She shrugged. “Our love’s blessed, Cassie.”
“Well . . . I don’t know ’bout all that—”
“It is. I feel my love for that boy from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toenails. Been feeling that way ’bout my Clarence since I first laid eyes on him.” She laughed again, then placed her hands on her stomach with an unsuppressed joy. “Oh, Cassie, I’m so happy! Clarence and me and this here baby, we gonna be us a family. Some folks, they been talkin’ ’bout me ’cause I’m this way and I ain’t married, but it don’t bother me none. Clarence, he the best thing ever come my way, and he’s my man and I’m right proud to have his baby! Right proud! We gonna do just fine, soon’s he learn that.” She looked so firm in that conviction, I almost believed it too. She squeezed my hand with her joy. “Don’t worry, Cassie, me and Clarence, we’re gonna work out fine.”
“That is, if your grandma Batie doesn’t catch up with Clarence first and blast him with a shotgun.”
Sissy’s laughter rang across the yard like a bell. “Ah, Ma’s just talking! Ain’t nothin’ gonna spoil our happiness. Nothin’ at all.”
“Well, I sure hope not,” I said and got up. “Not as crazy as you are about that boy. Look here, you coming back up to church later?”
“What I got to come back up there for? Anybody wanna see me, they can just come down here. Don’t worry. He’ll come ’fore he leaves. He’ll come.”
“All right, you believe that,” I said. “S’pose I’ll be seeing you come Christmas. We’re going to be leaving after while.”
She patted her stomach. “Christmas already here for me.”
“Well, then, I guess I’ll be hoping Santa Claus’ll bring you one more present.”
“He will,” she said with assurance. “He will.”
I laughed, told her good-bye, and returned to the road. As I made my way back toward Great Faith a truck came barreling over the rise. I stepped to the side of the road to let it pass. The truck slowed. A few feet from me it stopped. Statler, Troy, and Leon Aames sat in the cab. Statler stepped from the driver’s side. “’Ey, Cassie,” he said as Leon and Troy also got out. “You’re looking mighty good there, Cassie Logan. Haven’t seen you in a while.”
I didn’t say anything. Statler came toward me. I tried to walk on. Grinning, Statler stepped in front of me and blocked my way. “Looking that good, you gotta know something good.”
I still didn’t say anything.
“’Ey, what? Cat got your tongue? Ain’t you hearing me talking to you, girl? I said, what you know good?”
I met his gray eyes, and against good sense my smart mouth got the better of me. “Whatever I know good, I won’t be sharing it with you.”
Statler’s smile was slow, then he let go a howl; so did Leon and Troy. When they finished with their laughing, Statler grinned down appreciatively. “You know, you’re something, Cassie.”
The smile made me nervous. I was a fool to use a smart mouth. These were young white men standing here. They could take offense to my words or be encouraged by them. Either way, I couldn’t win. It was obvious that Statler liked my sass, but that was doing me no good. I just wanted to get by and get back to church. Statler, though, was still standing in my way. “Would you move, please?” I said. “I need to get by.”
Again he laughed. “You ain’t scairt of nothin’, are you, girl?” He drew nearer and whispered, “Out here on this road all by yourself.”
He was wrong about that, about my not being scared. I was scared of him, all right, of all three of them. But the last thing I wanted was for them to know it. “What? You expecting me to go running like Harris that night on the Rosa Lee?”
Statler paled and pulled back. I walked past him. I got as far as the back end of the truck before he came after me. “Cassie, let me give you a ride.” He blocked my way again. “Got something here you might like.”
“You’ve got nothing I want—”
“Yeah . . . but you got something I want . . .”
Leon and Troy again howled. I stepped away, ready to flee back to Sissy’s. I didn’t know if I could make it, though. I glanced over at the forest looming tall on either side of the road and wondered if I could make the leap across the gully in my Sunday pumps and make a shortcut run up to the church. But then I wondered, if it came to that, if I could outrun them. If I couldn’t, the woods was the last place I needed to be. If I headed for Sissy’s place, I figured they would just stop me again; however, they wouldn’t be expecting me to jump the gully. I knew every foot of this land, but right now I felt cornered, and I was uncertain how to escape.
“Well, Cassie, what you say?” Statler grinned and moved even closer. I made up my mind. I got set to jump.
Papa stopped me.
“Cassie,” he said in a voice as quiet as black night. “Cassie, come on, now, back to church.” He was standing at the top of the rise.
Startled, Statler turned. I quickly passed him and headed for the rise. As I walked away Statler called, “Don’t break it, now, Cassie!” He and Leon and Troy let out a contemptuous laugh. My eyes flashed, ready to retort; Papa shook his head. His eyes bore down on mine, and I said nothing. Then he looked past me, at Statler and Leon and Troy, and the laughter stopped. Nothing more was said. I reached the top of the rise. Papa placed his hand on my shoulder. “You all right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“They ain’t touched you none?”
“No, sir.”
He nodded. “Good” was all he said before turning and walking with me down the rise toward the church.
“Papa, how’d you know they were messing with me?”
“My business to know,” he said. Then he looked at me. “You know I don’t like you walking these roads by yourself.”
“Well, I wasn’t by myself at first. Just walked Sissy home—”
“Seen y’all go off. Been waiting for y’all to come back.”
“Wasn’t gone that long.”
“Long ’nough to be back. You s’pose to be at church, not walking the roads.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, deciding not to dispute with Papa. As always, his words were soft-spoken. As always, they were words meant to be heard. I didn’t figure now was the time to go arguing with him; I didn’t figure I could win anyway.
“Seen Statler’s truck go by and figured I best come on down this way and see what done happened to y’all. That Statler got himself one bad reputation ’bout forcing his attentions on colored girls. That done happened more’n one time ’round here, and ain’t been nothin’ them girls’ daddies could do ’bout it, you know that. Got no laws t’ protect our girls from the likes of him, but I ain’t gonna stand for him forcing his attentions on you. I ain’t gonna stand for it.”
I nodded, understanding.
The forest ended; the land opened up, and Great Faith stood before us. Papa stopped, looked up at the church, then back at me. “You know, sugar, being my only girl, I worry ’bout you, worry ’bout you a lot, maybe more’n I oughta—”
“Papa, I’m all right,” I assured him.
Papa smiled at my declaration. “Ever since you was a baby girl, I could most times feel when you was in trouble, when you was hurting, needing me. Always wanted to protect all my children. Figured, though, maybe you might be needing protecting most.”
“Because I’m a girl?”
He conceded that. “Fact is, guess I worry ’cause that’s what papas do. Worry ’bout you on these roads by yourself. Worry ’bout you up in Jackson, so far from your mama and me. Worry ’bout you getting in trouble like Sissy, making a bad start in life.”
“Oh, Papa, you’ve got no cause to worry about that. I’m not stupid like Sissy.”
Papa gave me a long look, and his voice grew even more quiet, compelling me to listen. “There’s a lotta things that can happen to you in this world, Cassie. That’s how come your mama and me, we taught you like we done. Sometimes things happen, and there ain’t no way to keep them from happening. Other
times things happen ’cause we get to thinking we so smart nothing can go wrong. Don’t get so smart, Daughter, you don’t use your head.”
I met Papa’s eyes and promised him that. “No, sir, I won’t.”
He nodded, then we crossed the field to the church. He went in the deacon’s door at the back. I went around to the front of the church and there found Little Man and Christopher-John, along with two of Willie’s younger brothers, with their ears pressed against the door. Harris stood at the bottom of the steps leaning against his crutch. They didn’t hear me coming, and all of them jumped when I said: “What y’all doing?”
Little Man scowled at me for startling them. “Listening to Ma Batie and Miz Noble in there talking to Clarence and them.”
“Clarence is in there?” I said, surprised.
“Yeah, he—”
Little Man didn’t get a chance to say more, as the door shot open and Clarence exploded from the church, knocking Little Man down the steps to the ground below. Paying Little Man no attention Clarence slipped on his sliver of a soldier’s cap and stomped away. As Little Man got up and dusted himself off, Stacey and Willie came out. “What happened?” I asked them.
Little Willie grinned. “Nothing that should’ve gone on in church.”
“Well, what’s got Clarence so mad?”
“Fool mad ’cause he think Sissy done made a fool of him.”
“He doesn’t still think one of you—”
“Don’t know what that boy think, he gone so addle minded,” declared Willie. He turned and cast an accusing look on Harris. “Why don’t you go do something ’bout this, boy? She your sister!”
Harris looked as if he’d been wrongly accused of some crime. “What—what I’m gonna do? Y’all know Sissy—”
“Yeah, I know her, all right. Tell you one thing. She was my sister, I wouldn’t let her go ’round tellin’ tales like this! I’d put a stop to it!”
Harris shook his head weakly “I . . . I can’t stop Sissy. Can’t nobody stop Sissy. She . . . she too hardheaded.”
“Ah, Willie, leave him be,” ordered Stacey. “Your quarrel’s with Sissy, not Harris.”
“Quarrel’s with the whole darn family, Sissy keep messin’!” retorted Willie.
Stacey glanced across the field at Jeanette, still talking to one of those Smellings Creek boys. “Well, I’m finished with it. I’ve said my last word about the whole thing. I’m going to go talk to Jeanette before we head back.”
“Try to, you mean,” corrected Willie. Stacey just looked at him and went off. “Yeah, well, you gonna be brave ’bout the thing,” Willie called after him, “‘spect I’ll go ’head and try to talk to Peaches too!”
“Good luck,” I said as he, too, started off.
He went off grumbling. “Gonna need it. That devilish Sissy and that fool Clarence, they just ruinin’ my love life . . . .”
“Well, I guess that’s that,” said Little Man, inspecting his suit to make sure he had rid himself of all the dust.
“No, it’s not,” I said.
Christopher-John gave me an odd glance. “What you mean, Cassie?”
“I’m going to go talk to Clarence.”
Little Man cast me a suspicious look. “Well, what you got to say?”
“Plenty,” I replied and crossed the field. True, none of this was my business, but I figured this thing had gone just about far enough, especially since I knew the truth. I caught up with Clarence, and I told him everything. I wasn’t thinking about any promises to Sissy.
At first Clarence didn’t know what to make of the news. “But, then, why’d she say—”
“To make you mad. Get you jealous.”
“J-jealous?” Clarence stumbled over the word. “What she wanna get me jealous for? Sissy know how I feel ’bout her!”
“Look here,” I said. “I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this, so don’t you go back and tell Sissy I told you. But she wanted you to be jealous so you’d come to your senses about how you feel about her. She knew you didn’t want to get married.”
Clarence pouted. “She got everybody laughing at me.”
I was about tired of him and Sissy too. “Look here, just go talk to Sissy. She loves you, Lord only knows why. You know you got no right to deny your own child.”
Clarence thought again, then somewhat relented. “Well . . . like I said, I ain’t ready for no marrying now. Other girls, they have babies and they don’t get married. Sissy can do that too.”
“Well, that’s between you and Sissy. Least, though, you can do is talk to her.”
Clarence considered. “Where she at?”
“She went home.”
He stood there indecisive.
“Now, you know you want to talk to her, so go on.”
Clarence sighed and looked up the road. “Okay. Gotta tell my folks good-bye, then I’ll go on and talk to this girl.” He started away. “Tell Stacey to pick me up at her place, will ya?”
“Be happy to,” I replied, figuring I had just about resolved this whole mess. Sissy could just be mad at me if she wanted to.
It was late afternoon when Stacey, Moe, Willie, Oliver, and I said our good-byes to everybody, left Great Faith, and headed for Sissy’s to pick up Clarence. As we neared the trail leading to Ma Batie’s we saw Clarence and Sissy standing out on the road. We heard them too. Obviously, what with all the hollering going on, they hadn’t made up. As we pulled alongside them Clarence turned to us. “Y’all know what that old woman Ma Batie done? She took a shotgun to me!”
“What?” we said. Then we couldn’t help ourselves. We laughed.
“Yeah! She coulda killed me!”
“Shoulda killed ya!” judged Sissy. “What you doin’ up here, anyway, Clarence Hopkins?”
“Just come to tell you to stop makin’ a fool of yourself.”
“Me make a fool of myself? Negro, I wasn’t the one hiding behind some tree up there ’fraid of a shotgun!”
Clarence cast a cautious glance up the trail toward the house. “I know what you doin’ ’round here, Missy. You think I don’t know? You trying to get me to marry you, girl.”
“Now, just what would I want with you?”
“Don’t play games with me! Cassie told me! Told me everything you up to! Yeah, Cassie done told me all about it!”
Sissy’s head turned like a rattler’s.
“Oh, Lord,” I groaned and got out of the car. I was used to dealing with Sissy Mitchum, and I got myself ready for her.
“You done that, Cassie?” she hissed. “You told him, knowin’ all the while I ain’t wanted him to know it?”
There was nothing I could do but admit the truth. It was out now. “Yeah, I told it. Only thing was, Clarence wasn’t supposed to tell you I told it.”
Clarence looked a bit chagrined. Sissy took note. “Ain’t Clarence’s fault ’bout that. Fault’s yours and the fault’s mine, ain’t it, now? I’da kept it to myself, then you wouldn’t’ve known. You’da kept it to yourself, then he wouldn’t’ve known.”
I didn’t like the way this was going. Sissy was being too calm. “Guess you got something there,” I admitted, feeling the contest of wills now between her and me.
She crossed her arms over her bulging stomach “You just can’t stand it, can you, Cassie? To have another girl close to any of ’em?”
I studied her good. “Girl, just what’re you talking about?”
“Them boys. Can’t stand it, can ya? You just had to go tell it and put yourself in good with Clarence, like you was closer to him than me. This here ain’t been none of your business till you put yourself in it! It was all gonna work out, and I told you that—”
“Yeah, you told me that, all right!” I shot back. “Meanwhile you were making such a mess around here you had everybody fighting—”
“Maybe so. But who’re you to step into it?”
“Just trying to be your friend!”
“Well, maybe I don’t need your kind of friend!”
“’Ey, wait, now, Sissy!” interceded Clarence. “Don’t be gettin’ on Cassie—”
Sissy turned like a tigress. “And don’t you be defendin’ her! Not to me, you don’t! Here I am carryin’ this baby of yours, and you gonna take up for her ’stead of me? I’ll kill you, boy!”
“Leastways you admitting now it’s his,” I said. “Got something set right out of all this mess.”
Suddenly, without warning, Sissy turned and lunged at me. I should have been expecting it, knowing Sissy as I did, but I suppose her condition caught me unprepared for the viciousness of her attack. I saw the flash in her eyes, then shielded my face with my arms before she could claw me. Clarence caught her and pulled her off. “Now, Sissy,” he cried, “you cut that out, girl!”
Sissy screamed to high heaven at the order. “Now you protectin’ her too! Well, I don’t care! You don’t mean nothin’ to me!”
“Sissy! Calm down, girl!” He held her by the arms and tried to talk sense to her, but she wrenched away. She was a strong little thing. “Tell it to Cassie!” she screamed. “I don’t wanna hear it! My ears closed to anything you got to say, Clarence! Oughta get me Ma’s shotgun and take it to you my own self!”
I stepped forward. “Ah, Sissy! You gone about as crazy as a loon—”
“Get ’way from me, Cassie Logan! I don’t wanna talk to you!”
“Then I expect you don’t much want to talk to nobody,” said Clarence. He let her go and walked back to the car.
Sissy’s eyes went hot with rage. “Don’t you turn your back on me, Clarence Hopkins! You hear me? Don’t you leave from here!”
Clarence didn’t say anything. He held the door open for me. I sighed and got back in the car. Things weren’t supposed to be turning out like this.
“Clarence!” Sissy screamed again.
“I’m sorry,” I said as Clarence got in beside me.
“You got no need,” he said. “Let’s go, Stacey.”
Stacey glanced over at Sissy. “You sure you want to leave it like this, Clarence?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. The girl’s crazy. Whole family’s crazy.”
Stacey didn’t say anything else. He started the car, and we went on, leaving Sissy behind still hollering after us.