When Everything's Said & Done Read online

  Laura heard crying again. That was enough for her. She left the baskets where they were.

  Laura was shaking when she left the church office. At first she walked slowly as if she were in a daze. But the more Laura thought about what she had overheard, the faster she went. When Laura entered the church hall Reverend Parker was taking the mic. His strong bass voice boomed above the rest of the congregation as the service opened with a hymn. “I want to be more and more like Jesus every day. So meek and lowly, so high and holy. I want to be more and more like Jesus every day.”

  Laura didn’t take her eyes off of the reverend as she marched down to where her daughters sat. The closer she got the more she locked into Reverend Parker’s gaze, until finally she stood before him. In a voice loud enough for everybody to hear, Laura said, “If I ever hear that you have even tried to put your hands on one of my girls, you’re going to need God and the devil to get me off of you.” The church went as quiet as a tomb. Then Laura turned to Brenda, Annette and Cora and said, “Let’s go home.” She walked out of Ebenezer with a confused Annette, bewildered Brenda and an impressed Cora behind her.

  Nebia’s Story...

  Cynthia swatted at a mosquito. “I can see myself doing something just like that if I thought some man was trying to mess with a child of mine. Preacher or not.” She huffed then added softly, “That is, if I had children.”

  “I can, too,” Sheila seconded her. “Man I wish I could have seen the looks on the folks’ faces in that church.”

  “Laura never set foot in that church again,” Nebia said, her voice low. “But the girls...now, that’s a different story. Annette became deeply religious and Brenda attended church regularly.” She paused. “Just last year the old Ebenezer Church building was demolished, and a new brick building went up four blocks away.”

  “I don’t think she should have stopped going to church,” Erica said. “Miss Laura should have told the girl’s father and let him handle it.” A mischievous look crossed her face. “I’ve never heard of a preacher getting beat up in his own church before.”

  “But there’s a first time for everything.” Cynthia laughed.

  “In all the years that I’ve lived here—” Nebia patted her hands “—and that’s been forty-something years because I moved in right before Cora was born, I saw Steven Robinson twice. He had his own set of problems, and he was just too restless to stay around a house with a woman and three girls. I think Cora got some of her restlessness from her daddy.”

  “So he left them?” Sheila asked.

  “You could say that, although the truth is he was never really with them,” Nebia replied. “He was gone all the time. Steven just kinda came and went until he stopped doing that.”

  “I wonder if that messed with them...the girls. You know what I mean? Mama always said we wouldn’t have had so much mouth if our father had lived to see us grown.”

  Nebia pursed her lips. “I believe it affected them. Yes, I surely do. I say that because Brenda tried to become the father after he really left. Then Annette, she wanted to make everything perfect because she felt her life wasn’t. And Cora...” Nebia shook her head. “Cora wasn’t afraid of anything. Cora was a treasure chest that could come up with what everybody needed. And she was Laura’s favorite because of it. Everybody knew that.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “I told you if you ever messed with Annette again—” Cora walked up on the girl after school “— was going to kick your ass. So you think she’s crazy cuz she carries a Bible around and tries to change fools like you. Well, I’m gon’ show you crazy.” Cora grabbed the girl’s head at the base of her two fake afro puffs and pulled it down. Then she kneed her between her legs. The girl fell with Cora on top of her whaling away. One of the afro puffs was in her fist. A crowd gathered around them, and the only voice that seemed able to penetrate Cora’s rage was Brenda’s as she pulled at her shoulders.

  “That’s enough, Cora. I said that’s enough.” Brenda wouldn’t let her go. “We better get out of here before the principal or one of the teachers comes.”

  Cora got up and dropped the afro puff on the ground beside the girl. “So I guess you won’t break nobody else’s glasses,” she announced as she patted her own afro into place, pulled down her ribbed T-shirt and dusted off her elephant leg pants.

  The crowd was hashing over the results of the fight when Brenda and Cora passed by as they headed home. Annette was already there. She had gotten out of school early for a doctor’s appointment. Her eyes grew large when she saw Cora.

  “How did you get that big scratch on your face? ” she asked when they walked through the door.

  “She beat that girl up that broke your glasses,” Brenda replied.

  “No, you didn’t!” Annette proclaimed.

  “Humph! Yes, I did,” Cora said. “I held back when she said all that stuff about you and when she put that chewed-up food in your hair. But, Annette, she broke the camel’s back when she broke your glasses.”

  “Cora-a! I’m fourteen years old, and I don’t need you going around beating people up for me. That’s exactly what I don’t want anyone doing. Fighting and hurting one another. ”

  “Well it’s too late now cuz you can believe she’s hurt,” Brenda said, bowing her head. Then she started to laugh. “And I thought I’d die when Cora dropped her afro puff on the ground beside her. ”

  “You mean her hair came off?” Annette’s eyes opened wider.

  “Not only did it come off,” Brenda said in stitches, “but Cora was beating the girl with the hairpiece still in her hand.”

  Annette looked at Cora. Cora looked at Annette, and they burst out laughing. The three of them laughed until they cried. They laughed until Annette started to prance in order not to wet herself.

  “Uh-oh.” Cora stopped suddenly. “Here comes Mama. How did she get off from work so early?”

  “I don’t know, but you know she doesn’t want us fighting,” Brenda reminded her. “And here you are, sixteen, doing it.” She made a noise. “What are you going to tell her about that scratch on your face?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll think of something.” Cora watched through the sheers as her mother approached their sidewalk.

  “You better hurry up because here she comes.” Apprehension was all over Annette’s face.

  “I’m going up to Nebia’s.” Cora headed for the back door. “You all tell Mama that Nebia promised to show me some new things with her herbs.”

  “Look, I’m not about to start lying to Mama,” Annette said. “I’ll tell her you’re over there but that’s all.” “Well, I guess that’s going to have to do,” Cora said as she came back and mushed her sister’s cheeks. “When it gets dark enough I’ll come to the screen door and tell Mama Nebia’s invited me to dinner. That way, by the time she really sees the scar tomorrow, Nebia and I will have it well on its way to being healed.”

  Cora went out the door and squeezed through the slats that divided their porch from Nebia’s. She tapped on the screen door but didn’t wait for an answer before she went inside.

  “It’s me, Nebia. Where are you?”

  “I’m right here.”

  Cora followed Nebia’s voice to the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

  Nebia kept her back turned. “I’m fixin’ up a poultice for Mrs. Winfrey down the street.”

  “What’s in it?” Cora leaned in for a look.

  “You tell me,” Nebia replied.

  Cora studied the herbs that were piled into the center of the small linen square. Then she leaned over closer and smelled it. “I’d say garlic, burdock and goldenseal.”

  “That’s right, but you missed this right here.” Nebia nudged some dark green crumbled bits of dried leaves with her index fingertip. “That’s comfrey.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Cora looked behind her. “Nebia, can I break off a piece of your aloe plant, to put on this scratch?”

  Nebia looked at Cora’s face for the first time. “After you put some
tea tree oil on it.” She went back to the poultice. Nebia closed it then tied it with string. “You been fighting?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been fighting.” Cora heaved a sigh. She looked at the new poultice. “You’re going to tell me I’m wrong?”

  “No. I’m not going to tell you that.”

  “No?” Cora was surprised. With a spring in her step she went over to the cabinet where Nebia kept her oils.

  “There is no wrong, the way I see it,” Nebia continued. “But there are choices, and all choices have consequences. You may have been fighting for something you thought was right, but whatever choices you make, make sure you are prepared for the consequences. In this case that means the scratch on your face, and hiding out from your mama until the redness is out of it so she won’t know that you’ve been fighting. But remember, Cora, as you get older the choices will become more serious and so will the consequences,” Nebia warned.

  Cora spent the rest of the afternoon helping Nebia grind herbs into powders, and bundling up small bouquets of dried lavender, sage, and peppermint. With Laura’s permission, they enjoyed a companionable meal, and Cora did the dishes.

  “Nebia, why do you always say there is no wrong when the whole world knows things like smoking and drinking and having sex when you’re not married are wrong?” Cora asked as she folded up the drying towel.

  “I guess I look at things a little differently from most folks. I think there’s a danger in believing that God, or the forces of God, are only one way. God is in everything because He created everything. If God doesn’t know about it, then who does?”

  “The devil.”

  “But you see, I believe Satan, if you believe in him, is a tool of God’s. How would you know what light is

  without the dark, and how would you know what beauty is without ugliness? You need them both, Cora. And if God is the creator. He created all of it. And how could God create anything wrong?”

  Cora nodded, but her brow furrowed as she thought about Nebia’s words.

  “It’s all about choices, Cora. God has laid out a plan, but it looks like a maze to us. All of us aren’t gon’ make the best choices for our highest good every time, but there’s always another chance. We’re done when we finally make the choices that bring us true happiness, and that prove to us how much we are like our creator, like God.”

  “Is that why we’re here?” Cora hung up the drying towel.

  “I believe that’s the reason. Some of us go about it with more passion than others, but it doesn’t make them better or worse. We are all equal in God’s eyes.”

  Cora nodded again. “Thanks for dinner and for the aloe.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Good night.” Cora said as she opened the door.

  “’Night, Cora.”

  Cora stepped onto the back porch and looked up at the moon. She stood there for some time wondering about the things Nebia had said.

  “Hey, Cora,” a voice called. “I heard you whipped up on that Mason girl pretty good today.”

  Cora looked over into the empty lot next door and saw Warren coming home through a path lined with weeds.

  “Be quiet, boy. My mama or your mama might hear you.” She walked down the stairs. “And you know if Lucille finds out she’s going to tell Laura.”

  “Boy? Who you calling boy?”

  “I don’t see nobody out here who would fit that description besides you.”

  “I got your boy, all right.” He sat down on the step beside her feet. “I’m going into boot camp in two months. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “No you’re not, Warren,” Cora looked down at the curly head she had known for so long.

  “Yes, I am. It’s all settled.”

  “I don’t know why I’m so shocked. I never thought you would join the service.”

  “What did you think I was going to do? I’m not exactly your best student. And my mama don’t have no money for me to go to college.”

  “I don’t know what I thought,” Cora replied quietly, sitting down beside him. “Things are really changing. Brenda graduates this summer. She’ll be eighteen next month. And in the fall she goes off to Florida A&M. I never thought about a time when Annette, Brenda and me wouldn’t be together. ”

  “Well, what do you plan to do when you graduate next year?” Warren asked.

  Cora looked at the sky. “I’ve got so many things I want to do. I want to see other people and places. I want to paint. Perhaps, I’ll even open up my own flower shop one day.”

  “You’re not going to college like Brenda?” Warren watched a firefly land on the stair rail.

  “No.” Cora rubbed her thigh. “Brenda got a scholarship. Besides, she already knows what she wants to be.” “What’s that?” Warren asked.

  “A sociologist.”

  “That sounds like Brenda.”

  They turned quiet.

  “Why don’t you join the WAC, Cora? That way you’ll get to travel and learn some skills to support yourself.” “I don’t think so.” Cora squinted. “The army is not for me. Now, think about it. Can you see me in one of those uniforms? All crisp and neat and obeying all those rules?” She threw her head back and laughed.

  Warren looked at her, but turned away before Cora saw the admiration in his eyes. “I think you’d look good in a uniform.” He made the words sound casual. “You do?” She scrunched up her nose.

  Warren nodded and kicked a candy wrapper near his foot.

  “Well, you’re about the only one,” Cora replied. “Nope. I can’t wear nobody’s uniform. I’ve got to be free to wear whatever I please, whenever it pleases me.” She wriggled her shoulders suggestively.

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Don’t do what?”

  “You know. Act like that.”

  “Like what, Warren? Like those girls I see you messing around with after school? You seem to like it when they do it.”

  “Well, that’s different. They’re not you.” He paused. “You’re special.”

  “I am?” Cora looked at him.

  “Yeah. You are.”

  “And how’s that?”

  “You don’t have to do the things that girls consciously do to get a guy’s attention. Just the way you are naturally gets his attention.”

  “Is that right?” Cora smiled.

  “Yeah, it’s right.” Warren leaned forward. “And you know it, too.”

  “No, I don’t.” Cora sighed. “You know, it’s so confusing. Some days I want to be like Sheila Frazier or some of those other sexy women I see in the movies. Then on other days I feel like I felt today, full of hell and wanting to take it out on folks who like dishing it out but can’t really take it.”

  “I think everybody feels like that sometimes,” Warren said.

  “Everybody except for Annette.” Cora laughed, then she sighed again. “We’ve had some good times around here, haven’t we?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “It was always you and me playing tricks on Brenda and Annette. It’s funny how things that made them crazy didn’t bother me a bit.”

  “Yeah. You were a good partner, Cora. I’m going to miss you.”

  Cora patted her thighs and eased up off the steps. “I’m going to miss you, too, Warren. For the first time I realize I’m going to miss a lot of things around here.”

  Nebia’s Story...

  Nebia coughed. “Cora’s thoughts and desires were like an underground stream, powerful enough to cut their way but still needing a place to surface.”

  “What d’ya mean. Miss Nebia?” Sheila asked.

  “She had so much going on inside her, things that a lot of young people don’t give a second thought to. Cora didn’t want to think about them but they were there vying for her attention. She couldn’t see that Warren cared for her in a special way. And even if she had seen it, it wouldn’t have mattered because she was on a journey of self-discovery that wouldn’t allow anybody in besides her family or me.”

  “So d
id Warren go off to boot camp?” Cynthia had to know.

  “Yes, he did. And Brenda went to college and got a degree in sociology, and Cora went her own way traveling and living in different cities, making a living off of her paintings and flowers. She would take an odd job here and there if it suited her. But basically she lived as she wanted. Somehow she managed to do that even if it meant staying with a man that took her fancy, or living in one of those communes that were still plentiful back in the seventies.”

  “You mean Cora would live with a man just so that she could have a place to sleep?” Erica asked with disapproval.

  “No-o...” Nebia drew the sound out long and deep. “She had to fancy him. Cora had to want him as bad as he wanted her, but for Cora there always came a time when enough was enough, and she would leave.”

  “So she would live with him, have sex with him, then leave whenever she got ready?”

  “That’s about it.”

  “M-mmm. I don’t know about that,” Erica said. “She sounds like a mighty loose woman to me.”

  “Well, those were the choices that Cora made. And she seemed to be happy. But things changed when Michael Dawson moved into this building and started living in the efficiency upstairs.”

  “Is that the man that messed up everything?” Cynthia asked.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Nebia replied. “It was certainly not his intention. But life has a strange way of unfolding at times. It might have been simpler if Michael had never come to this area when he was looking for a job. Or maybe if he and Brenda had gotten together the first time she saw him at the college party and liked what she saw. You see, Michael attended Florida A&M when Brenda was there. But it just didn’t happen that way.”

  CHAPTER 4

  “Nobody’s gonna come. I don’t have nothing but old folks and little kids in the backyard,” Annette complained as she and Brenda stood on the sidewalk in front of their house.

  She glanced back at the Robinson’s backyard that looked like a carnival with large colorful Christmas lights strung from tree to tree and balloons dangling everywhere. An extension cord ran out of Nebia’s kitchen window to power the record player that sat on a card table in the middle of stacks and stacks of forty- fives. The frappe was still fresh with lumps of orange sherbet floating in a sea of ginger ale. There were cookies and cake and fried chicken piled high on a platter beside a dish of deviled eggs. And there were gifts, for what would a graduation party be without them?