She was smiling but I knew I’d be able to knock her out with one punch.
“This is my baby sis, down from Flint. Deza, this is Saundra and Shayla and Kendra.”
The women said, “Nice to meet you.”
After they passed I sang, “Jimmie’s got a girlfriend, Jimmie’s got a girlfriend!”
“Naw, sis, if I had one she’d be a whole lot younger than them. Kendra’s old, gotta be about twenty.”
Even people in cars honked their horns and waved out their windows at us as we walked!
“Jimmie, you’re famous!”
“These are just folks that come to the club. When I really do get famous people all over the world will know me, not just in Detroit!”
I put my arm in Jimmie’s. “Well, you’re the most famous person I’ve ever met!”
We stopped in front of a very, very tall building and went in through some glass doors that spun round and round! Before I could ask, Jimmie said, “They’re called revolver doors, Deza.”
Next we stopped in front of three separate metal doors that were divided in half. They didn’t have one doorknob or hinge or lock anywhere on them. Jimmie pushed a button on the wall and I heard a whirring, clankity sound.
A bell rang and one of the doors split right in half!
Behind it was a lit-up closet. A man sat on a stool in a red suit covered with two rows of gold buttons, and a little red cap. He was behind something like a cage. He smiled out at me. “Going up!” He pulled aside the metal cage and Jimmie walked right into the closet so I followed. “What’s shaking, Jim?”
“Not a thing, Clarence.”
“Who’s the lady?”
“My sister, Deza.”
The man tipped his cap at me. “Welcome, missy. Doc’s office, Jim?” He pulled the cage back in front of the door. He slid a handle to the side and the metal doors closed.
I had to grab Jimmie’s hand when the little room started shaking. One at a time, buttons on a board that ran from L to 26 started lighting up.
The room banged and jerked one more time and the man said, “Twenty-fifth floor. Attorneys Greene, Rubinstein and Kramer to the left, Doctors Fortuna, Lyon and Mitwally to the right.”
The metal doors came open, the man slid the cage aside. We were in a whole different place!
“Later, Jim.”
“Later, Clarence.” The doors closed behind us. “It’s called a evalator, Deza. It’s kind of scary at first, we’ll use the steps down if you want.”
“Are you kidding? That was a great surprise, let’s do it again!”
I started to push the button pointing down but Jimmie grabbed my hand. “The evalator isn’t the surprise, Deza, the surprise is Doc. Look.”
He opened his mouth wide so I could see his teeth. I couldn’t believe it! There was something in all the cavities.
“What happened to your teeth?”
“Isn’t it great, sis? Doc Mitwally filled my cavities up, I don’t get no more headaches and don’t wake up in the middle of the night neither. I’m gonna get him to fix your teeth up too.”
“Aw, Jimmie, thanks, but my teeth don’t … That’s OK, I’m used to it.”
“Sis, that’s what it is, you just got use to it. I know how much they hurt. Doc says bad teeth let bad blood get in your system. He says he gets kids young as eight years old whose mouths are so rotten he has to pull all their teeth. He says some of ’em waited too long and even die.”
“They die? From cavities?”
Jimmie nodded. “If I’m lying, I’m flying. You won’t believe how much better you’re gonna feel. I promise you. Food’s gonna taste better, you’ll start smelling stuff a lot clearer, and your mouth is gonna be sweet as a baby’s breath.”
“It really doesn’t hurt?”
“Naw, he gives you some gas and a shot while he’s doing it and some pills for after. You’ll just get dizzy and sleep a lot.”
“I don’t know, Jimmie, I’ve got to get back to Mother, I wrote I’d only be gone two days.”
“Deza, we’ll send her a telegram soon’s we leave Doc’s. We’ll let her know you’re safe with me and see how long it’s gonna take Doc to fix you up, then I’ll put you on a bus back to Flint. Ma’ll be all right. Besides, I don’t see you for all this time, then you come here and expect to leave me after only two days? My Mighty Miss Malone would never be so unconsiderate.”
I moved my hands back and forth like they were on the steering wheel of a car.
Jimmie laughed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s the Manipula-Mobile, but I’m not letting you go.”
He opened a door and walked in. I looked inside but didn’t move.
“Trust me on this.” He reached out to me. I took his hand and let him pull me inside. I only did it because something was telling me that Jimmie and the dentist weren’t joshing. Anything that hurt this bad really could kill you.
I only did it because of that. And because I can trust my brother.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Going Back to Gary
I know I said you can’t read what a person or a house is like by the way they look, and that’s mostly true. But some people have kindness and gentleness wrapped around them like a blanket and there’s no doubting who they are. Jimmie’s Dr. Mitwally was that way.
That’s the only reason I didn’t run when he told me to sit in a strange, horrible chair with a big light over it. The chair was like something that Jimmie would sit in when he drove his rocket ship to the moon.
Jimmie took my hand. “Hey, Doc, I wanna save a little money on this, so instead of using that numbing stuff, do you have a washrag she can bite down on whilst you fix her up?”
Dr. Mitwally said, “I can knock a little more off the bill if I use a pair of pliers and hammer instead of any of this fancy dental equipment.”
I was so nervous that I couldn’t laugh at their jokes.
But once I sat all the way back in the chair it was a miracle! My teeth stopped hurting!
Before I could let them know, Dr. Mitwally said, “Open wide, Deza.”
Dr. Mitwally didn’t say anything then but Jimmie’s face twisted.
The doctor poked around in my mouth, shooting red lights of hurt into my scalp.
He said over and over, “Sorry, sorry, sorry …” Each time he did, more lights flashed.
The doctor said, “We need to get these X-rayed. Come in the next room with me, please.”
Jimmie took my hand and we followed the doctor.
We finished taking the X-rays. Then me and Jimmie went back to the rocket chair. I sat and he held my hand.
After a while the doctor came back in and said, “I’ve seen worse, you’re going to lose a few, I’ll be able to give you some relief immediately, but there are some things that are going to take more time.”
Jimmie said, “You know I’m good for anything, Doc, just fix her up, please.”
“We’re talking about months of work, James.”
“She’s gotta go to school in Flint, but we’ll get her here, Doc.”
Dr. Mitwally said, “I can recommend a good dentist in Flint.” He smiled at me. “You are one tough cookie, my dear, I can’t believe how you’re able to think, much less excel in school. By the way, don’t let him know, but everybody’s sick and tired of hearing Jimmie brag about how smart his baby sister is. You’ll feel a hundred times better when you leave here, and once you get everything taken care of you’ll be as good as new. Now wipe those tears and let’s get to work. You’re going to feel a little pinch.” The needle he’d been hiding behind his back came at my mouth, and then he put a little triangle-shaped mask over my nose and mouth.
Jimmie said, “Sweet dreams, sis,” and that was it. The next thing I knew I was floating out of the office, getting into a taxicab with Jimmie and trying to talk.
“Deza, your mouth’s all swole up. Just try to sleep.”
“Bud Musser? Wud abows musser?”
“I sent Ma a telegram, she’s gonna pick you up
from the bus tomorrow. Doc said you were a real soldier. I told him he wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know.”
For some reason that was very funny and I started saluting.
Jimmie saluted back. “Time to fall out, General.”
I woke up crying. It felt like a million little metal mice were chewing on my gums.
Jimmie came into the room with a glass of water and a little brown bottle. “Doc said you might feel pretty bad once the numbing wore off. He said take these.”
I swallowed the two little pills and drank the water. It was like I was swallowing fire.
Jimmie held my hand. “It hurts for a while, Deza, shoot, even I cried like a baby.”
I wanted to say, “Not you, Jimmie!” But sleeping seemed like a much easier thing to do.
The bus from Detroit got to Flint in no time, not that I was noticing much. The pills Jimmie gave me made everything foggy and far-off seeming.
I got off the bus and Mother kissed me. “Deza, what did they do to your face?”
I hugged her and we both cried. “Jimmie got my teeth fixed up, I’ll feel better in a few days.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I can’t wait for you to feel better because the minute you do I’m pulling those teeth out one by one with a pair of pliers. Do you have any idea how much I’ve worried?”
“Yes, but I knew I’d find Jimmie. I’d do it all over again.”
As we walked home Mother asked me a million questions about Jimmie, had he grown, was he eating, did he look healthy, did he seem happy? My head was spinning so much and my answers were so short that she finally said, “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I said, “That’s fine, Mother, but you can write to him at the New Turned Leaf. He wrote the address down for me.” I don’t remember anything after that.
Once all the swelling went down I felt so different!
I started chewing all of my food instead of biting it a couple of times with my front teeth before swallowing it, and everything tasted as good as one of Dr. Bracy’s pies! Dr. Mitwally gave me the name of a dentist in Flint that I was going to have to go to, but once I saw how good this made me feel I couldn’t wait!
It looked like the Malones had finally used up all of their three pieces of bad news. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was school. And Father. And Jimmie not being here.
I had to hide my first terrible Flint report card from Mother. I didn’t care, though, Flint teachers were so unfair. I’d gotten As on every test I’d taken but when the report card came it was all C pluses and a C in English. The teachers all wrote the same thing, I was a good student but didn’t participate in class. Mother never asked to see the card, but I’d always showed her my exams so she didn’t know anything was wrong.
The letters from Father came like clockwork.
Every two weeks he’d send ten or twenty dollars and a note telling about how his hand was getting better. He was still working as a traveling carpenter, mostly in cities geologically located in the South. The letters came from Jacksonville, Florida; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; and Atlanta, Georgia.
It all ended one Friday in May when I went into the post office and Mrs. James said, “Sorry, Deza, there’s no letter today.”
I wasn’t going to let it bother me too much, Father’s letters had been late a couple of times.
But Mrs. James laughed and said, “But there is a package!”
She waved a box at me.
It was from Father!
I said, “Mrs. James, you like teasing so much you could be one of the Malones.”
She said, “Why, thank you, Miss Malone, it would be an honor to be in your family.”
I hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
The package was addressed to Mother only. It was postmarked from Jacksonville, Florida. I’m really growing up, I was able to walk all the way home without opening it. I set it on the kitchen table and waited.
Mother did the same thing I did when I first touched the package, she shook it, held it to her ear, then turned it over and over before shaking it again.
“Something’s rattling in there, Deza, what do you think it is?”
“Gold?”
Mother laughed. “Well, if it is we shouldn’t waste another second.”
I screamed, “Mother!” as my Indiana mother tore at the package Flint style.
She laughed and finally got the paper off.
She said, “Here goes …” and opened the lid of a blue cardboard box.
Inside was a envelope, a letter and two keys held together by a piece of wire.
I took the keys and Mother read,
“Dear Peg and Deza,
I told you. When one of the Malones gives you their word, we keep it. These keys are for 541 Jackson Street in a beautiful city in Indiana called Gary. I have paid the rent for six months and you can move in at the beginning of June. My hand is still injured and I am still traveling and working. I have sent some extra for your move. I will still send money. Take care of each other.
Love,
Father”
“Oh, Mother, he did it! Father did it! When do we leave?”
I opened the cash envelope. There were three tens and a five inside!
Mother looked befumbled. “As soon as school is over, Deza. I do miss Gary.”
Part Three
A Little Closer …
Early Summer 1937
Gary, Indiana
Chapter Thirty-Three
The Quest for Jonah Blackbeard
We got a taxicab at the Gary bus station and told the driver the address. He stopped in front of a beautiful little house with a porch and a green door. I have never been so excited in my life!
We were dumbstruck.
“Deza, are you sure this is the right address?”
“Yes, Mother, this is it!”
“Let’s see if that key fits.”
We left our bundles on the sidewalk and went up the walkway like a couple of thieves waiting for someone to shout, “Hey! Get off that porch!” But no one did.
My hands were shaking too much to get the key into the lock. Mother took it from me, stuck it in, held her breath and turned it to the left.
Nothing.
She turned it to the right.
The lock clicked and Mother pulled the door open.
We walked in and I yelled, “Hello?”
The word echoed around the empty rooms.
Mother said, “Deza, we’re home!”
We hugged each other before I started running through the house. I knew how the little girl Rosario and her family felt when they first looked through our old house, every room was so beautiful that it might as well have been filled with gold nuggets!
We didn’t have any furniture but we were used to sleeping on the ground so spreading sheets and blankets on the bedroom floor didn’t feel all that bad. With the money Father was going to send it wouldn’t be long before we’d have beds and tables and chairs and maybe even a new wardrobe of our own.
I pulled my blanket up to my chin and said, “Mother, isn’t it wonderful? We’re back in Gary, Father kept his word!”
Mother sighed. “Darling Daughter Deza, it’s been a long day and tomorrow’s going to be another. I’ve got to find work. I’ll look up Mrs. Henderson and the Rhymeses, and I know you’ve got some searches of your own to do. As much as I’d love to chat with you right now, button that lip and let’s get some sleep.”
She smiled and leaned over to kiss my forehead.
“Kisses … kisses … kisses make you stronger.”
Jimmie was right, if you’re getting a bandage ripped off it’s best to do it in one quick snatch. Same way with getting bad news, find out and get it over with. Or as Father would say, “Deza, my Darling Daughter, don’t dillydally!”
On our first full day in our new house I decided to get two pieces of very bad news out of the way; Mrs. Needham’s house was empty, and as I walked to Clarice’s house my stomach started folding
itself up a couple of blocks off. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be there, but I had to try.
I stood in front of her house and knew right away. When a house has twelve boys and one girl living in it it’s different than an empty house, even if they’ve all gone to the park or for a walk. Clarice’s house looked the same, but I knew right away something was wrong. It reminded me of the spot in my gums where Doc had pulled my tooth. Even though you couldn’t tell it from the outside, something big and important was gone. For everafter.
Maybe that’s what I felt, or maybe it was me knowing I’d have to go through the rest of my life with half a heart, but this second piece of bad news made me want to leave without even asking her neighbors if they knew anything.
I’d wait until the next day to see if Dr. Bracy being gone was the third piece of bad news. Instead I went to the library to find out if I could still use my card.
Mrs. Ashton remembered me and was very pleased things had turned out so good for us. Even though I didn’t have a card with my new address yet, she let me check out four books!
I was reading and walking and got right up to our new front porch before I noticed there was a taxicab sitting in front of our home. Jimmie? Father!
I fumbled for my key and ran onto the porch. Mother called from inside the taxicab, “Deza!” She sounded very nervous.
I froze. “Well, kiddo, here’s part three of your bad news.”
I ran to the taxicab. “Mother, what’s wrong?”
“Get in.”
I climbed in next to her. “What? What happened?”
“I got a letter from a place in Lansing, Michigan. There’s a man who’s been in a poorhouse there for the last year. We have to check, Deza.”
“Check what?”
“There’s a chance the man may be your father.”
“What!”
“Lower your voice, Deza.”
“Mother, what are you talking about? A man in a poorhouse? How could it be Father? Father’s been traveling all around the country and sending us—”
A million more questions bounced around my skull but Mother said, “Deza, think it through. If those letters were from your father, why didn’t they ever mention Jimmie?”