Читать книгу The Bernice L. McFadden Collection - Bernice L. McFadden - Страница 40

Chapter Thirty

November through March had always been particularly difficult months for Tass. Detroit was beautiful in the spring, gorgeous in the summer, and breathtaking in the fall. But stripped and gray, the city became repulsive.

In the early days, when Emmett first came to Detroit, he would send a butterfly or bloom a flower to make her happy. A smile would glisten on Tass’s lips and she would fold her arms across her breasts and utter, “Well, would you look at that.”

Unfortunately, the wonderment did not last and soon the spectacle would fade from her mind.

One January, slate-colored clouds blanketed the sky over Detroit for three straight weeks, and while Tass had grown accustomed to the bone-chilling temperatures, the absence of the sun was nearly unbearable.

Tass was alone in the house dusting furniture one day, and for no good reason at all, she began to cry. Crumpling to her knees, she brought the dusty cloth to her face and inhaled a cloud of lemon-scented Pledge.

Over her sobs, she heard a chorus of chirping coming from the backyard. Baffled, Tass went to the window, yanked the curtain aside, and saw that the naked tree limbs were choked with hundreds of cardinals feath-ered in the most vibrant red she had ever seen.

Eager for a closer look, she opened the back door and stepped out onto the icy steps. Outside, the chatter was deafening and the vision so magnificently unbelievable that she presumed she was in the midst of an outlandish daydream.

Closing her arms around her shoulders to ward off the chill, she eased her foot onto the second step, immediately lost her footing, and bounced down the remaining steps, ending up on her back in the snow.

Engrossed by the vision before her, Tass hardly noticed the pain coiling around her tailbone or winter’s jagged teeth ripping at her skin.

One bird, two birds, five, and ten fluttered off, then the entire flock was airborne, and for one magical moment the winter sky appeared to be swathed in crimsoncolored Christmas foil.

When you are young, you are open to all things; that’s why the babies were able to see Emmett following Tass from room to room, and hunched in the corners watching her. Emmett would make funny faces at the babies and perform cartwheels and handstands until they fell over with laughter.

But as the babies grew into toddlers and beyond, that window known as spiritual consciousness slipped closed and Emmett became as invisible to them as air.

Animals are also extremely sensitive to the spirits that live amongst you.

Fish had to get rid of one the family dogs, a cocker spaniel named Soap, who found Emmett’s presence so disturbing that he barked himself hoarse. A hamster named George mounted his exercise wheel and ran until his heart gave out.

In 1978, Sonny brought his sweetheart by to meet his parents. She was from Ghana.

“Where is that?” Tass asked.

“Africa.”

The entire family came over to look at her. They had never met a real African.

Her name was Aida, and she was tall and brown, with wide eyes and cheekbones worthy of a sculptor’s chisel. Hearing her speak was like listening to music.

I noticed the distraction first, and then Sonny saw that she was straining to glimpse something on the far wall. He twisted around in his chair to see what had caught her attention and his eyes fell on the framed photographs that lined the wall.

At the end of the visit, Sonny announced that he and Aida were going to catch a movie. The couple gathered themselves to leave and the family followed them out into the foyer and grinned as Sonny helped Aida with her coat.

They said their goodbyes and left.

“Nice girl,” Tass said.

“Pretty too,” Fish added with a wink.

The doorbell rang, and when one of the younger children opened the door, Aida was standing there.

“I forgot my pocketbook.”

She walked back into the dining room and reached for the purse, which was dangling on the back of a chair. Before turning to leave, she looked right at Emmett and offered a soft, knowing smile.

Emmett gasped with surprise.

Later on, in the darkness of the movie theater, Sonny and Aida shared a large tub of buttered popcorn. On the screen, Pam Grier pulled a gun on her would-be murderer and pressed the nozzle into his groin.

Aida stared at the screen, but her mind was on the spirit in the May home. She reached for her cup of Coca-Cola and slurped until the brown sweetness filled her mouth.

For most of the film, she pondered whether or not she should share what she knew with Sonny. Finally, when the credits began to roll, she turned to him and whispered, “Do you believe in ghosts?”

Sonny laughed. “No, why, do you?”

Aida nodded her head yes.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess to each its own,” then stood to leave. Aida followed him out of the theater.

As they walked down the street, Aida grabbed hold of his hand and began: “Well, the reason why I asked is because …” She launched passionately into her explanation, using her free hand in an animated way to describe what she had seen.

Sonny first thought Aida was joking, but the seriousness in her voice told him otherwise.

When she was done, he looked her and blurted out with a laugh, “A ghost? In my mama’s house?”

“Yes.”

He’d had crazy in his life before, and was not eager to invite it back in.

When he dropped Aida off at her home that evening, he shook her hand at the front door. Aida knew then that he didn’t believe one word she’d said and that she would never see him again.