Harlem Redux (8 page)

Annie rose from the table and went to the stove. She picked up the coffeepot. “You want some more?” she asked him.

“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve barely touched what I’ve got.” He let her pour herself a cup, then asked: “So, did Miss Gem try to …” He paused, searching for the words. “Try to, you know ...”

Annie nodded and her lips tensed. That look of knowledge and disapproval once more flitted across her face. She brought her cup to the table and eased back down onto her chair. “Once she’d met him, Miss Gem was real polite to Mr. Jameson. She didn’t show nothing of her true feelings. Nothing happened: no fireworks, no nothing. Miss Lilian let out a breath of relief. That was one naive child. I coulda told her it was the quiet b’fore the storm. Miss Gem was just biding her time.

“Oh, she was proper and correct when Miss Lilian was round, but the moment Miss Lilian was outta sight? Hmmm-hm! Miss Gem used to follow Mr. Jameson ‘round with her eyes whenever they was in a room together. She’d say li’l cutting things at the dinner table and look over at Mr. Jameson like they was sharing a secret. She’d find a way to touch him, get close to him, every time she saw him. She’d brush up ‘gainst his shoulder if they happen to come in a room at the same time. She had sumptin’ in mind all right.

“Miss Lilian saw what was going on, but she wouldn’t let it get to her. She did say sumptin’ to me. Once. We was in the kitchen. She wanted to know about supplies for a dinner party she was planning. I don’t right recall how we got on the subject. Maybe I asked her about the seating. Anyway, she said to make sure Miss Gem’s place at the table was as far down from Mr. Jameson’s as possible. She musta caught my look, ‘cause she turned her eyes away sorta embarrassed. Then, she said, ‘I know there’s nothing to worry about, Annie. Gem’s trying to rile me. She wants to prove that my man’s no good. But we not gonna play her game. He’s not about to give her the satisfaction, and neither am I.’

“Miss Lilian tried to sound brave, but her voice shook. She weren’t nowhere near as confident as she made out to be. She knew Miss Gem wasn’t one to give up easy. Now I know lots of women woulda put their sister outta the house. But Miss Lilian wasn’t like that. I don’t b’lieve it ever crossed her mind. Still, there was a lotta talk going round. Some people said Miss Lilian was a fool. Said she’d invited the fox into the chicken coup, and was working hard on keeping it there. But Miss Lilian said her marriage was her business. And she was
not
gonna let the gossips get their way.”

“Why didn’t Sweet do something to set Gem straight? Say something?”

“Well, actu’ly, he did. I gotta say he tried. It was about a month later, in late November. Miss Lilian went to a lit’rary conference in Chicago. Mr. Jameson drove her to the train station.

“That morning, I washed the windows, starting with the downstairs, and worked my way up to the second floor. It got to be ‘round lunchtime. I was heating up some chowder—I love me some soup, ‘specially in the wintertime—and the doorbell rang. It was Miss Gem. She’d gone out and forgotten her key. I let her in. She went on in to the parlor. I went back to the kitchen. I was breaking my last cracker over my soup when I looked up to check the time, and I sees Mr. Jameson’s car pulling up to the house. I let Mr. Jameson in, then came on back in here, finished eating, and did the dishes real quick. The wash was next, so I headed upstairs to get the used linen and dirty clothes. I had to go past the parlor. Them doors weren’t shut all the way. I couldn’t help hearing. Mr. Jameson had joined Miss Gem in the parlor. Now Mr. David, I ain’t never eavesdropped before. Ain't never spied on nobody. But that day, sumptin’ told me to go on and do it. Soon as I saw them two was in there together, I put my eye to the crack in the door and had me a good look-see.

“Miss Gem had found herself some bootleg liquor and was curled up on the sofa with a glass of it. Mr. Jameson was leaning up ‘gainst the fireplace mantel. He was telling her that Miss Lilian had missed her at breakfast. Miss Gem shrugged like she didn’t care and said she’d see her sister when she got back. Mr. Jameson didn’t like that attitude, didn’t like it at all. But he didn’t say nothing, just took out his cigarette case and lit a Lucky Strike. He smoked for a li’l while, all the time studying Miss Gem. Finally, he turned round and tapped his ashes in the fireplace. Then he gave Miss Gem sumptin’ to think about.

“‘I’m only going to say this one time,’ he said. ‘And one time only. I won’t let
anyone
make my Lilian unhappy. I don’t intend to make her unhappy myself. She’s one of a kind.’

“‘She certainly is,’ said Miss Gem.

“‘I bless the day she married me.’

“‘I’m sure you do.’

“Mr. Jameson liked that answer even less, but he let it go. Miss Gem, she grabbed her drink from where she’d put it on the floor and swung her legs down off the sofa. She sallied on over to the table where she’d stashed her bottle, poured herself another drink, and made one for him, too. Then she sort of sidled on over to him and pressed the glass in his hands.

“Why wasn’t he smoking his pipe, she wanted to know. Said she liked his pipe. Told him he prob’ly only smoked it to impress women. Well, Mr. Jameson told her that if that was the case, then she’d best take note he wasn’t interested in smoking it ‘round
her.
Miss Gem gave a little laugh and scolded him for being so direct. Anyway, she said, the only reason he wanted Miss Lilian was the money her daddy left her. She told Mr. Jameson that he and Miss Lilian didn’t have nothing in common. Said that
even if he did
want her sister, there weren’t no reason why he shouldn’t want her more.

“Mr. Jameson took a long, hard look at her. Said she must take him for a fool, but he was gonna have to disappoint her. He loved Miss Lilian, he said.

“‘You mean you love her money,’ Miss Gem said.

“Mr. Jameson got angry. Said he didn’t care what she thought, but she’d better get one thing straight: Couldn’t nothing happen—not between her and him, not between him and Miss Lilian—if he didn’t say so. He was her sister’s husband and she’d better get used to it.

“Then he told her that he understood if she was jealous. Said she had reason to be, since Miss Lilian had ‘out-classed’ her and all. Miss Gem got so angry, she threw her glass at him. Mr. Jameson stepped aside and the glass broke at his feet. He laughed at her. Well, Miss Gem couldn’t take that. She went crazy, tried to hit him, but he caught her.

“‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘Don’t you ever do that again.’

“He never raised his voice, but you knew he meant business. She told him she didn’t never let nobody laugh at her. He lowered her arm and kissed her wrist, real gentle-like. Then he asked, ‘Is that better?’ Well, it musta been ’cause she got her lazy smile back. She leaned into him. He stroked her face. He cupped her cheeks. Then his grip got tighter. He squeezed so tight it hurt to see. She tried to pull away, but he yanked her back. Then he kissed her. Well, I’m calling it that, but what he done ain’t had nothing to do with no affection. She fought him—leastways, at first she did. Pounded him on the chest and such. But then she started to give in. Started to put her arms around him. And the minute she did that, he let her go. Pushed her away. She fell back, hit the mantelpiece. Mr. David, there was tears in her eyes. That man actually made Miss Gem cry. He got to her. Looked at her with about as much feeling as a butcher’s got for meat. Said the only kinda loving he’d ever have for someone like her would be hard and quick—when he wanted it and how he wanted it.”

“For
‘someone like her’?”

“Sure ‘nough. She swore to him that he’d regret it. He shrugged. Said maybe he would—maybe he wouldn’t.”

Annie sipped her coffee and was silent, thoughtful. “The strange thing of it is, after a while I got the feeling Miss Gem genuinely cared for him. It started as a game, just to spite Miss Lilian. But then Miss Gem fell for him. Fell hard. She changed after he put her down like that. She started treating Miss Lilian with more respect. No more of them sly looks at him.

“It was just after that, that Miss Gem and Miss Lilian started spending more time together. They’d go on shopping trips. Come back laughing and giggling like they was schoolgirls. I wondered what Miss Gem was up to. Later on, I started to think that maybe she was poisoning Miss Lilian ‘gainst Mr. Jameson.”

“Why’d you think that?”

Annie looked at him. “‘Cause of what happened later.”

And just what was that?
David wondered. He could try to get Annie to clarify her statement, but why rush her? He’d find out soon enough what she meant. Pressing his fingertips to his eyebrows, he massaged the muscles over the bridge of his nose. Poisoning Lilian against her husband would be something Gem would do. If she couldn’t have Sweet, then she’d take away the woman he really wanted—and ruin Lilian’s feelings for the man she’d finally found. David looked at Annie and his eyes hurt.

“What then?”

“Miss Gem went out and got herself a man of her own, a West Indian guy. Everybody in the neighborhood was talking about it. They said he was a gangster. Well, you never know now, do you? She brought him ‘round here a coupla times. Seemed like a nice ‘nough fellah. Li’l bit older. Quiet. Good to look at. But smooth. Maybe too smooth, when I think about it.

“Everything seemed so nice for a while. Miss Gem and Miss Lilian was getting along. Miss Gem was going out all the time with her fellah. Miss Lilian was busy with her poetry readings. Then, it all fell apart.

“Miss Lilian took ill. Got the tremors. Her hands would start to shaking. She got so she could barely hold a cup. She started complaining about her eyes, too. Said her vision was getting blurry. One minute everything would be fine and clear. The next, she was as blind as a bat in a ray of sunshine. Mr. Jameson took her to the doctor, but the doctor said he couldn’t find nothing. Told Miss Lilian it was her nerves. She was working too hard, he said. She’d been taking on extra work since her boss left and she was writing poems, book reviews, and the like. Doctor said she’d have to cut back, go to bed and get some rest.

“Well, she tried. But it didn’t do no good. She’d start having nightmares the minute her head hit the pillow. Sometimes, she’d wake up screaming, babbling about voices in the dark. Mr. Jameson, he told the doctor to give her a sleeping potion. But them spells come on her so sudden, nobody knew what to do. And they’d go way quick as they come. One minute, she could see; the next she couldn’t. One minute, she was sitting at her desk, typing away; the next, her hands were shaking so bad she couldn’t hit the keys. And her heart—she said it’d beat so hard, she thought it was about to jump outta her chest.

“We was all desp’rate, trying to find ways to help her. We was so busy with Miss Lilian, wasn’t none of us paying no attention to Miss Gem. She seemed fine enough with her fellah. But then sumptin’ went wrong there, too. Folks say he jilted her. I don’t know about
that.
I ain’t heard nothing about them supposed to be getting married. But he sure ‘nough dropped her. They had a big blowup. Right out in public. Everybody was talking about it. She left town right after that. Said she’d had enough of New York. At least, that’s what Miss Lilian said. She the one went out there and talked to Miss Gem. Nobody else did.”

“When was that?”

“Last year. ‘Round this time. Strange how Miss Gem took off: Not a word to nobody. Gone. Into thin air, much the way she came.” Annie felt around in her apron pocket, pulled out a small white handkerchief, and blew her nose softly. “After Miss Gem left, Miss Lilian started drinking. Having blackouts. Sometimes she’d lose track of hours. Didn’t have no idea where she’d been or what she’d been doing. Leastways, she
said
she didn’t know. But I knew. She’d go places when Mr. Jameson wasn’t home; come home late at night. I smelled smoke on her clothes and liquor on her breath.

“God forgive me if I’m wrong—but I think it was Miss Gem who got Miss Lilian started down that road. She’s the one taught Miss Lilian about smoking and drinking. To this day, I wonder why Miss Lilian listened.”

Maybe,
he thought,
just maybe Lilian thought she was missing out on life.
He didn’t know why he thought that, but something inside him told him it was so.

Bitterness touched Annie’s face. “She dropped all her old friends, got right secrety. And she tried to fire me. Me, of all people. After all I done for her. After she’d promised me a place till my dying day. Well, she had to bring me back a week later. Miss Lilian didn’t say nothing about why she’d changed her mind. But
he
told me the new girl had burnt a hole in his best shirt. Said he liked a smooth-running house. He was the one told her to fetch me back. She didn’t want to do it, but he forced her to.”