is to it. Ya come of an age, Arletta.’
Well, maybe so, but I ain’t gonna go mentioning them dollar bills I got buried with Pappy’s pipe in the King of England, though we sure could manage on that for a while. I’m holding back on that ’cause I ain’t sure at all how things are with Mambo right now. Ain’t just her and me like before, now I got Quince to think about, and another baby on the way. I think all that money is just gonna tangle things up worse instead of making it better. Could be Quince just takes it all and we ain’t never see a nickel. Maybe Mambo got herself so tied up she’s gonna let him do it too. Looks like she might even buy him off to stay with her ’cause of that child she’s got in her belly, or something just as stupid. What’s clear for sure is that she ain’t herself right now.
Course that money’s gonna bring all them questions too.
My gut rolls over.
Mambo starts speaking, quiet-like, and I know I ain’t telling her nothing about Seymour’s wad of dollar bills.
‘I’m taking this chance with Quince, Arletta, and I reckon, with times so hard and all, that ya old enough for gettin’ work. Setting out on ya own, starting up on ya own life honey. Everybody gotta think about it sometime.’
I flop down on the porch step.
‘I reckon he just don’t want me around in my own house. Boy, he’s trouble Mambo.’
‘I ain’t able to keep y’all in schooling when I ain’t earning with the baby. Ya go on, get a job now Arletta, find a young man to take care of ya.’
‘I don’t wanna leave school Mambo.’
‘I ain’t got nothing more to say on it Arletta. Ya all grown up now. That’s all there is to it. Time come, is all.’
Seems I ain’t got no say in it at all. Mambo and Quince done work it out already. Ain’t no easy way of putting it: I gotta leave Pappy’s cabin. I’ve grown up, though I can’t
surely say I’s feeling it, and I gotta start making my own way, same as everybody else.
‘I wanna stay learning Mambo.’
‘They’s got classes starting up all over for learning.’
‘Ain’t the same Mambo.’
I figure Quince just don’t want me around, and there ain’t no way he’s gonna be feeding me when Mambo ain’t able. Ain’t nothing I can do except go find a way to feed myself, like Mambo says. I just never figured on starting out on my own so soon. I can see Mambo looks tired and I don’t want to be fighting anyway.
‘Ain’t like we goin’ no place Arletta. This is still ya home too, ya able to come see us anytime ya want. Hell, I ain’t throwing ya out first thing in the morning Arletta. Ya go on, find a job first. Quince says there ain’t none round here, so when ya does, ya gotta live close by so ya able to get there. Make sense, don’t it?’
‘Makes sense Mambo.’
I guess it makes more sense to Quince than it does to me, since I wasn’t planning on leaving Pappy’s cabin at all, that’s something I sure never thought about in my life. Truth is, I can’t see me living here with Quince anyhow, and once that baby comes, we gonna be falling all over one another, ain’t gonna be no peace here at all.
I take off over to tell Safi and right off she says she’s coming with me. Boy, that sure does put a different light on things. They got so many kids inside of her grandma’s cabin, her pa had to cut down wood and build up right next to it. Still ain’t room for all of them and her grandma too, so Safi tells her ma it makes sense for her to be leaving and get to earning. It’s been hard since, just like her grandma said, that last baby came too soon and ain’t right on it. Her grandma says Safi’s ma got herself all spent out having babies and, sure enough, that’s just what happened. Her ma ain’t exactly happy about her leaving at all, but she sees the sense in it and glad we gonna be together.
Me and Safi get jobs at the cotton mill just outside of Marksville.
Mrs Dolly Archer-Laing put notice of her private boarding rooms up in Safi’s grandma’s church. She wants ‘young ladies, pure of body and mind, who attend church on Sundays’, something Safi and me ain’t exactly got a habit of doing, but we promise to get started on it right away. Mrs Archer-Laing takes a shine to us, ’cause of Safi’s grandma being good-living I guess, and says we can have the room, since we’re happy sharing it. She’s thinking we’re sixteen too, ’cause we’re both tall, so we’re hoping nobody gonna be telling her different.
I ain’t happy about leaving my Mambo. Quince is out on our porch slugging from a bottle of strong-smelling liquor wrapped up in newspaper and stinking of crawfish. The parting in his hair has moved to the other side of his head these days, he got his leg cocked up like always, and it seems to me he’s looking more smug than any decent man oughta be, seeing young folks outta their own home.
Mambo helps me fold the few clothes I got and ties them up in newspaper. My uniform’s already gone back to the mission. I ain’t sure how things gonna be in Marksville, so I dig down deep and leave the King of England right there in the soil till I work it out.
‘Ya take care now in Marksville. And ya ma wantin’ ya back when ya can,’ Quince slurs.
I feel his eyes studying us when Mambo and me walk down our path. Pappy’s gate don’t shut properly since he started kicking at it ’stead of using the latch like everybody else, and I throw him one of my hard looks when it ain’t closing behind me.
He shrugs his shoulders like it’s none of his business. And he’s the one shoving me right outta my own Pappy’s cabin.
Mambo’s wiping her eyes like the whole business is tearing her up.
‘Ya come on back soon honey?’
Her sobbing catches in her throat, so I make out like I’m happy starting out on my own.
‘I will Mambo, and I’m gonna help with the baby when it comes. It’s gonna work out fine, I’m gonna be earning like ya said. And it’s gonna be real nice having a brother or sister of my own.’
‘That sure is fine, ain’t it honey. We gonna be a family, ain’t just us, ya wait and see honey, we gonna be a family. Go on now and get y’self back here to see us just soon as ya’s able, y’hear?’
I meet Safi at the bus stop like we said. Ain’t too far from her place, so her ma’s seeing us both off and she’s all cut up about her little Safi leaving home. Seems hard for her to reckon that time come, but she’s glad we’re both setting off together and able to be looking out for one another.
‘Y’all come on back soon, y’hear? We gonna be home here same as always, we ya family and we wanna hear all about how ya gettin’ along.’
‘Mom, we’re only going a few miles down the road, ain’t no ways at all. Ain’t far to Marksville.’
‘Ain’t how far ya goin’, Safi, it’s that ya goin’ at all.’ Her ma’s eyes are filling up. ‘When our boys go working on the levees I feel just the same. That’s how a mom’s gonna feel.’
Safi promises her ma she’s gonna be back most weekends, and she’s gonna have wages to be helping out. Safi’s always thinking of her kin and wants to bring them presents and make it feel like Christmas.
‘No, Safi, I ain’t wanting ya thinking on taking nothin’ back here for nobody.’ Safi’s ma stands straight up and looks her right square in the face. ‘Ya gonna put away every last dime ya earn Safi, if ya’s able. That’s money ya earn for y’self. Hear? Ya gonna be working hard for it in that mill and I’m wanting y’all to be getting off to one of them night-school classes, learn something and be getting a certificate. That’s what y’all need to get on. Them classes. Now I done told ya that already.’
‘Yeah Mom. I’m gonna do that.’
‘Ya hearing me too Arletta? Because ya gonna do the same thing. Ya get y’self straight on off to night school, both of ya. Ya hear?’
‘Okay, we gonna do that, I promise.’
Her ma is dusting down Safi’s old frock like it’s a right piece of finery ’stead of some cut-down worn-out old pinny.
‘Not that I ain’t wantin’ to see y’all home as much as ya’s able – I want my girls home just as often as ya can – but ain’t no ways I’m having y’all spending hard-earned wages doin’ it. Ain’t gonna go spending on no silliness when y’all oughta be getting on with it. Y’all promise me ya gonna get on. Promise me Safi. That’s the only thing making my mind easy about ya leaving. Same thing I tell my boys. Ya gotta get on any ways ya can.’
Safi’s ma sniffles into her wash-rag then tucks it back into the string tied around her waist.
‘Don’t go getting tied up with chile like me. Ya gonna get work in some kinda office one day, ya gonna see. Something clean, and then ya gonna get nice young men fit for taking good care of y’all. So make dammit sure ya get a little saving put aside. Get certificates at something, and go get a good set of clothes. Just make something outta life, like I’m saying.’
‘I will Mom.’ Safi is wiping her own tears now.
‘And that goes for Arletta too. Ain’t no stopping a girl like ya. That’s for sure chile, that’s clear as day to all us folks. Time’s coming. Times gonna be changing, Safi, and young folks like y’all need to be ready for it.’
Safi hugs her ma tight, they’re both weeping right out loud ’cause the bus is already honking and if we don’t get on board it’s gonna be outta here without us on it. Ma smacks a long kiss on Safi’s forehead and breathes real deep, like she’s smelling her daughter for the very last time.
‘I love ya Safi, and I want ya go make something of ya life for me. That’s what’s gonna make me happy. I wanna say my daughter is working in an office ’stead of cleaning boots and scrubbing pans for white folks. Arletta, ya’s well able. Go on now. I love y’all, and go get on. Go on now.’
I wish Mambo thought about coming to see me off too. Watching Safi and her ma is making me miss my Mambo already.
It don’t seem right. Quince left right there rocking on Pappy’s porch and me off on the bus to Marksville. I hope
he cares something about my Mambo, ’cause he sure don’t care nothing about me, and I’m her flesh and blood. I don’t know what Pappy would have said about it, but I reckon even Grandma would have put the back of her hand on Mambo for packing me off before I got to be fifteen years of age. Even school says I oughta be staying on ’cause I’m doing well and right at the top end of their marking.
Safi gets so upset about leaving her folks that I just ain’t gonna think on it no more. I set myself on being strong for both of us, but driving down that road I ain’t able to drag my mind from Pappy’s old cabin and how he fixed it up for his own kin to be living in.
Mrs Dolly Archer-Laing seems like a nice little English lady, still kinda good-looking for a widow, I guess, and right well turned out. She ain’t got a hair outta place neither, it’s pulled tight back and done up with as neat a bow as I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s got two black guard dogs in the yard and they howl like nobody’s business when we pull her bell-chain.
I ain’t ever seen a place like that house, and Safi sure ain’t neither, ’cause we ain’t never been into Marksville before last week, and then we only come as far as the mill on the outside of town. That house has two floors and shades they call awnings up above windows fitted with glass, and wooden shutters. Like they gonna be needing both, and we ain’t seeing no reason for it. It’s done up all over in yellow paint, with red round the windows and the roof. Her railings are painted blue and it sure is ‘mighty colourful’, as Pappy would have said.
‘Errol? Errol, the gate please.’
Mrs Archer-Laing’s got a right funny way with that voice of hers. Ain’t easy getting a grip on it ’cause of her being from England and all. She’s got education, that’s for sure. That’s written up all over her.
Errol shuffles up and opens the gate with a bunch of keys near big enough for keeling him over. Safi and me hold hands and give them black dogs plenty space.
What the River Washed Away Page 9