him from time to time when I needed money. Once I even went to his room and sat on his bed. “Um…Mr. Boatwright, I want to go to the movies with Francine, but we need money for the bus and popcorn and stuff.” I trembled.
Mr. Boatwright was lying on his side looking at me with a straight face. He didn’t react until I stroked his arm. “I see,” he growled. He pulled ten dollars out of his pants pocket and handed it to me, then he reached for me.
“Um…the movie starts real soon,” I said, rising from his bed. He sighed with exasperation, then waved me away with his hand.
Once Francine and I got to the movies, she left me to go sit with some of her other friends. While I was in a bathroom stall I overheard her tell another girl, “Annette, so stupid! Watch me get a camera out of her for my birthday next month.”
Francine’s words crushed me. I never told her what I overheard, but I broke off the “friendship” immediately.
“You’ll meet other girls when school starts this September,” Mama told me when I told her about Mona and Francine.
“I hope so, Mama,” I replied.
I still spoke to Mona and Francine when I saw them at church, but turned down their invitations to go swimming or the movies. When Francine sent me an invitation to attend her birthday party, I declined immediately. I was lonely and had low self-esteem but I did have some pride. I didn’t need friends bad enough to put up with those two.
The first time I saw Rhoda Nelson, the uppity undertaker’s only daughter, my heart almost stopped beating.
A week before school started, Pee Wee and I were sitting on my front-porch steps when this long black airport limousine crawled around the corner and stopped in front of the undertaker’s house. The driver got out and ran to open one of the back doors.
“Oh oh,” Pee Wee started. I knew this was going to be something good from his reaction. He stood up and placed his hands on his hips. Rhoda slid out and stretched. “Where you been, Miss Hollywood? Europe again, I bet!” Pee Wee hollered in his sweetest voice.
The girl smiled and waved. “Just the Bahamas,” she replied casually.
I stood up and shaded my eyes to see her better. “Pee Wee, who is that girl?” I mouthed. Before he could answer, the girl beckoned for us to join her. I followed Pee Wee across the street as she tipped the driver. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was the prettiest Black girl I had ever seen in my life. She was dark like me. She was regally slim and had a rope of thick black hair that almost reached her waist. Lord, let that hair be a wig, I said under my breath. The most striking thing about her was her eyes. They were huge and bright green. She had a heart-shaped face, a small nose, full pouty lips, and teeth that looked too perfect to be real, though I knew they were.
“I thought you was down South for the summer visitin’ your white aunt,” Pee Wee said to the girl.
“I was. But about two weeks ago, Aunt Lola got mad at her boyfriend and wanted to teach him a lesson. While he was at work we sneaked to the Bahamas and stayed until it was time for me to come back home,” Rhoda replied.
Pee Wee looked at me, and said, “Miss Thing here went to Paris last summer.”
“Paris, France?” I gasped. The girl was so intimidating I could feel knots forming in my stomach.
“Oui, oui.” Pee Wee laughed, snapping his fingers.
“I’m Rhoda,” Miss Thing said warmly. She smiled at me and extended her small hand. She had long slender fingers with neatly polished and manicured nails. Compared to hers, mine looked like the Monkey’s Paw.
“I’m Annette. We moved to this street in June,” I croaked. Rhoda had on a blue-silk dress, matching pumps, and was carrying a baby blue leather shoulder bag. The dull brown, thrift-shop flannel smock I had on had taken on a life of its own. No matter how hard I cleaned and pressed it, it curled up at the hem and changed colors every time I washed it.
“Where did you live before?” she asked me.
“Over by the city dump,” Pee Wee told her, wiggling his nose.
“Oh,” Rhoda said, moving back a step. “Well, I hope you’ll like it over here.” She smiled. “What grade are you in?” She tossed her hair back off her face.
“Oh we all in the same grade. Eighth,” Pee Wee volunteered.
“Good. After school starts, maybe the three of us can get together and study sometime,” she suggested. “Listen, I’m a little tired…”
“Girl, as soon as you get settled in, I’ll come over and give you all the lowdown on what’s been happenin’. I got all kinds of news. Startin’ with that loutish white uncle of yours,” Pee Wee cried, snapping his neck.
Rhoda rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I heard about poor Uncle Johnny and that dead woman. I’m sure he was drunk…” I could tell that she was embarrassed. This white man I kept hearing about was her favorite relative, Pee Wee had told me.
“Well, I got a lot of other juicy stuff to tell you,” Pee Wee continued.
“I figured that.” Rhoda grinned. I was just standing there, glued to my spot. She then gave me a serious look. “It was nice meetin’ you, Nannette.”
“Annette,” I corrected. She excused herself and started walking toward her house. Mr. Nelson came out on the front porch with his arms stretched out to greet Rhoda. He noticed Pee Wee and me and waved to us.
Pee Wee and I returned to my porch steps, where he spent the next two hours giving me all the details on Rhoda. That gorgeous mane on her head was her real hair. Other than Pee Wee, she had no close friends. She and her family belonged to the same church Mama, Mr. Boatwright, and I had joined since our move. We still attended Reverend Snipes’s church occasionally so Mr. Boatwright could continue singing his solos, but we were now members of the Second Baptist Church. Only because it was so much closer Mama told Reverend Snipes. I was convinced it was a prestige thing. All the Black folks with money attended Second Baptist Church on Patterson Street.
Other than Pee Wee, she had very little to do with the rest of the kids.
I had never seen anybody as fascinating as Rhoda Nelson. Not even on TV. She was so intriguing I found myself thinking about her the next day while Mr. Boatwright was on top of me. Pretending that I was her made it a little easier for me to tolerate this beast without going crazy.
I couldn’t understand why any man would want to take advantage of me with beauties like Rhoda roaming around. I believed that part of a pretty girl’s burden was to have to put up with a lot of unwanted attention. All my life I’d watch men smile and wink at my pretty mother. Judge Lawson was spending more time than ever with Mama in our living room, with his hand rubbing her knee, saying things like, “The house all right, Gussie Mae? You need anything? I’ll send my man over to cut the grass. Anything else you need done, let me know and I’ll fix it.” I couldn’t tell if Mama really liked spending so much of her free time entertaining the judge. But she never discussed her actions with me, and I didn’t ask.
School started a week after Rhoda’s return. I had not talked to her since we had met, but I’d seen her climbing out of cabs with big shopping bags almost every day. I spied on her from the largest window in my bedroom, my front window. When I could avoid that irritating Pee Wee, I waited until I saw Rhoda leave for school so that I could trail behind her. Her beauty was so overwhelming, I actually felt beautiful just being near her.
“Oink, oink. Mornin’, Pig Face,” Mr. Boatwright greeted me one schoolday morning as I passed him on my way out the door.
“Same to you, butt breath,” I yelled back. I sassed him from time to time when Mama or no other grown person was around. It usually got me a whupping from him, but it was worth it. He ran after me and grabbed me by my coat collar.
“Who you sassin’?” He released me, then stood up straight and looked me over