Three Days Before the Shooting ... (127 page)

“Now, Maud,” a woman called down from the top of the staircase, “that’s
enough
of that! Because like Lonnie says, you’re just letting yourself get all heated up over nothing. Why don’t you get yourself some rest and let the law take its course….”

Whirling with her hands in the air the little woman turned to the woman, screaming, “What do you mean for
nothing?
Here I’m begging these nice gentlemen for help and you’re telling me that there’s nothing the matter? That’s exactly
the reason I’m calling on somebody who’s not all mixed up in this mess like we are. We’ve been in it so long and been driven so blind that it’s time for somebody to teach us to
see!
That’s why I’m asking them to do it while there’s still time for me! Understand? Being a woman you should. I’m calling on these gentlemen because they seem to be not only sober but
sane
. What’s more, whether you see it or not, there’s a hopeful light about them which promises to put my
mind
at ease! This building is reeling and rocking with trouble, but now with these two millionaire doctors of the spirit coming in the nick of time I believe to my soul that they came here to
save
us! And here you have the
nerve
to say that it amounts to
nothing!
Why, good God-a-mighty!”

“A.Z.,” Wilhite whispered as the detective exchanged words with someone inside the room behind them, “did you hear what she called us? What’s happening to that woman?”

“Search me,” Hickman said. “Maybe she remembers seeing us on the revival circuit—but millionaire doctors of the spirit? May the good Lord help her!”

“So listen, gentlemen, and let me explain,” the woman said. “When I woke up this morning I had this strong feeling that something terrible would happen—that’s right! Because last night I dreamt of giving birth to three sweet little babies. And, Doctor Hickman—you did say that was your name, didn’t you, darling?”

“Oh? Why, yes,” Hickman said, “that’s my name, but how did you …”

“… I thought so,” the little woman said, “Hickman,
Doctor
Hickman…. Uh huh…. So, like I said, Doctor Hickman, I dreamt I had these three little babies,

and I truly wish you could’ve seen them. One was black, one was white, and one was a nice ‘riney red. And the wonderful thing was their looking so much alike that I could hardly tell one from the other! And gentlemen, it was all so
real
that I can’t believe that it didn’t happen. And to tell the truth, I
still
don’t know whether it happened or didn’t. Because from the way I feel it
must have
been real. It
had
to be….”

“Oh, come
ooon
, Maud,” Barnes said with a pained expression. “Dammit, woman, you better git a
holt
on yourself. Especially when you know damn well that you ain’t even married!”

“Oh, but I’m
going to
be,” the little woman sang on a lyrical note. “Oh, yes, indeed! My bridegroom ariseth and cometh! And besides, what’s your stupid signifying got to do with it? What does it matter if he comes before or after, as long as he comes?”

“Before he
comes
!
”
Barnes yelled, his eyes bulging with outrage. “So was it before, or
after—
woman, do you hear what you’re saying? What the hell are you
talking
about?”

“Just what I said, Mister Loudmouth Barnes! Is that too much of a riddle for you? And whether you believe it or not I gave birth to those babies, all three of them! And gentlemen, I was so
proud!
And what’s more, I did it without all that
labor and pain I’ve heard so much about. I did it, gentlemen, and my babies recognized me as their mother the second they saw me! They cooed and gurgled and looked at me with their sweet baby smiles, oh, yes! And I mean with little
Negro
baby smiles, of which there’s nothing even close to being any sweeter!

“How do you like that, Lonnie Barnes? Yes, I birthed them and got right out of bed and I bathed them. Then I sprinkled them with talcum, and after pinning on their diapers I wrapped them real snug in their pretty blue blankets. And then I took them in my arms and hurried out on the street and showed them off to my neighbors. That’s right! And told all the people how such a wonderful thing happened! Oh, but they were so beautiful, so sweet and so charming, such
dear
little babies!

“And then, gentlemen, this is what happened: At first, when folks saw me cuddling my dear little babies they couldn’t believe they were mine. Then some of the doubters started laughing and said that I’d better stop kidding and take them back to their natural-born mother! That’s what they did! And me so proud of my new motherhood! And even when I insisted that I
was
their mother they called me a liar!

“I tell you, gentlemen, today there’s a heap of loose talk about us colored folks
loving
one another. Well, I hope that’s true, I truly do, but it still doesn’t stop us from treating one another unkindly. In fact, when it comes to being mean to our own kind we’re
years
ahead of the white folks! Haven’t you found that to be the case, Doctor Hickman?”

“To … to … some extent,” Hickman stammered as he returned the fixed gaze with mounting confusion.

“So that’s the way some of us are,” the little woman said. “Anyway, to prove that I birthed my babies I took some of the ladies into a hallway and pulled up my clothes and I showed them exactly where they floated out in their life-giving flood….”

“Woman, what the hell are you saying,” Barnes shouted. “You did WHAT?”

“Oh, yes, gentlemen, and I know it sounds shocking, but that’s what I did! I showed them my boat in the bulrushes, my … my … bird in the bushes. I let them see
everything
, and I wasn’t ashamed. That’s the truth! I let them see the jolly O-boat in which my sweet little babes sailed to me bubbling and babbling! Because that was the only way I could make those ole Doubting Thomas women see what they were trying to deny just so they could insult me and ruin my good name! And then I went on and showed them the raw belly buttons of my cute little babies. I showed them
everything
, but instead of rejoicing over such a wonderful thing happening to a woman like me, those ladies, those members of my own sex and race, they
scorned
me!”

And as he watched the little woman’s doleful expression Hickman was embarrassed by the lines of a blues which rang in his mind:

Did you ever see
a cross-eyed woman cry?
Well she cries so good
out of just one weeping eye—

And in seeing tenants turning to gauge his reaction his embarrassment became mixed with a shock of bewilderment.

“And, gentlemen,” the woman continued, “those women weren’t strangers. Oh, no! I’ve known some of those ladies for years and thought them my friends. But now they were calling me an ole draggle-tailed bitch! That’s what my
own
people did to me, gentlemen, not the white folks but my very own people! And I want you to know that I was hurt to the core!

“Because here, after years of my wanting a nice little baby, I had been blessed with no less than
three—
not just one, but three—and those women refused to believe it! Oh, and they were such
sweet
little babies!”

And now, smiling triumphantly, the little woman began counting her long slender fingers.

“One-little, two-little, three-little, cunning-little, cute-little babykins! But instead,” she said with a sigh, “instead of being happy and congratulating me on finally coming through on my womanhood—which
was
kind of late, and I admit it—they scorned me and called me a bitch.

“A
bitch
! How do you like that, gentlemen? And after my showing them all the evidence that anyone could ask for! After I went so far as to show them my bruised boat in the bulrushes they still called me a bitch! You hear me? A bitch! What kind of way was that to go treating one of their own after she’d just given birth to three triplet babies?”

“HOW ABOUT IT,” Barnes yelled with a lunge toward the stairs. “What you did was a damn disgrace! And now you’re tearing your drawers and downgrading the
race!
Yeah, and that’s the reason you women up there ought to quit gawking and get her butt back in her bed!”

And seeing Barnes whirl to face Wilhite with his eye-bulging anger Hickman anticipated physical action.

“Hell, man, this woman’s out of her cotton-picking mind,” Barnes shouted. “Here at her age raving about having some kids! Hell, I’ve been knowing the witch since the Depression, and ain’t no way in the
world
for a field as dry as hers to come up with that kind of crop! So how the hell’s she gonna hit the jackpot this late in life? I tell you, man, this is AWFUL!”

“That’s how
you
see it,” the little woman called from the stairs, “but then, what does an old micturating bear who can’t hold his water, his mouth,
or
his wind know about what I’ve been through?—nothing!

“And that’s why I want you two fine, leader-type gentlemen to answer me this: Was I wrong? Am I a bitch for giving birth without having a husband? And
was it any worse than it would have been if one of you gentlemen gave a woman a baby without being married? And if you did, would that keep her from being a
mother?”

“WHAT!” Barnes roared. “Didn’t I tell you ladies to get that crazy woman up to her bed? How can anybody do what she’s claiming? Yeah, and how can a man give a woman a baby
without
making her a mother? That’s what
I
want to know. Yeah! And how can any woman have a man’s baby without his being a
father?
Hell! Let’s have some
logic
around here!”

“Lonnie,” the little woman sighed, “you’re making me sick to my stomach. And instead of giving a woman the blues like normal men do you’re giving me a sickening case of the belly-cramping
reds
! Well, I have the answer so it’s for me to know and for you to find out! And in the meantime, Doctor Hickman, I’m waiting: Is it worse? Is it any worse than it would be if a woman was to give
you
a baby that you didn’t know she was carrying? Tell me, darlin’, because I’m truly in need of an answer!”

And seeing the little woman’s eyes appear to flame brighter than the unshaded bulb that lighted the stairs Hickman felt a tensing of nerves and sharpening of hearing that increased the scene’s unreality. And as he stared at the little woman’s anguished expression her questions took on a vague hint of personal significance.

“But Miss Maud, what are you
saying?”
a younger woman called from the shadows. “You started out by saying that the babies were all part of a
dream…
.”

“Yes, Thomasina darling,” Maud said with a smile, “that’s true, but you’re forgetting that some dreams are
real
!”

“Oh, my God!” Barnes yelled. “Now she’s trying to contradict a
contradiction
, turn the truth wrong-side out and talk a hole through our heads! Dammit, Maud, you have
flipped
! Ain’t no doubt about it! If not, where the hell are the babies?
That’s
what I want to know, where the hell are those BABIES!”

“Fool, that’s what I’m about to explain: Gentlemen, my babies were
stolen
! I was out buying them some soft little booties and such things as baby oil and talcum, and little safety pins for their didies. Yes, and some soft little brushes. And while I was gone some hardhearted kidnapper slipped in and took my babies away. The brushes are white with pink bunnies on them, and you can come up to my room and see for yourself. They’re still right there on the top of my dresser. And gentlemen, when I came back and found my babies gone from their bed I rushed out and tried to find them by searching everywhere I could think of.

“Oh, I searched
everywhere
! All over the campus of Howard University, under the statues and trees in Lafayette Park. Up along the Mall, and around George Washington’s monument and even the White House grounds. Then I hurried to Abraham Lincoln’s memorial and I searched
everywhere
, including under the backs of his long bony knees. And then I searched all along the riverbank where people were fishing. But although I asked each and every one I met if they’d seen
my little lost babies, not a single soul could help me. I looked and I looked, I searched and I searched, and then it started to pouring down rain, and even with my feet soaking wet I kept searching until I got so worn and weary that I barely could make it. And that’s when I simply had to stop in the street pouring with rain and break down and
cry!

“I tell you, gentlemen, I cried and
cried!
I cried so hard that I had to get off the street and come home for some rest. But by the time I got here I was so broken in spirit that all I could do was cry ‘til I dropped off to sleep. And then, after all of that weeping and wailing, I’m bounced out of bed late in the night to find this house rocking and reeling with some kind of trouble. All that, gentlemen, and me now a babyless, downhearted mother….”

Struggling to impose some structure of rational order on what he was hearing, Hickman caught a fleeting glimpse of the incredulous expressions of Barnes and the detective as now the little woman pinned him again with her cross-focusing eyes.

“Doctor,” she called, “it’s been terrible, truly
terrible
. So would you please,
please
, answer me this: Am I being punished this way because I wasn’t married when my babies arrived? Is that the reason they were taken from me? And if so, do you call th
at justice?”

And as he groped for an answer he saw Barnes throw his hand in the air and yell, “Justice? What the hell’s
happening
to this woman? First she waves her funky drawers in the air and insults our intelligence with a bare-assed lie about her birthing three bastard babies—three of them! And now she’s got the unmitigated
gall to
be asking some down-home preacher about
justice
!”