Martha

By Maxine Funchess

I wrote this book because it is a story that needs to be told. This is a story about a young girl, Martha, having to grow up in a world where she has to pay for her grandmother's sin--a sin that her grandmother made at an early age. It well tells how her mother also paid a heavy price for that same sin as she grow up. This book will take you on a ride through time and show you that evil is real in all walks of life. When you think good is at your door, evil will walk right in.

Keep a lookout for my next book. It will be about how evil can go from state to state; how Martha has to survive in Chicago at a time when pimping is at its all-time high; and how she has to deal with homelessness, love, lost love, and drugs all because of her grandmother's lies and sin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886545265

Book preview

cover.jpg

Martha

Maxine Funchess

Copyright © 2023 Maxine Funchess

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-525-8 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-526-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Grandmother

Chapter 2

Pryce House

Chapter 3

Aphrodite and Miss Sally

Chapter 4

Secret

Chapter 5

Aphrodite

Chapter 6

The Davies House

Chapter 7

Aphrodite and Glover

Chapter 8

Martha

Chapter 9

Our House

Chapter 10

The Move

Chapter 11

When Daddy Left

Chapter 12

Mr. Paul Standwick

Chapter 13

Train Ride to Michigan

Chapter 14

Our Home in Lansing, Michigan

Chapter 15

First Year in School

Chapter 16

Our First Christmas

Chapter 17

Back to School, Year Two

Chapter 18

Michigan, 1962

Chapter 19

1964

Chapter 20

Back to School

Chapter 21

Rita and Me

Chapter 22

The Change

Chapter 23

The Seduction

Chapter 24

September 1965

Chapter 25

Mr. Paul Comes Back

Chapter 26

Spring of 1966

Chapter 27

Very, Very Hard Times for Us

Chapter 28

I Found Out What Mr. Paul Was Doing to My Sisters

Chapter 29

The Year We Lost Our Mother

Chapter 30

Demopolis, Alabama

Chapter 31

When We Found Out the True Hell That We Were in

Chapter 32

My First Job

Chapter 33

When I Got Married

Chapter 34

On the Road with SL

Chapter 35

Back in Demopolis, Alabama

Chapter 36

Prentiss, Mississippi

Chapter 37

Seeing My Family Again

Chapter 38

My Return to Prentiss, Mississippi

Chapter 39

The Sins of an Evil Grandmother

Chapter 40

The Day That My Baby Was Born

Chapter 41

SL Came to Alabama to Get His Family

Introduction

My name is Martha, and this is my life. My mother and I were born in the time when the color of your skin, especially among the black community, determined what class of people you were in. You could say, If you are light, you are all right, brown you can hang around, black get back. Passing was a good thing. The term passing was when your skin was so light that you could pass for white.

In most cases, at this time in the 1920s, the darker you were, you were more likely to work in the kitchen never to be seen. Alternatively, you could take care of the white babies. That happened only if you were lucky enough to be a woman. If you were a black man, then your life just became harder than that of a light-skinned man. The dark-skinned man received the dirtiest jobs and the hardiest work often with no respect, not only from the white men but from his own people.

This story will begin with my grandmother because that is where life begins, with all the roles that she plays in my life from the time I was born to me becoming an adult. This story will let you know that no matter what you will experience in life, you can and will overcome them with prayer and determination. Just listen to my ups and downs in life and see if you can see the angels God put in my path and know that he is doing the same for you. Just open your eyes, and remember, God is watching you.

Chapter 1

Grandmother

1925

My grandmother was part Indian, part African American. She was more Indian than African American—90 percent Indian, 10 percent African American. To look at her, you could not see any black, so I had my doubts about her having any black in her at all. She was a short woman, four feet tall, with a round face and a pumpkin-shaped head. Her face was not pretty but not ugly. She wore too much rouge. She put round red circles on each cheek with bright red lipstick when she dressed up. That was the style at this time especially among the light-skinned black girls.

If her hair wasn't combed right, you could see her white scalp. Grandmother was built like a ball with legs; her skin was so white that other people could not see the black in her either. So she received the things that she wanted by passing. As a little girl, she played it for all it was worth. Those people that knew her would say, That girl is going to have a lot of money one day. The man that marries her will be a lucky man. They said that because of Grandmother's ability to manipulate people at such an early age also with the natural ability to cook anything and make it taste good.

My grandmother's name was Mrs. Helen Bluemoon; she married into the Owens family. They were a well-known family, upstanding in the community. Helen's husband's name was Sid Owens; he was the second son of Mrs. Shelly and Mr. Tom Owens. Mrs. Shelly was light-skinned, with just enough black in her to let you know that you were looking at a black woman. Her color was light almond, so pretty that the white and black people wished that they had her skin color.

She was born with a tan. Mrs. Shelly was a tall, slender woman. She was almost taller than her husband in flat feet. She looked to be about five feet, seven inches or so. She carried herself very well. Tom was six feet one, more white than black. He looked so white that passing came very easily for him. But passing was a very dangerous thing to play with. The white man did not like to be made a fool of, especially by a negro. In most cases, if you are light-skinned and the white men can't tell and you tell them that you are a negro, you would get a better job and more respect from your people

Sid took on his father's color. So when Sid asked Mrs. Sacagawea Bluemoon if he could marry her daughter (Helen Bluemoon), she was all for it. One, because it would ensure her that her family would always be light-skinned people. However, Sid had to pay for her. The ladies in the community did not care for Mrs. Sacagawea Bluemoon. They thought that she put too high a price on her uppity girls.

Helen cost Sid a cow, two chickens, one laying hen, a slab of bacon, a sack of fresh cornmeal, and a pig. Even though some of the people thought that Sid paid too much to marry Helen, Sid did not think so; he would have paid much more for Helen if her mother had asked for it. Mrs. Sacagawea was a full-blooded Indian. She married a light-skinned black man. He was around long enough to give her two girls.

However, Helen was sixteen when her mother, Mrs. Sacagawea, sold her to marry Sid Owens. Helen did not know her father. He passed away right after she was born. This is why Helen had only one sister named Shanna, nicknamed Tutee.

Mrs. Sacagawea Bluemoon knew only of the codes to survival, and she taught those way to her girls, Shanna and Helen, and they used them to be prosperous. Shanna did not use and manipulate people like Helen. It was like she took pleasure in seeing how far she could go.

Sid knew how much stock Helen put into looking right for all the right people. Sid also knew that he was paying for a virgin. Sid was nine years older than Helen. However, Helen did not care because she knew that it was time for her to marry. That was just the way things were done in the little town where they lived. They lived in a little town called Demopolis, Alabama. If you were not married by the age of eighteen, you were turning into an old maid. So Helen was glad that this man wanted to marry her. Her sister, Shanna, was married with one kid and another one on the way. Shanna, however, married for love, as much love a seventeen-year-old could be in or what she thought love should be. Her husband's name was Kevin; he was not light or dark. He was a light milk chocolate. Her husband paid for Mrs. Sacagawea house and most of the furniture. As far as anyone could see, she was happy. He was a good man for Shanna.

Sid was 5 feet, 6 inches tall. He was not what one would call tall, light-skinned, and handsome. He was not bad-looking. He had a lot more white in him than the other men that came around to look at Helen.

However, Sid came over to talk to Helen the day before they were to be married. This will be the first time they would have been together since he paid for her. He came to her house at 1:00 p.m. in a one-horse driven carriage with a picnic basket in the back. Full of fried chicken, fried sweet potato, peach clobber, apples, grapes, fresh homemade bread, still wrapped up in a towel to hold in the warmth. Two mason jars—one with buttermilk, one with regular milk. He tied his horse to the tree that was in the front yard, went behind the carriage, and picked up some things from behind the carriage seat. He walked up on the front porch with some wildflowers in one hand and a box of candy in the other.

Helen's mother came out of the house. She took one look at Sid and knew immediately who he came to see. So she pointed to the back. Sid said, Thank you, Mrs. Bluemoon. This is for you, and he gave her the flowers. Mrs. Bluemoon took them with a big smile on her face as she walked back into the house. Helen was in the backyard hanging some bedsheets on the clothesline. Sid could see her as he pulled up to the house in his carriage. He had stopped and watched her hang a pink sheet on the line. With her height, it was a little bit of a struggle for her. He smiled, thinking to himself, That is going to be my wife. Then he felt proud of her when she had it hanging just right on the line. Then he had his horse to move on.

He walked to the backyard and took off his hat and lowered his head and said, Hi, Helen, how are you doing?

Helen said, Fine.

Then Sid looked at her and asked her, Helen, can we spend the day together? I would like to know you a little better.

Helen, being only sixteen, looked down at her feet while twisting her fingers in her hair. She said, Yes! However, she said it with more excitement in her voice than Sid had expected as they walked back to the house. Have a seat on the steps until I talk to my mama. Then I will put on a different dress. Helen walked into the house and told her mother that Sid asked her out for the day. Helen's mother agreed to the day out. That was a long walk for Helen back to tell Sid.

Okay. It took everything in her to keep from breaking out into a full run. She was smiling so hard that her cheeks did not need any rouge on.

Mrs. Sacagawea told Helen, Just because you are going to marry him tomorrow don't mean you can open up your legs today. Do you understand what I am talking about, gal?

Helen was not one hundred percent sure, but she thought her mother was talking about sex. Therefore, she told her mother, Okay, we will just talk. Helen pulled a box from under the homemade bed, put it on top of the bed, and opened it. When she peeled the browned, faded new paper away, there was a white lace dress with red ribbons going around the waist and collar. White pearls attached to the front to look like a triple pearl necklace. Helen pulled the dress out of the box; it was so long that it was touching the floor, when Helen held it up to herself in the mirror.

Her mother walked in and said, Where do you think that you are going with that dress?

Helen turned to her mother. You know, Mama on a picnic.

Mrs. Sacagawea said, Oh no, you're not. That is the dress that you will marry him in. Here, put on this dress. She threw her a dark-blue dress with thin white stripes going down it. Helen liked that dress because it made her round body look a little more slender.

She hurried up and put the dress on, checked herself in the long, cracked mirror, turned to her mother, and said, I hope that he likes this dress.

Her mother said, Don't worry, honey. It is not the dress that he is looking at.

Helen walked out of the house, trying to walk as sexy and as grown up as a sixteen-year-old could. When Sid saw her, he laughed to himself because he knew what she was trying to do. He took her hand and helped her into the carriage. Helen felt like a little princess.

As he climbed into his side of the carriage, he took one good look at Helen and said to himself, Look what God has sent my way. Then he climbed in the carriage, took her hand, and said, I am glad that you chose me for your husband.

Helen smiled a shy little smile as she looked at his hand holding her hand. She could not look at his face because she was afraid to look him in the eye. Then she mumbled in a very low voice, Okay. She just did not know what else to say.

He asked her, How many kids do you want to have?

Helen replied, As many as you want.

Sid said, I have a good job I would like to have one kid a year.

Helen said, I think that I can do that.

Sid said, That is good because as long as you are my wife, you will never have to work. All you have to do is take care of my house and the babies.

Helen said, I am sure that I can do that.

She would have said yes to anything that day because she knew that this man was a good catch. A lot of the other woman wanted him to talk to them. But to Sid, they were either too dark or they just did not have the self-pride that Helen had. However, he picked me. That is all that Helen could think about. She did not love him; it was more pride than anything else.

She would have been even happier if she could have found herself a white man. In 1930s, in Demopolis, Alabama, that was not heard of. Even passing for white would not get you a white husband. You could get you a white boy to have sex with you behind the shed, behind the outhouse, by the pigpen, but never in a house or bed. Just knowing that you had a little black in you, to the white man, that meant you were a nigger. Helen was determined that she was not going to have any dark-skinned kids, so marrying Sid would seal that for her. Sid stopped the carriage in a big field. He tied the horse to a big rock, and then he walked over on Helen's side and reached out his hand to help her down. At first, Helen did not know what he was reaching for until he motioned for her to take his hand. She said Thank you, while she stepped down.

They walked over to a big tree with a big lake in front of it. In that lake were white and black ducks. Helen had never seen a duck land in water before. She was mesmerized. To her, she felt like she was living in a fairytale. Meanwhile, Sid laid out the homemade quilt; it was made from different types of fabric. Helen was impressed with how pretty it is. She asked Sid, Who made this quilt?

Sid said, My mother and a couple of her friends made it. Do you like it?

Helen said, Yes, it is very pretty.

Sid said, Thank you. When they sat down under the tree, Sid asked Helen, Are you as excited about tomorrow as I am?

Helen was not sure if she was excited, but she knew that she was scared. Therefore, she told Sid, Yes, I am.

Sid said, That's good. He rested his back on the tree while the rest of his body straightened out on the quilt like a chair. As they ate, Sid told Helen about what he wanted in life and how he would need a good, strong woman beside him. Helen listened with all that a sixteen-year-old could. By the time their picnic was over, Helen pretty much knew what this man who was to be her husband for the rest of her life expected of her as his wife.

No one spoke of love because at this time and place, love had little to do with marriage. It was all about time for Helen to marry and to the right person, someone with passing power to assure her that she would have very light-skinned kids. As the years passed, Helen had her light-skinned babies. She thought that she was happy, as happy as any young woman could be. She didn't work outside the house for a long time.

Until one day, Helen was walking through town when she ran into one of the white girls that she grew up with. They got to talking and catching up on what was going on in their life.

Mrs. Daphne was tall, slender, and very pale with red hair that fell down her back in a ponytail and bangs that stopped at the eyebrows. She had on very little powder but bright pink lipstick. The summer dress that she had on had pink and white flowers all over it. The dress stopped right below her knees. She was wearing flat white Keds tennis shoes. That was the style for white girls. Her face was long and on the plain side with a sweet type of innocence about it.

Mrs. Daphne was what Helen called her even though she was a year younger than her. It was because she was white. Mrs. Daphne called Helen Helen. Mrs. Daphne liked to brag about how rich she was to anyone who would listen.

Mrs. Daphne couldn't care less about what Helen had to say about her life. She just brushed her off and started talking about herself. She all but threw up her hand at Helen. Within five minutes, Helen found out that Mrs. Daphne had gotten married to a rich man.

He bought her the only inn in Demopolis, Alabama. It became a high-class place for all the high-society white people. Mayors, governors, all the big political figures, and only the cream of the crop could walk through those doors.

She maintained a lot of the place's original décor while updating it to go the times. There were lights in all the rooms. Some of the rooms still have night pots in them. But it was high class for the white people. They never had to dump it.

Black people could work there but were not allowed to come through the front door or into the front lobby without permission, and that was usually just to clean.

However, she was having a problem keeping a cook, and the ones that she now had couldn't cook very well. Then she remembered how much Helen liked to cook when they were little. So she asked Helen, Can you cook?

Helen said, Yes.

Then Mrs. Daphne asked her, Can you come and cook for me at my inn? She put an emphasis on my inn.

Helen asked her, ‘When?

Mrs. Daphne said, Tomorrow. If I like your food, I would like for you to work for me. Helen knew that she needed her more than she needed a job.

So Helen decided to play with her a little. She was not going to give her a for-sure answer at this time. So she said, I have to check with my husband if he says that it is okay, then I will see you tomorrow at…? Helen paused for Mrs. Daphne to fill in the time.

Mrs. Daphne was a little shocked. It took her a little time to come back to herself before she said, Around two o'clock. I would like for you to start the dinner meal. Mrs. Daphne never thought of black people having a life other than to take care of white people.

Helen said, If I can't make it, I will send word to you about twelve-thirty or one o'clock.

Then Mrs. Daphne became upset because she didn't get the sure answer that she wanted. So she turned her nose up at Helen and said to herself, She has always been an uppity nigger. Then she turned to Helen and said, If you are not there at one forty-five, I will give the job to someone else.

Helen said to Mrs. Daphne with a little more attitude in her voice than she wanted to at this time, What happened to two o'clock?

Mrs. Daphne just stood back on her heels. She was insulted that Helen questioned her about changing the time. So she bit the bottom of her lip and tried to talk as nicely as possible. I just changed the time because I want to see if you can handle it. We need to go over a few things before you start. I understand you have four babies. I want you here at one forty-five. Is that going to be a problem?

Helen said, I am not making you any promises. But if everything is go for my husband, then I will be here at that time.

Mrs. Daphne knew that Helen could cook better than the cook she had, and she did not want to mess up her chances of losing her, so she said, I have to run, so I hope to see you tomorrow. Then she turned and walked away. She left Helen just standing there. What Helen did not know was that Mrs. Daphne was about to scream. She could not stand being nice to black people.

Once Helen talked to her husband about the cooking job at the inn, he was all for what made her happy. However, he did let her know that she did not have to work. But Helen wanted her own money. She liked to be in control of everything in her life.

The next day, Helen was there at one-sixty, and Mrs. Daphne was walking the floor. As Helen walked into the kitchen through the back door, Mrs. Daphne was red in the face, and her lips poked out like she just had a sour lemon. She asked Helen, What took you so long?

Helen took one look at her wristwatch on her arm and said, What do you have on the dinner menu, Mrs. Daphne? I just don't have time or any use for your attitude. Everyone that was in the kitchen was shocked to hear anyone talk to Mrs. Daphne that way, black or white. They all knew right away who was now in charge of the kitchen. What they did not know was that Helen and Mrs. Daphne went back to their childhood.

Helen's mother, Mrs. Sacagawea, had worked for Mrs. Daphne's mother from the time that Helen and Mrs. Daphne were babies. It was okay for them to be close because Helen looked white. Mrs. Daphne never let Helen forget that she just looked white. Helen had always felt that she was better than most of those white people that she grew up with, and she carried herself in that way. She knew how to talk to each and every one of them. They took her words as wisdom within a year of her working as a cook. Helen knew all the secrets of the rich and powerful.

As time passed, Helen began to feel like her life was changing. From out of nowhere, there came a spike in her libido. She did not know what to do. Her husband was not satisfying her. She felt so ashamed of her feeling. There is no one she can talk to about it. She knew what her mother would tell her: You are not supposed to be satisfied. Just do your wifely duty. She felt dirty all the time. She really felt her libido spike. What could she do? She was at work.

And the girl talk did not help. She felt that all of them knew that she was squeezing herself. While she was listening to them talk, Helen was doing Kegel exercises until she came on herself. She turned so red that the girls thought that she was going to faint. They all asked her, Do you need some water, Mrs. Helen?

Helen said, I have to go to the outhouse. I will be back. Then she jumped up and left. However, Helen also longed to know if dark men were better in the bedroom. If so, then that was what she would need to cure her sickness. That was what her mind and body were telling her. She would hear the women at work talk about how good their man was last night, how long, black, and big their penis was and how they knew what to do with it. Helen tried not to listen to them. But she could not get their words out of her head and her longing for a night like that with her husband.

One day, her friends were all sitting around talking about their husbands and how their husband make them feel in the bedroom.

The girl named Tine was short with dark milk chocolate skin. Her hair was always pressed and in place. She had a pretty smile. Her round baby face kept no secrets. She said, I screamed until I was hoarse. My man has a hammer, and he knows how to use it.

The other girl named Bobby, who was bigger than Tine and a bite wider in the hips, was just as nice-looking as can be. Her eyes were big, her nose was long, and her cheeks were set high when she smiled. They all came together to set off her full lips. Her skin had a cocoa tone. If you looked hard enough, you could see a little Indian in her bloodline somewhere.

She said, I know he used it last night with that tramp across town. What's her name? You know her, the one with nappy hair.

Tine stood up, put her hands on her hips, and screamed at Bobby, You are lying. You just want him! Everyone started laughing because they knew that it was true. Bobby did want him. Tine was cutting her eyes at Bobby so hard that they hurt.

Helen did not know what was so funny. She just sat there looking at them. Bobby wanted to take the heat off her, so she turned to Helen and asked her, Helen, does your man make you scream you in the bedroom?

Helen looked at Bobby and said, No! Sid would never hit me.

Her friend laughed even harder. Then Bobby said, Helen, we are talking about sex. Does Sid make you want to climb the walls? Does he hit your spot?

A woman named Rose jumped in. Rose was skinny and a little darker than all of them in there but still stood her ground. She had her hair in two braids going down her back. Her face looked like a fish. Her lips came together like a fish when she talked. Her eyes were deep set and dark as coals. But when she smiled, her entire face would light up, and you couldn't help but smile back.

Bobby, you know that the half-white boys don't have what our full-blooded black boys have. She does not know what you are talking about, so leave Mrs. Helen alone.

Turning to Bobby, Rose, and Tina, she said, My husband, Sid, hits my spot just fine. Now you all need to stop this dirty talk and get to work. Helen knew she was lying. She felt that Bobby knew that she was lying also.

Bobby shook her head, and with a disappointed tone in her voice, she said, I know you are right. That is the price you have to pay if you want half-white babies. Bobby said that because she had her eyes on Sid for a long time, but he went and married Helen. Helen knew that Bobby didn't like her; she just didn't know why. Then everyone got up and walked away to finish their work.

Helen felt out of place. It didn't matter if she was the head cook at Demopolis Inn or not when she got up to go back to work. Helen could not help but think that she was missing something. She wanted to be a good wife. However, she could not stop thinking about what those women were talking about. Every time she looked at a dark-skinned man, her eyes would always travel down to his private area. She would turn red with shame for what she was thinking. She could not look a dark-skinned man in the face without blushing.

Meanwhile, Sid had a good job. Because he could pass for white, he was able to get a job as a salesman. However, he could only sell to the black people. One time, he tried to make a big sale at this new department store in Wetumka, Alabama. He was just about to get the manager's signature when the manager decided to call the main office.

The person that answered the phone was another salesman; he was white and was not doing very well with his sale. So when he got the call, he told the other guys that were hanging out in the office at that time either waiting for their numbers or was just too lazy to get out and go door to door. He said, Listen to this—that high yellow nigger done went and stole my store out from under me. What should we do about that?

One of the fat men leaned back in his chair. He was so fat that if you didn't know any better, you would think that the chair was going to break. He pulled a toothpick out of his teeth like he just got through eating, but the truth was he just liked to chew on toothpicks. He said, Tell them know who they are doing business with. Let them take care of it.

The man that answered the phone told the manager of the store, That's a nigger. He just looks white, and he know that he ain't supposed to be in a white man store. So are you backwoods rednecks going to let that nigger make a fool out of you? Then he laughed, and the manager heard the other men in the background on the line laughing also. Then the phone went dead. They sounded like they were laughing at him.

That only enraged the manager. He was angry at Sid when he came back into the room. He stood in the doorway for a minute looking at Sid, trying to see the black in him. After looking at him for a while, the manager though he could see the black in him even though he couldn't. But he could not take his eyes off him while Sid stood over the contract.

When Sid took one look at the manager's face, he knew that trouble was on the phone. That manager wanted to teach this nigger passing for white a lesson. He said to Sid, So you are a nigger. I never would have thought it just by looking at you. He walked around Sid, looking him up and down. Sid knew that it was time for him to leave.

However, that white manager also belonged to the birth of the KKK. Therefore, he did not like any kind of nigger, most of all one that made him look like a fool. This nigger had to pay.

Sid started picking up the papers that were on the table, then the manager walked over to the potbelly stove that stood in the corner of his office. He picked up the lifter, put it under the iron plate on the stove, then he took his hand and wiped some black soot from the back of the iron plate.

Then he walked over to Sid and said, You high yellow niggers need to know your place. He reached out his hand to Sid. Put this on your face before you leave my store. Sid knew what had happened on the phone; his white co-worker had turned on him. For a moment, he could not move. Then the manager walked up closer to Sid and wiped the black soot on Sid's face. Sid was so upset that he turned blood red. Sid knew that if he was to hit this man, he would not live through the night.

Three other men walked into the office to see what was taking their friend so long. It had never taken him this long before to close a deal. That came in just in time to witness the humiliation or to find out if they were going to have a killing that night. Sid took one look at his predicament and decided to let them have their fun just as long as he got out of there with his life.

That manager told Sid, Now that we got you looking like the nigger that you are, we are going to show you what we do with niggers that pass for white down here, boy.

Joe Bob, one of the manager's friends, walked behind Sid and grabbed his hair, jerked Sid's head back and looked at him in his eyes real hard and with so much hate that it took everything in him to not cut Sid's throat right then and there. Instead of picking up a knife with his other hand, he picked up the contract.

The manager spoke up and said, You are going to eat this contract, every bite of it until it is all gone. And you better not choke on it or Joe Bob is going to kick your nigger ass until it goes down.

Joe Bob fanned that contract in Sid's face while saying, I want him to choke on it. I need to kick a nigger ass today.

Sid just stood there for a while. The manager said, Do you need help, nigger?

Sid said, No, sir. Sid took the contract, tore it in strips, and started eating it. When he was finished, he walked past the redneck white boys with his head up. All the time, he had a fear in his heart that almost made it stop.

The whole time he was walking past them, he was praying, Lord, let me make it out of this store and I will never sell to a white man again. He heard them marking him.

The manager of the store said, Did you see how fast that nigger ate that paper? He put it down like a billy goat.

Another one said, That just goes to show you a nigger will eat anything if you give him a good enough reason. They all laughed very hard as Sid walked past them. Sid did not stop moving until he was out of that town and started breathing again. He swore he would never go back again. He left a little dignity behind, but he was alive.

Meanwhile, Helen found herself looking forward to hearing them talk about their sex life, and she daydreamed about one day feeling like that.

Pryce William was a dark-skinned man that worked for the inn. Helen knew Pryce William had always had a little crush on her. Pryce William worked at Demopolis Inn, doing all the dirty work from chopping wood to hauling out the hog slop and dumping out the night pots. He would fix the plumbing if it did not work. Sometimes he would have to go under the hotel until he found out what clogged it up. Whatever dirty work that needed to be done, they called him.

When Helen found out that Sid was going out of town. She went to work on getting into Pryce's bed. She saw Pryce in the hall with his scarf tied around his mouth and nose in order to not smell the shit that was in the night pots that he was carrying. She stopped him and said, I don't know what those white people eat sometime.

He said, I can't talk with this in my hand. I will talk to you later.

Helen gave him one of her Come get me smiles as she walked on past him. At first, Pryce thought that he was seeing things. He hurried up and took that pot to the outhouse and washed it out.

After Pryce was finished with the night pots, he ran to the kitchen to find Helen. She was sitting on a stool shelling peas. Pryce walked up to Helen and asked her, Did I just get an ‘I want you' look from you in the hall?

Helen said, Yes, I just want to see what it will be like to have a man as black as you. Then she lowered her head and blushed.

Pryce took her by the hand and said, I know that you are married and that you have kids, but I have always wanted to have you. We can do this if we are careful, and I will not tell anyone. You can come to my house tonight, a little past dusk. Do you know where I live?

Helen put on a sexy smile and said, If I didn't I would have to be blind. I have to put my kids to bed so it will be later than that.

Pryce asked her, How late?

Helen said, Around nine-thirty or ten o'clock if that's not too late.

Pryce said, I will see you then. I will wait for you until midnight.

He let go of her hand and walked out the door backward so that he could keep his eyes on her. He thought that she was going to tell him that she was just joking. However, she just smiled and said, I will see you later. Pryce stumbled off the back porch. Helen laughed. As she watched him pick himself up, dust himself off, then go back to work, Pryce could not get his mind off what his night was going to be like. He worked with this stupid smile on his face the rest of the day.

Chapter 2

Pryce House

Pryce was a tall, built man with muscle tone in all the right places, enough to go with his height that made you stop and look when he took off his shirt to chop wood. Pryce put a new meaning to the words tall, dark, and handsome. Helen did not know why Pryce wanted her, and she did not care. She just wanted to know what the talk was all about. What was she missing?

Pryce lived alone in a one-room house back in the woods behind Helen's house. It looked like an old shack that you would think that no one could possibly live there. However, once inside, it was warm and clean with the small of coffee in the air from a pot of coffee that sat on the eye of a black potbelly stove that sat in the center of the back wall. There was a very neatly made bed in the left corner with an old handmade quilt for cover. The bed is a homemade bed. It is made up from the wood that Pryce found lying around. He made a big box with the bottom made from the planks he found in different parts of the woods. The mattress was two sheets sewed together stuffed with chicken feathers and cotton. This made a good bed. It was sitting not far from the stove because in winter, the stove helped keep him warm. There was no running water in the house. However, there was a long crone water fault outside of the house not far from the door. The outhouse was set a little father back into the woods.

On the right side of the stove, he had a table made from wood crates, stacked high enough to make a small table. It only took four nice-sized crates stacked side by side to make a nice table. He put a clean white tablecloth over it. He had taken the tablecloth from Demopolis Inn. With the two wooden crates that he took from the trash, he used them as chairs on each side of the table.

Pryce remembered he had some old half-used candles that he found in the trash from Demopolis Inn. He went to the body and burning oil store in the black people community. You did not see white people in this place called the Alley. You could buy anything in the Alley. The Alley was a place where a black man could be a man; it was a place where one man could stand up face to face with another man and speak like a man. But a lot of the older men hung out at the pool room. You could walk to the pool room and hear about everything that happened in the black and white community.

When Pryce walked into the store, a pretty older woman stood up from behind a stack of bolts of material. He thought to himself, I know she stole a few hearts in her early years.

Her skin was dark and smooth. Her lips were full and luscious even without any lipstick. Her eyes were big and round like they were made just for you to look at. She had a head of gray hair with just enough black in it to add a highlight to her beauty.

When she came from around that bolt of material, he could see that somewhere in her life, something bad had happened to her because she only had one leg. He said to her, How are you doing today Mrs.—? He stopped in the middle of his sentence because he did not know her name.

She said, Mrs. Colman, son, how can I help you?

Pryce said, I am looking for some nice-smelling body oil. Can you show me what you have?

She said, Step around here. Then she pulled out some oil samples. Pryce bought some body oil, a nickel's worth, and a nickel's worth of burning oil. On his way home, he stopped and picked up some wildflowers from the pasture that was across the street from his house.

As he was walking into his home, he said to himself, Helen, you better be worth this. You took my last two nickels. He put the flower in an old mason jar and placed it in the center of the table. He put the candles in jar tops and placed them on each side of the flowers. When he lit them, they lit up that small room with a romantic look.

The moon was full and bright. Pryce pulled the homemade curtains open to let in the light of the moon. Then he took the coffee pot, put it on the floor behind the stove, took a small, deep pot off the wall, and took it outside and put some water in it. Then he poured some burning oil into the water.

Then he opened the front of the stove and built a fire. When the oil and water came to a boil, it had a very powerful romantic aroma that filled the room. He took that pot off the stove and put it on the floor behind the stove. Then he put the jar of body oil in water in another pot and set it on the eye of the stove when the oil was warm; Pryce took it and placed the jar on the table. Then he took a look at his room and approved the way it looked and smelled. He said, Thank you, God, for such a great moon. As he looked out of the window, Pryce became a little worried about if Helen was going to show.

As he looked up at the moon, he thought to himself, Maybe she was pulling my leg, as he paced up and down that one-room cabin. The flowery sweet scents from the oil filled the room.

When Helen came out of her house, she took a look up at the bright moon. At first she thought to herself, The moon is too bright. Someone will see me. Then the urge of wanting to see what a dark-skinned man could do overcome her, and she said, I will stay low in the bushes. As she traveled through the woods ducking and dodging in and out between the trees and through the bushes, she still was not sure if she had been seen by anyone. She knew that all she needed was for one person to see her and then she would be the talk of the town. Her heart beat fast; her legs was shaking so bad that she thought that she was going to fall before she got there. Even though Pryce's place was not that far, that night, it felt like he was miles away. When she made it to his door, she felt a little at ease. But she knew she was not safe until she was in his house.

Then there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, there stood Helen. She hurried in and closed the door behind her. Pryce asked Helen, Are you sure you want to do this?

Helen was a little out of breath, some from running through the woods, but most of it was from the anxiety of what she was about to do. When she caught her breath, she said, Yes, I have to know what this screaming is all about or I am going to go crazy.

Pryce was happy because he was finally going to have the woman he always wanted. He told her, I am going to make you scream tonight, baby.

He leaned over and kissed her on her lips as he slowly opened her buttons on her blouse then let the blouse fall to the floor. Her breasts stood high and firm. Pryce was surprised to see them standing so tall; after all, she did have four babies. Looking at her beautiful smooth, white skin made Pryce's penis come to a full hard-on. However, he wanted to take his time and enjoy every inch of her because he didn't know when this would happen again or how long it would last. While he was bent down to her, he went a step lower. Pryce bent over and took the tip of her nipple in his mouth while his other hand gently squeezed, playing with the other nipple until his mouth made it over there. Helen had never had anyone do that before. That set her on fire; she felt like she was having an orgasm immediately. She did not want him to stop, only to find out that she was in for a surprise of her life. Pryce leaned over and kissed her stomach. He took his tongue and played with her navel. Pryce picked up the jar of oil that he had warmed off the table and poured a little on Helen's breast and down her stomach. The warmth of the oil touching Helen's skin gave her a feeling through her body that she could not explain. Then he took his hands and rubbed Helen's body while taking time to stop and play with some of the areas that he could tell were sex spots for her. Helen was burning with so much sexual desire as she had never felt before in her life.

She let out a sound as if she were trying to let out the heat that rocked her body. Pryce kissed her below her navel then between her legs. He found her soft spot with his tongue. Pryce played with that spot for a while until Helen could not breathe. Then he took off his pants as Helen lay floating from the oral sex that Pryce had just performed. That went beyond her wildest imagination. She had heard about people having sex that way, but this was the first time she had it done to her. She almost lost her mind.

Pryce's penis was hard, big, and long. When Pryce entered her, there was a feeling of great explosion like she had never felt before. Pryce hit her spot right the first time and never let off it. Helen felt what it was like to have multiple orgasms, back to back. Helen had sex four times that night. For the first time in her life, she felt what it was like to have real sex. He massaged her body with warm oil that had the scent of lavender. Then he gave her unbelievable sex. He was gentle while he hit all her spots. He touched spots that she did not know that she had.

Helen finally knew what her girlfriends were talking about when they said, He made me scream last night. Only there was no one Helen could share this with. However, Helen was hooked on Pryce's way of having sex. If she told anyone, it would sure get back to Sid. Too many of the other women wanted Sid. This would just have to be her little world that she enjoyed to the fullest. Helen enjoyed having sex so much that she went to him every night that Sid was away.

Helen was hooked on Pryce's lovemaking, like crack was to a crack head. She could not wait to get home. Therefore, she could feed the babies and put them to bed so that she could go have her some Pryce.

Helen would meet Pryce after dark so that no one could see her go through the woods. When Helen arrived at Pryce home's, they did not talk. They just got undressed and rocked that little bed. For hours every night, Pryce would introduce Helen to something new each night. Helen had gotten good in giving Pryce oral sex. She found out that she liked giving it as much as receiving it.

When they were finished, she would get dressed, open the door very carefully, and peek outside. Once she was sure that it was safe for her to go, she would leave running in the early morning just at dawn. Through the trees, she ran with the wetness of the morning dew and wet her shoes and the bottom of her skirt whenever she brushed up against the tree branches.

Once she was back home, she would check on her babies to make sure that they was still sleeping: a boy named Josephs Owens, age six, who looked like his father; a girl named Lula Joe, age five, who looked like her father but with her mother's thin, black hair; Eddy, a son, age three; and a baby girl named Mattie Mae, age one and a half. They were not sure who she was going to look like just yet because she was still changing.

Helen was the happiest than she had ever been in her life.

She was walking around singing; the food tasted much better than Mrs. Daphne's expectations. People came from miles to eat Helen's cooking. Some of them would stay overnight just to get a taste of her biscuits.

She would look at her babies as they slept and say, All of my babies will have a chance in life. Just look how white they are. Then she would rub their head with loving strokes and say this with so much pride in her voice. There are no black babies here. Thank you, God. She looked up toward the sky. Helen's husband, Sid, was nine years older than her, but that did not matter.

Then she would go to her bedroom and fall to her knees and pray for God to forgive her, for she needed this weakness to leave her before her husband returned home. She asked the Lord repeatedly, Lord, what can I do?

Pryce knew that his time with Helen was limited. Therefore, he decided to get what he could as much as he could as soon as he could.

Pryce used Helen to get her to have his boss give him better hours, easy work, and better pay. (Helen had that kind of pull.) The white people trusted her judgment, not to mention her power of manipulation. She was so good at it. It was like she was gifted that way. After all, Mrs. Helen was the only person that Mrs. Daphne would listen to when it came to making a decision when it came to dealing with black people.

Helen made it her job to know all the right people and kiss the right asses at the right time. She made her Indian half-work for her. By the time Helen turned twenty-three years old, she had most of the white people eating out of her hand.

Helen could make dinner rolls that would melt in your mouth like cotton candy and tasted as sweet. Helen could cook like nothing you have ever tasted. She got her first job at the age of twenty working as a cook in Demopolis Inn. (That was the white-only inn.) Boy, did they love her cooking.

When some of the town's most important people would finish their meal, they would get up and go into the kitchen to thank Helen for such a good meal. That is how she got to know all of them. Sometime they would have her to cook at their dinner parties. That is how she made her money. She saved up her money to buy a piece of land that sat on the corner of town, three acres. When Sid returned from his trip, Helen went to bed with him as soon as she could because she was feeling guilty for getting out of Pryce's bed last night. After all, she told herself, I have to welcome my husband back home. She felt bad about what she had done because she had grown to love her husband with all her heart. Then she said to herself, as though she was trying to convince herself what she had done could be made right, He is a good man. After all, he is my husband, and as his wife, I am supposed to have sex with him.

While Sid lay on top of Helen after ten minutes of sex, Helen was still in heat. She thought to herself, Sid, you just don't have what Pryce has, but I love you. Then Sid slid off the top and lay back, trying to catch his breath. He said, Helen, if you keep giving me sex like that, I may never want to go to work again. Then he kissed Helen on the top of her head and went to sleep.

Helen rolled over with her back to Sid, put her hand inside herself, and thought about Pryce while she finished the job for Sid. She knew that if Sid ever found out about this one-week moment in her life, it would kill their marriage. Sid was proud to know that Helen knew of no other man but him.

Then a few weeks later, Helen found out that she was pregnant. Helen just knew that this baby belonged to Sid. She never gave it a second thought that this baby could possibly belong to Pryce. Pryce had left town and was out of her life. Helen was happy living with the memory of the week she had with him and the secret that only she would know about.

Until the day her baby came into this world black like a dark milk chocolate bar. Helen took one look and knew that it couldn't be anyone else's baby but Pryce's. She knew that this baby did not belong to her husband, Sid. Her heart almost stopped when she laid eyes on her. All she could see was her sin coming back to haunt her. All Helen could thank about was how lucky she was Sid was not in town; he was out on another business trip.

Helen screamed, What the hell is this? I am not going to keep this black nigger! Then she turned her back on her baby. The midwife became very confused and upset with her at the same time.

She said, Helen, sure, this baby is black, but she just could be the best one of all of your babies. You can't turn away from her.

Helen said, I can, and I will. If you want her, then you can have her. Just take her out of my sight. As far as I am concerned, she was never born.

The midwife said, I am going to take her, Helen, but only until you come to your senses.

Helen said, Not as long as she is black.

The midwife asked, What are you going to tell Sid when he comes home?

Helen said, I will tell him that the baby was born dead. So I am asking you to take it away, please, before one of the other kids sees it.

The midwife asked, Won't Sid want to see something?

Helen answered her with anger and shame in her voice because she and she alone knew how this baby came about. Sid is my problem. Now get the hell out of here and take that devil with you!

Helen knew Sid would leave this kind of thing up to her. He would ask a few questions, but by the time Sid made it home, Helen would have the answer to all of them. Then he would leave it alone. Then Helen said, Now you take it out of my sight.

The midwife just could not see through her eyes very well from the anger that was behind them. She yelled, This is a little girl, not an it, you bitch! She washed the baby off. Then she took a spoon that was wrapped with rags around it, dumped it in some eggs and oil, and put it in the baby's mouth to clean out any after fluids. She started crying hard, so the midwife knew that her mouth and lungs were clear.

The midwife's name was Miss Sally. She was a tall, slender woman with a chiseled chin and deep dimples; she was dark with a touch of milk. That gave her the look of a tan black person; she was pretty as an angel. She was a few years older than Helen. She shook her head and took that baby in her arms; she knew that Helen cared more about what people thought than about her beautiful baby girl.

Miss Sally also knew that in order for this baby to have a chance in this life, she would have to take her. Therefore, she decided to take that baby home with her. Miss Sally was walking out of the room when Helen