about here?”
“I just received something in the mail,” I stated, sucking in my breath. I had to clear my throat before continuing. “And it’s not very nice. As a matter of fact, it’s downright mean. Maybe you can convince me that it’s nothing to worry about.”
CHAPTER 5
“Well, if it’s not a dead chicken, I could probably convince you that it’s nothin’ serious,” Rhoda chuckled. “Or one of those fierce-looking dolls with pins sticking out of it. There is a lot of shit bein’ sent through the mail these days. I’m glad that a lot of that useless junk doesn’t come to my address,” Rhoda said, releasing one of those proud snorts that smug people were known for. “I’m so glad that I don’t have to worry about openin’ my mailbox and findin’ none of that shit.”
Like your teenage daughter’s sex toys, I thought to myself. I wondered what Rhoda would say if I revealed that information to her. I didn’t really want to know, so I put that thought out of my mind right away.
Rhoda was, without a doubt, one of the most intelligent people I knew. But there were times when it seemed like she was a little dense, or slow, when it came to recognizing a serious situation. I didn’t like her initial response to the peculiar information that I’d just shared with her.
“This is not a joke, Rhoda. Well, it could be a joke, but I don’t know who would find something like this funny.”
“Annette, what the hell are you talkin’ about?”
When Rhoda was impatient, she didn’t even try to hide it. I could even hear her drumming her fingers on a hard surface.
“This morning I received one of the meanest notes I ever received in my life. As a matter of fact, it is the meanest note I ever received in my life. A few kids used to pass me nasty notes in school but this is not kid stuff.”
“What do you mean by ‘received’? Who sent it to you?” Rhoda demanded.
“I have no idea who sent it to me. They didn’t sign it with a real name. And they didn’t include a name or return address on the envelope. It came in the mail this morning in a cute little pink envelope, smelling like a rose.” I don’t know how or why, but I let out a sharp laugh. “It was typed and it looks so…professional. Like somebody really gave this a lot of thought.” I bit my bottom lip and looked around my living room, paying close attention to the corners and other hiding places where a bogeyman might lurk.
“Auntie, did you tell Mama about the blacksnake yet?” It was the voice of Jade.
She had the annoying habit of eavesdropping on some of my telephone conversations with Rhoda. I had a problem with that because there were many things I felt that Jade didn’t need to know yet. Even though she was a very mature seventeen-year-old. Complaints and even punishment didn’t faze Jade. This girl thought that the world revolved around her, and that she could do whatever she wanted to do. It was no surprise that she did do whatever she wanted to do, and with little or no consequences.
“Girl, get your ass off that phone!” Rhoda yelled.
“Yes, ma’am. Anything you say,” Jade said with an irritating whine. Then she let out a loud sigh before she slammed the extension down. She had her own telephone in her bedroom with a separate line. But she was such a busy little body that she liked to be all up in her mother’s business, too.
“You’d better enjoy Charlotte as much as you can now. Another Jade is what you have to look forward to,” Rhoda told me with a heavy sigh. “I swear to God, sometimes that girl makes me itch all over! I just wish that she was more like her big brother,” Rhoda added.
I never took Rhoda seriously when she “complained” about Jade. Because Rhoda bowed down to Jade like she was royalty. She didn’t even convince me that she was serious. Rhoda’s only other child, a handsome young man named Julian, lived in Mobile, Alabama, where he owned and operated a shoe-repair business. It was no secret that the boy was as gay as an Easter parade. Rhoda was as proud of him as I was. Her only regret was that Jade was her only chance to have grandchildren, and that had a lot to do with the fact that Jade was treated like she was made out of gold.
“She’ll be mad at me for a little while, so I’d better take her to the mall with me,” Rhoda said, almost choking on her words. “And let her pick out somethin’ expensive and pretty. Poor thing. She must be havin’ her period.” Rhoda sighed so much when it came to Jade, you would have thought she was on a respirator.
“Can you hurry on over before you go to the mall? And, uh, leave Jade in the car when you get here, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to upset her.”
“Girl, you are scarin’ me.” Rhoda paused and let out a mild belch, then complained vaguely about a chipped nail. “And what’s this about a blacksnake?”
“Oh. I didn’t think that it was anything to get upset over when I got it, but now I don’t know.” I tilted my head and sucked in so much air my lungs felt like they were going to explode. My eyes were on the evil note still clutched in my hand. It took me a few seconds to compose myself. Rubbing my chest I said, “They had a little surprise party for me at work last week. I came out of a staff meeting and there was a cake on my desk with one candle on it, and a pile of birthday gifts.” My voice trailed off as I recalled how I’d jumped and shrieked when I’d opened the box and saw the fake blacksnake.
“And where did the blacksnake fit in?” Rhoda wanted to know.
I swallowed hard. “Well, after I had cut my cake and given everybody a slice, I started opening my gifts. I’d received more than a dozen, and I think it was like the fourth or fifth one I opened. There was a clock radio for my desk, a Macy’s gift certificate for a hundred dollars, and some perfume. I got some other really nice stuff this year, too. Of course, the office troublemakers didn’t give me anything, but they were first in line to get a slice of my birthday cake.” I paused and sucked in my breath, raking my fingers through my knotty hair. “It was a long, flat box, wrapped in gold paper with a white bow. It couldn’t have been cuter. Anyway, I popped open the box, unwrapped the gold tissue paper inside, and there was a fake snake. A two-foot-long, black, plastic, shiny fake snake coiled up like it was ready to strike. It looked so real, I thought it was real at first. I even screamed and dropped it. Everybody, except for me, thought it was funny,” I said stiffly, recalling how disgusted I’d felt at that moment.
“Who sent it?”
“That’s just it,” I said, flinching. “I don’t know. Nobody would admit it. I don’t have any proof but I think it was José, the Puerto Rican maintenance man. He sent one of the file clerks some flowers with painted-on faces for her birthday last month. The faces looked demonic. Everybody laughed about that, too. Even me.”
“Well, flowers with ugly faces are one thing. A blacksnake is another thing.”
“But it was a fake snake,” I said, forcing myself to laugh. “If whoever sent it really wanted to be mean, they would have sent me a real one,” I insisted.
“Well, did you ask that Puerto Rican José if he sent you a fake blacksnake?”
“Yes, I did. He said he didn’t send it,” I managed. “You know there were a few folks who didn’t like me getting my promotion—Carla Henry, Bev Carson, and a few others. They gave me dirty looks and moved to another table in the cafeteria when I tried to sit with them the other day. And Jade told me that she heard a couple of those wenches talking about me like a dog in the ladies’ room just yesterday.”
“Oh? Look, I don’t want my child to be exposed to that kind of foolishness. People like that could be a bad influence on her. They talk about you in front of Jade?” Rhoda sounded serious and angry.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about anybody being a bad influence on Jade,” I said dryly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rhoda sounded worried now.
“Nothing,”