Swan Place (22 page)

Aunt Mee sort of rolled her eyes at the invitation. Because Aunt Mee had lived most of her life in the way things used to be between black people and white people, and in her way of thinking, no black woman would ever sit down at the kitchen table with a white woman. It was different when I was at Aunt Mee’s house, because it was
her house
, and I wasn’t a grown woman. Yet. And I don’t even know how we knew all those things, because they weren’t written down anyplace that I knew of. But still, we all knew them.

“Please?” Crystal added.

Aunt Mee relented and walked over to the table. Ever so slowly, she pulled out a chair. But she looked at Crystal and me again before she finally sat down. Even then, she sat at the very edge of the chair, as if she needed to be able to lift off at a moment’s notice. Crystal and I approached the table almost on tiptoe, and we sat down on the edge of our chairs, as well. Aunt Mee studied us carefully and then scooted back in her chair a little.

“What on earth is bothering you children?” she asked.

The way she called us both “children” made Crystal and me look at each other in surprise. And when we looked back at Aunt Mee, I guess we both saw her in a new way—Aunt Mee, wise-woman!

Slowly and carefully, Crystal told Aunt Mee everything about what had happened, and Aunt Mee never changed the expression on her face at all, not even when Crystal told her about me being Roy-Ellis’s own child. She just sat and listened, like she was drinking in every single word and rolling it around behind those black eyes. When Crystal came to the end, we all just sat there in silence, with Aunt Mee rubbing her thumb on the oilcloth tablecloth, humming under her breath, and wearing three deep creases between her eyes. We sat and sat and sat some more. Finally, Crystal said, “Can I fix you a cup of coffee?” Aunt Mee didn’t look up but just nodded her head slowly. So Crystal got up, glanced at me, shrugged her shoulders a little, and put the kettle on the stove. I stayed at the table, watching Aunt Mee. Crystal put a cup of coffee in front of Aunt Mee, and Aunt Mee picked it up and sipped from it, still without speaking. Finally, finally, Aunt Mee finished her coffee and put the cup in the saucer with a little
click.

“Here’s what I can do to help you all out,” she announced. “I got me a cousin lives in a little town about fifteen or twenty miles from here. Works for a real rich white lady who’s gone almost all the time. You all can go there. My cousin will take you all in.”

Crystal and I glanced at each other.

“You still working at the mall?” Aunt Mee asked.

“Well, yes,” Crystal said. “Why do you ask?”

“‘Cause that little town she lives in is on the other side of the mall—maybe even a little closer to it than you are here. Won’t be as long a drive for you, and you won’t have to look for another job. Yes!” Aunt Mee suddenly exclaimed. “That will work.” Then she added, “But I don’t know for how long. Long enough for you all to get things figured out anyways.”

Crystal was nodding her head. “And nobody would know,” she whispered.

“‘Cept for me,” Aunt Mee added. “And nobody would think to ask
me
.”

“Yes,” Crystal said. “Yes!”

“Got a funny name, though,” Aunt Mee said.

“Excuse me?”

“Got a funny name,” Aunt Mee said again.

“What’s got a funny name? The town?”

“Oh!” Aunt Mee laughed. “Not the town. My cousin.” Then she laughed again. “Name’s Buzzard.”

“Buzzard?” Crystal and I both said at exactly the same time.

We all laughed a little, but we stopped real fast when Aunt Mee said, “Her mama named her that because she said a black woman had to be able to live off what nobody else wanted.”

“Lord have mercy!” Crystal breathed. Then she added, “Was it really that way back then?”

Aunt Mee was forthcoming: “Oh yes. It certainly was. Still is, in some little towns. ‘Cause the old ways die so slow.” Then she looked at me. “But mostly, things are better now. There was a time when you and Savannah couldn’t have been good friends. Not really. Well, let me go on home,” Aunt Mee said. “I’ll talk to Buzzard on the phone tonight and tell her about you all. I’ll let you know what she says.” Aunt Mee stood up and looked down at the kitchen table, staring and staring at the coffee cup.

“Dear Lord in Heaven!” she exclaimed, grinning. “I guess times certainly are better! I drank me a cup of coffee and me sitting at the very table with white women and never even thought about it!” How Crystal and I had changed from “children” to “women,” we didn’t know. We just grinned back at Aunt Mee.

We found a way!

The next day, Crystal and I
took Molly and Little Ellis and walked down to Aunt Bett’s house. We left Molly and Little Ellis playing in the bedroom, under Darlene’s watchful eye and went into the kitchen. Crystal got us started. “Bett, Aunt Mee came over last night and I told her what has happened. And I think she can help us find a way.”

“What?” Aunt Bett sort of squeaked, as if she had forgotten what we were talking about.

“I think we’ve found a way,” Crystal repeated.

“A way to do what?” Aunt Bett was still staring at me.

“A way for us to stay together.”

“How?”

“Well,” Crystal started. “Aunt Mee has a cousin who lives in a town not far away, and her cousin keeps house for a real rich lady who’s gone most of the time. We can go there, Aunt Mee says.”

“Aunt Mee’s cousin? What’s her name? Where does she live?”

Crystal sighed. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why on earth not?” Aunt Bett was starting to sound alarmed.

“Because if
he
takes you to court, the judge would make you put your hand on a Bible and you would have to swear to tell what you know.” The breath went out of Aunt Bett.

“It’s the only way I can see, for now at least.” Crystal said. “And Bett, there’s nothing holding me here now.” Aunt Bett’s mouth dropped open.

“Why, you have everything to keep you here!” Aunt Bett sputtered. “The house you’re in and
 . . .
” she swept her arm toward me. “And the children and me to help you!”

“Would you have us stay even if it means losing Molly?” Crystal leveled the question at Aunt Bett. Her words sat in the air for a long time and just wouldn’t go away.

“No,” Aunt Bett admitted at last. “Not if it means losing Molly.”

A long silence then, with all our thoughts kind of fluttering around like little birds looking for a branch to land on. When Crystal finally broke the silence, her voice was strong and calm-sounding. “I can’t tell you where we’re going,” she said. “But I’ll be even closer to work than I am now. It’ll mean less driving.”

“Closer?” Aunt Bett fairly pounced on Crystal’s words. “Someplace between here and the mall?”

“No, Bett. And don’t try to figure it out,” Crystal warned. “You just think about having to put your hand on a Bible and swear to tell the truth.” She added, “And make us lose Molly.”

Aunt Bett blushed. “You’re right, of course.”

Aunt Bett looked back and forth between Crystal and me, and I could tell that she was coming to agree with everything Crystal had said. Finally, her lips parted. “Not knowing where you all are? Or what’s happening to you?”

Crystal nodded.

“For how long?”

Crystal shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “I guess I’ll have to talk with a lawyer or something. We’ll figure it all out.”

“And what about clothes?” she asked suddenly. “What about clothes, huh? How you going to put clothes on three growing children, Crystal? You tell me that!” Well, there it was—Aunt Bett’s fear had turned into anger, right in front of my eyes. I thought it was probably a good sign, and Crystal was wise enough not to say anything, just yet. So we just were quiet and watched Aunt Bett struggling with herself.

Finally, Crystal said, “I got me a good job, Bett, and you’ve provided clothes for your own and mine as well. From now on, I can provide for my own.”

My own! How beautiful!

“I been waiting and waiting for you all’s lights to come on,” she fussed. “Been wanting to tell you about what Buzzard had to say.”

“Please come on over, Aunt Mee,” I begged. “We’ve got big trouble!” She frowned and followed me down the steps and across the backyard, muttering things I couldn’t quite make out.

“Why, your lights are still out!” she exclaimed as we got close to the house.

“Crystal’s inside with Molly and Little Ellis,” I explained. “But we’re scared to turn on the lights. The sheriff’s been here.”

“Lord, help us!” Aunt Mee muttered. Crystal was waiting for us on the dark back porch.

“Aunt Mee, we gotta leave right away. Tonight!”

“I talked to Buzzard and she says for you all to come right ahead. She didn’t expect it to be so fast, I don’t think.”

“I know,” Crystal said. “I’m sorry.”

“So what’s going on over here? Dove said the sheriff’s been around.”

“It can only be one thing: He must be trying to serve a warrant so Molly’s daddy can get her.”

“Lord, help us!” Aunt Mee whispered yet again. “Now let’s us think
 . . .
and pray! Where are Molly and Little Ellis?” Aunt Mee finally asked.

“Sitting at the kitchen table,” Crystal said. “I told them not to move an inch.”

“Okay,” Aunt Mee said. “First thing is we gotta get your car around here in the backyard, so you can load it up without anybody seeing. You get as much of your stuff as you can, throw it in the car, and then get out of here. I’ll call Buzzard back and tell her you’re on your way.”

“Yes,” Crystal breathed. “Oh thank you!”

“You all get the car,” Aunt Mee said in a commanding voice. “I’ll take Molly and Little Ellis home with me and keep them quiet. And when you’re done, we’ll put them in the backseat and you can be off.”

We all went into the dark kitchen and found Molly and Little Ellis sitting exactly where Crystal had put them, their eyes wide and faces pale.

“Come on with Aunt Mee, you sweet babies,” Aunt Mee crooned. And she led them out of the kitchen, across the porch, and into the dark backyard. Very quietly, Crystal drove the car around back, not putting on the headlights or stepping on the brakes, and in all that darkness, we started gathering up what all we could and throwing it into the open trunk. The whole thing felt like some kind of a terrible dream. I grabbed armloads of all those nice clothes Aunt Bett worked so hard to get us, and Roy-Ellis’s hat because I couldn’t leave it. I got all my treasures and wrapped them and my hand lotion in a towel and put them in the trunk, and Molly and Little Ellis’s clothes I jammed into a pillowcase. When the car’s trunk was full, we shut it without making a sound and got in the car. Crystal didn’t turn on the headlights; she just eased the car out onto the road and turned in at Aunt Mee’s. I’d already put Molly and Little Ellis’s pillows and blankets into the backseat, and Crystal and Aunt Mee got Molly and Little Ellis loaded in. Our most precious cargo loaded in, all safe and sound.