by Mary Monroe
“Your man is lucky. I’d give anything in the world to have a beautiful redbone like you.”
“Thank you.”
I preferred tall, handsome men with light skin and good hair, and Milton wasn’t nowhere near that. His skin tone was chocolate-bar dark, and he was only about three inches taller than me, and I was barely five feet. He had plain features and a dumpy body. His short off-black hair was nappy, but I was pleased to see that he hadn’t plastered it down with pomade or lard, like some of the other men in the room. Regardless of how he looked, the other women was still making eyes at him. It had to be because of his charming personality and that white suit. I shook my head to clear out the thoughts I was having about Milton.
“I guess I should be getting back home,” I said.
“You just got here a few minutes ago. What’s your hurry?”
“Because you getting a little too close, or trying to. And I don’t want to say something that’ll hurt your feelings,” I teased.
“Okay, I get the message,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I ain’t going to pester you no more. How far do you live from here?”
“Me and my fiancé live about a quarter of a mile down this road, in that green house at the end of the block. My best friend girl live in the house next door.”
“I do declare. We neighbors. I live on the same road, on the other side, a stone’s throw away from your place! Come on, I’ll walk you.”
As soon as we got outside, Milton wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and we started walking.
“Where do you work?” I asked.
“Well, like you, I can’t eat and live nowhere for free. You ever been to Cunningham’s Grill, that colored roadhouse out by the city dump? I work there Monday through Friday, cooking away all day.”
“I know where it is, but I ain’t never ate there. I don’t have the kind of money you need to be eating out.”
“I know what you mean. If you ever want a meal on the house, come by and send somebody into the kitchen to get me. I’ll sneak you a plate on the house.”
“Thank you. I just might do that.”
“I hope you do.” His arm got tighter around my shoulder. We didn’t say nothing else until we reached my front door.
The lights was still off, so I assumed Lester hadn’t come home yet. “I would invite you in, but I’d hate for my fiancé to come in and find me alone with a strange man.”
“Don’t worry about it, Yvonne. All I wanted to do was make sure you got home safe and sound. You go on in and have a blessed night.”
I had locked the door when I left. It was unlocked now. I went in and stood stock-still in front of the door. I didn’t turn on one of the lamps, because I knew the shotgun house so well, I could get around in it with my eyes closed. But there was enough dusky light streaming in through the window for me to see that my note wasn’t on the coffee table, where I had left it. I assumed Lester had read it and expected me to come home around midnight. His bedroom was next to the living room, and every wall in the house was so thin, you could hear just about everything going on no matter what room you was in. The springs on our bed was so decrepit, they squeaked even if somebody just bumped against the bed. They was squeaking like mad now.
When I eased up to the bedroom door and opened it enough to peep in, I spotted a candle burning on the windowsill. What I seen in the bed took my breath away. The man I thought I was going to marry was on top of a woman, humping like a dog in heat.
CHAPTER 2
YVONNE
I HAD NO IDEA WHO THE WOMAN IN BED WITH MY MAN WAS. THERE was no way I was going to work toward having a future with Lester! Just being under the same roof with him now almost made me puke.
The only place I could think of to go was Katy’s house. Her lights was on, but she didn’t answer her door when I knocked. She had a lot of men friends and was all the time entertaining one. If that was the case tonight, I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I went back to Lester’s place.
I was in such a tizzy, I needed something to calm myself down. I decided to go back to that bootlegger’s house and get sure enough drunk. But first, I wanted to know who the woman was with Lester.
There was a lot of trees with wide trunks directly across the road. I decided to hide behind one and wait for that nasty female buzzard to come out. I didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes after I’d ducked behind a walnut tree, Lester’s lights came on and the door opened. Him and the woman stood in the doorway and kissed and hugged before she turned around. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The woman was Katy, my best friend.
I was so shocked, my legs collapsed and I slid to the ground. I had always been a sturdy woman, so I didn’t cry easy. I was too mad for something that tame, anyway. I wanted to fight. That didn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, though. If I jumped on Lester, not only would he kick my ass, but he’d kick me out of his house, too. If I whupped Katy’s ass, she was mean enough to have me arrested. But there was no way I was going to let them backstabbing, two-faced motherfuckers off the hook without chastising them! I couldn’t think of nothing mean enough to make up for what they done to me. But I would....
When Lester closed the door and turned off the lights, I wobbled up off the ground and started walking. I had to cool off before I went home. Now I really needed a drink. The crowd had got even bigger at Delroy’s house. Milton, the nice man who had walked me home, was sitting on the couch with a drink in his hand. His face lit up like a firefly when I plopped down next to him.
“Bless your soul! You can’t stay away from me,” he teased, grinning as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You don’t look very happy, though.”
I was so speechless, I couldn’t speak right away. When I did, I couldn’t control what came out of my mouth. “When I got in my house, my man was in bed with another woman.” The words irritated the inside of my mouth like red hot peppers.
Milton gulped and done a neck roll that was so extreme, I was surprised his head didn’t spin all the way around. “Hold on now. Is he the same man you told me you was going to marry?”
I nodded and then shook my head. “Yeah, that’s him. But we won’t be getting married now.”
“I should hope not! Shoot. A prize like you don’t need to scrape no man up off the bottom of the barrel. You deserve the best.” Milton cussed under his breath. “Did you kill him?”
“No, I didn’t do or say nothing. They was going at it so hard, they didn’t notice when I cracked open the bedroom door.”
“Oomph! Oomph! Oomph! Men like him make it so hard for us righteous dudes.”
“Well, I’d left a note telling him that I’d be out until midnight. I guess he thought he would have enough time to do his devilment before I got back home.”
“Sister, I got a feeling that this ain’t the first time your man brung a woman to the house while you was gone. And I doubt if it’ll be the last. Now that you know what kind of man you got, maybe the next time he fucks up, it won’t be so painful.”
“Ha! I ain’t going to stick around for no ‘next time.’ ”
Milton squeezed my hand so hard, my flesh tingled halfway up my arm. I believed it was a sign that he was going to be very important in my life. “Yvonne, I know we still strangers, but I only wish the best for you.” His voice was filled with emotion.
“Thank you.” My flesh was still tingling. If I never seen Milton again after tonight, his words would stay with me forever. “I’m glad you was still here. You say just what I need to hear to make myself feel better.”
“You want to talk more about it? I’m a good listener. And, as you can see”—Milton paused and puffed out his chest—“I got some mighty wide shoulders, if you want to cry on one.”
“If you don’t mind, I don’t want to talk about it right now.” I was so antsy, I couldn’t sit still. I had wanted to get drunk, but now I thought it would be better to have a clear head when I confronted Lester.
“Suit yourself. How about another drink?”
“No thanks. I just came here for a few minutes to cool off. I better get on home and take care of business now.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“I don’t have no place else to go. I worked almost ten hours today, and I’m tired, so I need to get some sleep,” I mumbled.
Milton set his drink on the coffee table, and then he stood up and stretched. “If you going to confront your man, you ain’t going to get much sleep tonight.”
“I know, but what else can I do?”
“Come on. I’ll walk you.”
“That’s all right! Lester is the jealous type. I don’t want you to get in trouble on my account.”
“In the first place, you shouldn’t be worried about that asshole being jealous, not after what he done. In the second place, I want to walk you to my house. You can cool off some more there and stay as long as you want. Hell, you can even stay the night. My place ain’t nothing to write home about, but it’s warm, homey, and clean.”
“Do you live by yourself?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then let’s get up out of here.”
Milton’s house was warm and homey, like he’d told me it was. I felt like I was in the place where I really belonged. I stood in the middle of his tiny living-room floor, glancing around, while he skittered about, lighting coal-oil lamps and opening windows. I racked my brain to come up with something to talk about. It wasn’t easy, because this was the first time I’d ever been alone with a man I had met less than a hour ago. I was a little nervous and scared. I reminded myself that there was more than a few maniacs on the loose these days. Was Milton one that had been waiting on a woman in a weak condition like me? I wondered. My common sense was telling me to leave. But I was curious enough about him, I decided to take a gamble on my safety and stay. I was glad he broke the awkward silence.
“You hungry, Yvonne? I cooked a mess of collard greens that came from my garden. And I baked a possum and smothered it with mushroom gravy. The young lady I cooked supper for this evening stood me up, so I got plenty left.”
“That sound real scrumptious, but I don’t have no appetite.” I sniffed and cleared my throat. “Um, I don’t like to bring this up, but is there a chance that the ‘young lady’ you cooked for might come up in here and jump on me?”
“Nope. That inconsiderate heifer done stood me up one time too many. The only way she’ll ever get her tail back in my house will be if she break in.” We laughed.
I glanced around some more. There was a framed sign on the wall that was at least a foot high and two feet wide. Printed in big bold black letters on a white background was HOME SWEET HOME?
“Why is there a question mark at the end of that sentence?” I asked, pointing at the sign.
“I had the man that made the sign add it. I been living a topsy-turvy life for so many years, no matter where I live, that statement is more like a question in my case.”
“Oh. I hope it won’t always be a question.”
“I hope it won’t, neither. My mama and daddy made a very sweet home for our family. Since I been on my own, I done lived in a lot of places. In each one, I never knew if it was going to be a sweet home. When I realized it wasn’t, I moved again.”
“This is a nice house you got now,” I pointed out. Milton’s place was almost identical to Lester’s but was way more inviting. The windows had crisp white curtains with ruffles on the edges, and there was nothing on the shiny hardwood floor that didn’t belong on it. There was a maroon couch facing a matching love seat, and a great big artificial rubber plant in a pot on the floor, in a corner by the door.
“It is as nice as it can be in this run-down neighborhood. I’m tired of folks breaking into my house and taking my stuff! The last crook had the nerve to swipe a pair of my dress shoes and left his run-over boots behind! If things go the way I hope, it’s just a matter of time before I move into the kind of home I been praying for. My intuition is so good, when I find my dream home, I’ll know it right way. And it’ll be my address until the day I die.”
“Anyway, the sign adds a nice touch to your living room.” There was three framed eight-by-ten-inch pictures on one wall. Two was of people from the Bible. The other one was of Milton and two men that favored him. “Them kinfolks in that picture with you?”
“Uh-huh. My baby brother, Woody, in the middle, and our cousin Freddie on the end. They live in Louisiana, and they both preachers, so they keep a safe distance from me.”
“Hmmm. I would think that preachers in the family would try to get you to come to Jesus.”
“Oh, they tried for years. But I didn’t need nobody to lead me to Jesus. I found Him on my own. My folks don’t think I’m close enough, though.” Milton waved his hand and chuckled. “It don’t matter. I got a blessed life. The only thing missing is a good woman . . .”
“Yeah, you already mentioned something like that,” I reminded. “I appreciate you inviting me for a visit. I really like your house.”
“I hope this won’t be the last time you come here.”
I stayed quiet and stared at the floor until he lifted my chin and kissed me on the lips. “That was nice.”
“If you don’t mind, tell me more about yourself. Where is your people at?”
We finally sat down on the couch.
“My mama and daddy died in a tractor accident when I was six.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Milton said. “Did your grandmother raise you?”
“Both of my grandmothers had already died by the time my parents got killed, so my aunt and uncle took me in. My two older sisters was raised by some of our other kinfolks. When they got married, they moved up north.”
“You got any kids?”
“Three. A girl and two boys. Cherie turned eleven last month, and my boys is both nine, born ten months apart.”
Milton’s eyebrows raised up. “Girl, you full of surprises. You work in a cane field. That blowed me away. Now you tell me that a itty-bitty woman like you done had three babies? Where they at?”
“I need a drink before I can talk about that.”
While I sipped moonshine, I told him how I’d been in and out of trouble since I was a teenager, and that I’d done time in prison. He cringed when he heard that all three of my kids’ daddies took off as soon as I told them I was pregnant, and I never heard from them again. “It was hard to work and take care of my children, so I moved back in with my auntie and her husband.”
“That’s where your kids at now?”
“Uh-huh. My folks decided it would be better for them. And they didn’t think it was a good idea for my kids to know I was their mama. They told them their real mama ran off to Chicago with a musician and got killed in a beer garden, and that I’m their cousin.”
“Your kids believe that?”
“They was still toddlers when they told them. Years later, when I got locked up, Aunt Nadine and Uncle Sherman came to visit me one day. They made me agree to let them keep my kids permanently, or until they turn eighteen and can fend for themselves.”
I couldn’t tell from the stunned look on Milton’s face if he was surprised, disappointed, or both. “What did you go to prison for?”
I shrugged. “Well, I liked nice, pretty things, but we couldn’t afford much. Money was so tight, I dropped out of high school to go to work full-time.”
“I dropped out, too, and I regret doing that. People like us need all the education we can get.”
“That’s true, but sometimes we don’t have no choice. Anyway, even with a job, there still wasn’t enough money for me to get all the things I wanted. I got frustrated, so I started taking things every time I went in a store. I got caught a few times, but they always let me go. My luck finally ran out. I went in a candy store one day to swipe some peanut brittle to give my man for his birthday. The old woman that ran the place snuck up on me just as I was putting it in my purse. When she tried to look in my purse, we scuffled. She fell and broke her hip. T
wo other customers, both men, pinned me down on the floor until the police got there. The judge gave me two years, but they let me out a week early. I got out this month.” I heaved out a loud sigh and stood up. “I better get going. A nice, upstanding man like you don’t need to get involved with a woman like me.”
CHAPTER 3
MILTON
THE WOMAN THAT HAD STOOD ME UP WAS GOOCH-EYED, ALMOST bald-headed, and outweighed me by at least sixty pounds. I couldn’t believe I’d ended up with a pearl like Yvonne in her place. Her long straight black hair, big brown eyes, smooth light brown skin, with a handful of pecan-colored freckles on her pointy-tipped nose, would look good on a hound dog. She had a petite body, and every pound was in the right place. This was a woman I had to get to know. Knowing what a hard life she’d had made me feel sorry for her. I wanted to make her happy and protect her any way I could.
“Yvonne, me and you got a lot in common. My life ain’t been no bowl of cherries, neither. And I don’t need no drink to tell you about it.”
She held up her hand. “You don’t have to tell me nothing else about yourself. It ain’t my business. After I leave here tonight, we’ll probably never see each other again, anyway.”
“I hope that won’t be the case.”
I couldn’t believe how sad her eyes looked. When she stared at me and blinked a few times, I could almost feel her pain. It was a shame a sweet woman like her was engaged to a asshole that didn’t respect her enough not to bring another woman to the same bed he slept in with her!
“Milton, my life is a tangled-up mess. I need to straighten it out before I start up something new.”
“I see. So, do that mean you might even work things out with what’s his face and marry him, anyway?”
Her eyes got bigger, and she looked at me like I was crazy. The next thing I knew, she reared back and screamed, “Hell no!”
“Whew! That was the answer I was hoping to hear,” I remarked with a sharp laugh.