The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips Read Free Book Online

Frank tear the house apart. Look like we gon’ have to do this ourself. Let’s get a sheet up.”
    Tarabelle pulled a sheet from the cedar chest beneath the window. She stretched it out, gave one end to me, and we hung it over rusted nails that were already sticking out around the doorframe. Miss Pearl stepped up and tugged at the sheet to make sure it would hold, and just as she did, a soft, angelic voice whispered from beyond. “Tan. Tan, come here, baby.”
    My pulse quickened, and I looked at Tarabelle, whose placid face could have belonged to a statue. She shrugged her shoulders, and I pushed the sheet aside and entered my mother’s room.
    Mama raised her head from the pillow and reached a hand out to me. Her eyes were glassy, and beads of perspiration covered her face. “You see, Tan,” she said between deep breaths.“You gotta tell the right person.”
    “What, Mama?” I asked. “Tell them what?”
    “You have to tell Janie,” she said, winking one glassy eye at me.
    “What they bring?”
    “They brought potato pie.”
    “What else?”
    “Black-eyed peas and collard greens.”
    “They bring any money?”
    “No, ma’am.” I shook my head, and Mama let go of my hand.
    “Guess it’s too late to fix that,” she said. “Pearl done run ’em outta here.” She sighed. “Leastways we’ll eat good for a day or two.”
    A car horn blared in front of the house, and I was relieved by the distraction. I silently prayed it was not the reverend returning with money for my mother. As much as we needed it, I would not have been able to attend the Solid Rock Baptist Church again. Already I did not know how I was going to face the congregation after word got around that Mama had been pretending to die.
    Miss Pearl pushed the sheet aside and stood in the doorway. “That’s them Munfords out there,” she said. “They wanna see Tangy Mae. Say they can’t have no girl working for ’em they ain’t never seen.”
    I took my coat from a nail in the front room and went out to face the Munfords.
    They were standing on the road beside a shiny red automobile. Mrs. Munford stepped forward as I approached. “You’re Tangy?” she inquired.
    “Yes, ma’am.” I nodded.
    She studied me closely, starting at my black oxfords with no shoestrings, my ashy knees, my worn-thin cotton dress, my corduroy coat, and my uncombed hair. I was sure she could smell Laura’s urine which had probably soaked into my pores.
    “How old are you?” she asked.
    “Thirteen,” I answered, and did not bother to tell her that I was within spitting distance of fourteen.
    She stepped back, consulted her husband, then faced me again. “You tell Rosie that I’m sorry, but you’re too young. We can’t use you.” She was preparing to climb back inside the car, and I should have been relieved, but I knew I could not let them drive away, for surely then my mother would yank me into her deathbed and drag me to the depths of Hell with her.
    “Wait!” I pleaded. “Please, wait just one minute.”
    I rushed up the steps and burst into my mother’s room, pausing only a second to catch my breath. “Mama, they don’t want me,” I cried out, shifting from foot to foot in my anxiety. “They said I’m too young. What you want me to do, Mama? They gon’ leave.”
    “Damn!” she exclaimed. “Did they ask about me?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I lied. “They wanted to know if you were feeling any better, and I told them no.”
    “Good. You tell Tarabelle to go out there and talk to ’em. We can’t afford to lose that money.”
    I watched from the safety of the doorway as Tarabelle made her way slowly down the incline and onto the road. The Munfords looked her over and questioned her the same as they had done me, and I could tell from her slumping posture that they were accepting her, and, unknowingly, giving me a reprieve. Though no one knew as well as I that Tarabelle would make me pay for my freedom.

six
    “G et it out, Pearl!” Mama