Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 05 - Monroe Beach by Peggy Holloway Read Free Book Online Page A

sandals. It was getting toward the end of May and the air was nice and warm but the water was still cold. We didn’t see the men. We were just three women enjoying the day and talking.
    “When did you realize you had this gift, Delilah?” I asked her.
    “I don’t know exactly when but it was before I could talk. I had learned to walk. I was living with some relatives; I believe an aunt and uncle at the time.”
    “Where were your parents?” Sarah asked her.
    Delilah stopped walking and dug her toes into the sand. “Both of my parents were hung by some white KKK men who came in the middle of the night. I don’t remember much about it except that I was crying because they was taking my paw and maw away. One of the men picked me up and put me in the back of one of the pickup trucks and my parents in the back of another one.
    “They drove me to my aunt and uncle’s house. It wasn’t long after that that I started seeing things. At that young age, I thought the things I was seeing were real. I was punished by my aunt and uncle for lying. It was very hard for me since I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong.”
    “Let’s sit down on that sand dune over there,” Sarah said, “I want to hear some more about this.”
    We sat on the dune and I noticed several families with picnic baskets were setting up their beach spots with lawn chairs and blankets. Several small children started digging in the sand. I thought of Jennifer and Brad and wished they were here but then decided that wouldn’t be a good idea with what was going on.
    I noticed the other two were watching the children also. A part of me didn’t want to break up the peace and tranquility of the moment but I wanted to hear the rest.
    “ How old were you when you learned that these were insights or whatever you call it and not real?”
    “Because of being punished so much, I guess my young mind learned to suppress these insights. I didn’t see anything more until I reached puberty. This time when I started having these insights, I knew they were real but they scared me so bad I didn’t tell anyone.
    “It wasn’t until a white girl, whose family I worked for, got raped that I knew I had a gift and that I could have prevented her being rape. I had a lot of guilt about it for a long time but I never told anyone about it until now.”
    She stopped talking and we waited for her to continue. I noticed one of the little girls was splashing in the water. Her mama was trying to coax her in without getting wet herself and they were both laughing.
    To keep her talking I asked, “How old was the little girl?” and Sarah quickly looked at me and then away.
    “She was thirteen, just beginning to bud. I was the same age and lived in their attic. I did the washing and helped some in the kitchen. Her name was Katherine but they called her Kat. She was always nice to me and would sometimes sneak up into the attic and we’d play together until her paw found us playing together and had me whipped.”
    “That’s terrible,” Sarah and I said together.
    “Well, it was all right for her father to try to have sex with me and I think he had me whipped partly because I wouldn’t have sex with him. Anyway, it wasn’t long after that that I had the dream.
    “In the dream, the school bus had let her off at the end of the road from the plantation and she was walking along like she did every day. The woods on each side were thick and there was Live Oaks with moss hanging down on each side.
    “Kat had walked this half-mile from the bus stop everyday and nothing had ever happened. Anyway, in the dream I saw her plain as day. She was wearing her little pink and white dotted Swiss dress and black leather shoes. Her fine long blond hair was tied back with a big pink bow.
    “She was carrying her books and all of sudden she stopped and looked to her right like she heard something. She walked to the edge of the woods and looked in and suddenly she threw her books down and