She wiped her mouth and pushed her tray away. A thoughtful look appeared on her lovely face. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Are you goin’ to tell me who it is?”
“I can’t. I can’t tell you that right now.”
“Why not? Is it a preacher? Is it Judge Lawson?” she gasped.
“No!”
“Then who is it?”
“I’ll tell you, but not now. I have to think it through some more.”
She put her hand on my face and caressed it. I needed a hug more than ever. And just like she was reading my mind, she leaned over and put her arms around me and gave me the biggest hug I ever received.
CHAPTER 14
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Mama learned that she had to work on Thanksgiving Day and because of that, she expected me to help Mr. Boatwright prepare our holiday dinner. A few days later, I went to Rhoda’s house for the first time.
Her parents socialized a lot with white people, and it made Mr. Boatwright and Caleb jealous. Mr. Boatwright was convinced that Rhoda’s daddy was doing something shady other than processing dead people. He just didn’t know what. When I asked him why he was so sure Mr. Nelson was a criminal, he told me that that was the only reason white people would waste their time with spooks.
The Nelsons lived in the biggest, most ornate house I had ever seen Black people live in. It was a huge, two-storied, white-panneled structure. There was a flagpole on the left side of the front yard with a large American flag fluttering proudly. A life-size statue of a woman naked from the waist up pouring water into a birdbath sat near the flagpole. There was a big black sign with white letters hanging from wrought-iron hooks on the front porch that read: NELSON’S FUNERAL HOME. A white garage, where the undertaker kept his big black hearse along with his Cadillac, was on one side of the house. You couldn’t see it from the street, but if you walked around the side of the Nelsons’ house, you could see the mortuary. It was connected to the back of the house, but it was only one level, with high, dark windows you couldn’t see through. Pee Wee had dared me to go with him to look at it one Sunday while the Nelsons were still in church. There were rosebushes on both sides of the mortuary, but just knowing what it was for almost made me sick. It was the last place I wanted to be.
The front yard of the Nelsons’ house was flanked by rosebushes, and several fruit trees inhabited the backyard. There was even a life-size dollhouse in the backyard, beyond the mortuary section, that Rhoda’s daddy, her brother Jock, and her uncle Johnny had built for her. Before going to Rhoda’s room, we ran around the side of the main house, rather than pass through the mortuary, to get to Rhoda’s dollhouse.
“You have a million dolls!” I exclaimed. In addition to dolls of various sizes and colors, there was a bike, some skates, and an assortment of other toys. I looked at Rhoda, and she had this proud look on her face, and her chest kind of stuck out. “I wish I were you,” I said. She laughed at me, but I meant every word I said literally.
“Wait’ll you see my bedroom!”
“Does your bedroom door have a keyhole?” I asked nervously. I had even filled my keyhole with gum one night to keep Mr. Boatwright from peeping at me, and he had pushed the gum out with a toothpick.
“Of course my bedroom door has a keyhole, silly. Why?”
“Well, maybe some nasty man might peep in and see you naked one day.” I didn’t realize what I was saying until I had said it. I immediately wished that I could take back my words.
“Why would some man do a nasty thing like that?”
“Because they are nasty, I guess.” I shrugged. She knew I lived with just Mama and Mr. Boatwright. I was surprised that she had not asked me if he was the one who was tormenting me. I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking.
“There are no men in my house who would do such a crazy thin’ as peep in my keyhole,” she assured me. “Not even Uncle Johnny. Well, maybe he would. But then he’s the family fool. Remember that time he raped that dead woman?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, girl. You’ve been tellin’ me all kinds of weird shit about rapists. Now you talkin’ about men peepin’ in keyholes.