A Matter of Souls by Denise Lewis Patrick Read Free Book Online Page B

someone else banged into the house and Jurdine’s voice was soon in argument with Baby George’s.
    â€œHow come I can’t …” George almost knocked JC down shouldering her way into the bedroom. “Oh. Hey, JC,” she said, plopping onto the bed.
    â€œHazel! I just happened to mention to Mr. Goodman about the bleaching cream, and—”
    â€œWhat?” Hazel moaned.
    â€œGeorge Ann, one day your mouth is gonna write a check your ass can’t cover!” Jurdine fumed.
    â€œBleaching cream?” JC walked around the bed and sat so close that Hazel could look straight into his questioning eyes. There was no blame there, only love. Love! She couldn’t speak.
    George, however, had words bursting out. “Yes! And no wonder you’re down. Do you know what Mr. Goodman said is in that mess? Mercury! Mercury, Hazel!”
    Hazel couldn’t answer. A pain seized her and she jerked her knees up, dry heaving. She felt George take her hand, and she heard Jurdine screaming in the background. But closest to her ear was JC’s strong authority.
    â€œHazel, we’re takin’ you to the hospital.”
    She passed clean out.

    â€œOh, Hazel, you look so peaked.” Hazel found it strange that Daddy didn’t use his regular nickname for her. If she was dreaming again …
    She was not. She woke up feeling very weak, and her father was really standing over her. She wasn’t at home anymore. The smell of medicines and cleaning products made her nose tingle. There was a bright white curtain curving around the narrow bed.
    â€œI’m in the hospital, Daddy?” she asked. Her voice sounded small and far away.
    â€œYes, baby, yes,” Mama answered.
    Hazel turned her head on the pillow. Her mother’s face was strained. And scared. Hazel tried to reach out to her and realized that the bottom half of her body was numb. Her eyes widened.
    â€œWhat happened?” was all she could get out. Was she paralyzed? How? What?
    The metal rings holding the curtain suddenly slid back noisily. A white-coated, white-haired White man frowned at Hazel. When he moved, she saw a black-haired ghost cowering behind him, trembling in an ugly work smock. Jurdine.
    Hazel blinked and licked her dry lips, attempting to put her confusion into words.
    â€œDon’t try to talk just yet.” The doctor unclipped a chart from the bed and read it over quickly, then shoved it under his arm.
    Hazel had a flashed memory of JC’s muscular arms, and a straw hat, and big old pink roses …
    â€œGeorge? Evelyn? I’m Dr. Barton.”
    Barton, Hazel thought. Like Clara Barton, the nurse.Was he kin to her? Hazel wanted to rid her head of these random notions … She wrinkled her forehead and attempted to focus.
    â€œAnd you, child, must be the naughty one.”
    Hazel felt offended, and that familiar emotion cleared her wits. “How come I can’t move?” she challenged. The doctor looked directly at her.
    â€œBecause, Hazel, you are still under anesthesia. You had a kidney removed.”
    Hazel shivered as her parents gasped.
    â€œOh, you’ll recover all right. There are plenty folks who live normal lives with one kidney. Some are born with only one. But you—you poisoned yours, with mercury. Your entire nervous system almost shut down. You were dying.”
    Hazel was shocked. She’d been bettering herself and killing herself at the same time? The devil. The devil had been doing a fine dance inside that little jar, hadn’t he! And inside her head, too.
    The doctor raised his eyebrows. “How long were you using that …”
    Mama fumbled in her bag and pulled something out. “Beauty Queen Complexion Clarifier,” she read in a strange, singsong voice.
    The doctor took the jar and looked at it carefully. “Unhealthy, unproven, dangerous, and deadly,” he finally said. “You’re a handsome Colored girl. I hope