Random Acts of Senseless Violence (16 page)

Anyway Anne that's all for tonight.

APRIL
18

Chrissie called Mama from California this morning while we were all still asleep. They're getting ready to hide out in the hills she told Mama. ‘Hide out from what?' I asked when Mama got off the phone. ‘From city people sweetie you know them they're so paranoid they think all the poor people are going to come hack them to death in their sleep' Mama said. ‘You mean black people?' I asked. ‘Yes my angel that's who they mean and Mexicans and liberals and everybody else who looks funny at them they're so crazy' Mama said. ‘What else did she say?' I asked because Mama looked really upset when she got off the phone. ‘Just the usual rantings and ravings of the mad sweetie' Mama said. ‘Like what though?' ‘Nothing my angel.' ‘She did I can tell what did she say to you?' Mama looked like she was about to cry but didn't she doesn't cry any more often than I do even though I did earlier this week like I admitted. ‘Oh
sweetie she's very good with accusations and making me feel guilty she's like Gran' Mama said. ‘What did she say?' I asked. ‘She said everything we've done wrong is coming back to haunt us now she said we're criminals for keeping you both here in New York where we'll all be murdered in our sleep she said I was a horrible parent' Mama said and then she started crying. ‘She's crazy Mama' I said. ‘I know my angel' she said ‘but it's the way she says it that counts she knows how to say it' Mama said. ‘You're the best parents you and Daddy' I said. It's true even if they're goofy they're my parents and I'd die before I lived with Chrissie. Mama gave me a big hug. ‘Oh sweetie thank you so much you're such an angel you and Boob both' Mama said. ‘It's just a lapse on my part sweetie forgive me.' ‘There's nothing to forgive' I said. ‘What else did Chrissie say?' ‘Oh that was the worst of it sweetie she said San Francisco is burning down nightly what with the riots but who knows if she's hallucinating or not it's altogether possible' Mama said.

I know I'll sound like I'm boasting Anne but I can't help it I'm glad I was able to make Mama feel better. Chrissie is such a psycho I can't believe she's in the same family as we are but I guess it's true. Anyway after crisis intervention this morning I stayed in most of the afternoon trying to read
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
but I can't get the drift. It's so hot and we have to keep the windows open and it's so noisy with kids yelling in the street and the subway going by all the time. I know I'm driving you crazy with all this complaining but I can't help it. The book's even more boring than
Silas Marner
and a whole lot more annoying because Tess is such a wimp so far. I knew Angel would act like he did right from the start he's such a loser. She should have just gone somewhere off by herself where no one knew her and start over again I think but I guess it would have been hard. Even so I think it serves her right whatever happens. Daddy says he doesn't believe Hardy should even be taught until graduate school but I'd probably feel the same way if I waited to read it then.

Late this afternoon I went outside to look for Iz. I wished I'd gotten her phone number or I'd given her mine. Hot again today so everybody was hanging outside. People in New York look so ugly when it's summer out guys run around without their shirts and old fat ladies wear the worst clothes. At least those awful boys weren't around they must have been somewhere being cool. I thought I'd walk toward her building and see if I saw her or Jude and Weezie. When I got to 125th Street I was all set to cross the street when suddenly I saw something amazing.

There were about ten dozen Army trucks and humvees and cars coming down 125th Street from the east. They turned onto Broadway and headed north to where the riots were. It looked like an invasion Anne I've never seen anything like it. I don't know if there was anything on TV tonight about it but there hasn't been before now. Everybody was stopping to look at them drive along watching to see where they were going. Some boys were cursing at them and saying traitor traitor whenever they saw black soldiers. I watched with everybody else and after I saw they were going to keep coming I went ahead and crossed the street into Harlem.

I didn't want to go too far into Harlem by myself but figured it would be safe enough if I went as far as Iz's building. Nobody paid any attention to me because they were too busy watching the Army go by. As it turned out Anne as I was walking up guess who I saw walking down? Iz and Jude and Weezie and another girl who looked younger than me. Even from a block away I saw how pregnant she was. It threw me because it was like seeing Boob really pregnant and not just with her My L'il Fetus strapped on.

Iz waved when they saw me. ‘Girl you crazy what are you doing up here?' Iz asked. ‘I wanted to see if I could find you' I said. ‘You found.' ‘What's going on?' I asked. ‘Invasion' Weezie said. ‘Greenasses comin to slam us sinful Harlemites' Jude said looking out at me from beneath her
baseball cap. ‘Are the riots worse?' I asked. I looked north but I didn't see as much smoke as there usually is over Long Island lately. ‘No they just want to stick in the fear and twist it' said Jude. ‘Curfew tonight at seven up here' Weezie said. ‘You're going to stay in?' ‘We better' said Iz. ‘Wait see how often and where and who they be shootin' Weezie said. ‘What are you doing now?' I asked. ‘Running Esther to Mickey's feed her' Jude said. ‘Esther say hello to Lola' said Iz. Esther wasn't as young as I thought but I'm sure she's not any older than me Anne. She was wearing baggy gym shorts and a big shirt but she still looked like she swallowed a basketball. She's as dark as Iz and has a little baby face except for a scar on one cheek. ‘We on fetus patrol for Esther make sure it pop out all right' Iz said. ‘Come with us.'

Weezie looked mad but didn't say anything so I couldn't tell if she was mad because I was coming along or not. I think she doesn't like me as much as Iz and Jude seem to. Ever since Iz told me about how she almost cut me with her knife I haven't trusted her. She didn't do anything today though. We walked down to McDonald's and went in. They got Big Macs for themselves and two fish sandwiches for Esther because she doesn't eat meat. I had enough money for french fries and a Coke. We sat at a table at the window so we could look out. The Army finished going by we thought and then it was nothing but traffic in the street for a while. Then some bigger Army trucks came along and hundreds of soldiers marching.

‘Look PCs' Jude said. ‘What?' I asked. ‘Personnel carriers. Heavyduty action' she said. ‘Lola you ought not be struttin solo up where we are' Iz said. ‘Gangstaboys catch you drag you inside a wreck and poke you full of holes.' ‘I'd run and scream like I would have done last week' I said. Weezie laughed but Jude watched me while I was talking like she was really interested in what I had to say. ‘And like they'da raped you last week we hadn't come along. Scream all you like girl, better do more than scream' Weezie said.

‘If I'd had your telephone number I'd have called first but I didn't' I said. Iz wrote down a number on a napkin. Esther still looked hungry so I gave her the rest of my french fries and she ate them up. ‘That's my house you just call and I come meet you' Iz said. I borrowed her pen and wrote down mine for her. ‘You don't habla Spanol, no use me giving you mine' Weezie said. ‘I ain't phoneable where I bed' Jude said and I gave her my number too. ‘Esther darlin your tummy still hollering?' Iz asked. ‘Sure is' Esther said. ‘Get some exercise Weez get up and get more food for this girl' Jude said. Weezie leaned over to pick up her bag from the floor. She was wearing a tank top that was too big. I saw she wasn't wearing a bra even though she should.

‘When you rise and shine?' Jude asked me once Weezie went to the counter. ‘On weekends not till ten usually' I said. ‘Phone her noontime tomorrow Iz' Jude said. ‘No good Jude Meemaw's bedding with us this week so it's churching for me' Iz said. ‘Then less the Army smart bombs me tonight I call you tomorrow noon we hang together some. Cool?' Jude asked. ‘Sure.' It made me feel important somehow that Jude was inviting me to come out. Important's not the right word but you know what I mean. ‘Preacher gets drymouth by two' Iz said. ‘Once we done holy rolling I run home change and fastfoot it over.' Jude nodded.

Weezie came back with another fish sandwich for Esther and a bag of french fries. ‘Take some she eat all yours' she told me. I didn't feel right taking them from Esther because she seemed so hungry and pregnant besides but the way Weezie said it I thought I better have a couple. Then Weezie and Esther and Iz talked about boys they knew at school and the stupid things they'd done. I didn't pay much attention and I don't think Jude did either. She was looking out the window for a while at the people going by and I started looking too. After a minute or so I saw she was looking at me and I smiled. She smiled too. Jude's lost her
top teeth on both sides but the ones she has in front are as big and white as Iz's. It made me feel good when she smiled at me, Anne. Right now's the first time I've been thinking about those stupid girls at school and that's only because they seem even stupider in comparison to Jude and Iz. It was six thirty when we finished eating. The Army went wherever they were going. ‘I call you' Jude said and then the girls walked back uptown.

I went back home to watch the news to see what they said about the Army coming to town. Mama hadn't been watching so she hadn't heard anything. ‘You said there were many many soldiers my angel and they were all marching north?' Mama asked. ‘Thousands I'd say that's what it looked like' I said. ‘Sweetie that's so unnerving what are they going to do do you think?' ‘I don't know that's why I asked if you watched the news' I said. The local news had gone off so we switched the TV over to CNN. The style show was on though so they didn't say anything till seven when it was time for the national news. ‘Chrissie's right' Mama kept saying and shaking her head. ‘No she's not' I said because I knew how much Chrissie had upset her this morning. ‘She is my angel she'd be sitting there all smug and happy like a fat frog if she were here saying look see I'm right as always' Mama said. ‘She's not though and she's not right either' I said. ‘I'm afraid she is my angel oh she is' Mama said so I didn't say anything else. Boob just watched TV looking really scared. I put my arm around her and she was shivering again, she shivers all the time now.

The national news came on and they talked about the emergency situation. They said the National Guard was being federalized. They said everything was so bad that the government was taking steps to make sure nothing like what was happening in Long Island happened anywhere else. They said the President would be on TV tonight and he was an hour later. We watched a nature show until then. When the President came on we watched him. I don't know what he was doped up on tonight Anne but it was
something intense. He had glassy eyes like Mama gets and he looked like he didn't even want to be there. He was sitting in an armchair next to a fireplace like we had in our living room. He said that Operation Domestic Storm would calm everything down in no time and that there was no need to worry about the economy. He said the nation was poised for recovery like he always said. He also said on the advice of advisors mobs of animals in the cities would be shown no mercy. ‘Does he mean us?' I asked Mama. ‘No sweetie he means everybody else' Mama said.

We watched some more but he didn't say anything else but how great America was. ‘How will they tell the difference between us and everybody else?' I asked but Mama didn't say anything like the answer should be obvious. Boob sat between us rocking back and forth and holding her doll. Daddy came home right after that just like it was a normal day, he said everything was like it always was at the store. He didn't say anything else. The store takes all the talk out of him.

That's all tonight.

APRIL
19

What a fun day today was Anne. Let me tell you what happened. At noon Jude called! She told me to wear old clothes and come out and meet her at 125th in McDonald's parking lot. I put on an old shirt of Daddy's and a pair of jeans torn out in the knees and went out. Mama was sitting in the kitchen watching the news. I asked her if anything happened but it hadn't.

Jude was there when I got there leaning against a truck. She was wearing really expensive running shoes and had her hair pulled back tight from her face. She has the best cheekbones you've ever seen. ‘Let's go my house' she said and we started walking up Broadway. ‘What happened last night?' I asked. ‘What's meant?' Jude asked. ‘With the Army what did they do?' ‘Posed. Stancing flatfoot on street
corners holding they guns like to beat off' Jude said. ‘They shoot anybody?' ‘Nobody worth mentionin' Jude said. ‘Where are they now?' I asked not seeing any. ‘All over further up. Not down here. In the Pit neither.' ‘Iz told me about the Pit' I said. ‘Just like blueboys they ain't trucking with Pit Bulls yet less they get a mighty cut. Ever want to clear the Pit they gonna have to napalm' Jude said. ‘What's everybody doing?' I asked. ‘Keeping shutmouthed and walking light till they figure the agenda' Jude said. ‘Have they stopped rioting?' I asked. Jude pointed to a black cloud in the sky ahead. ‘Long as there's going they went. Spilling down too. Check this out' she said.

Two blocks up at 140th the Army had blockades in the street. They parked their trucks crossways with only one lane open on each side to let cars and buses through. There were about twenty soldiers with their guns standing there checking everybody driving in or out. The stores and restaurants that were still in business were all closed with the gates pulled down. Broken glass was all over the street and a burned out car was in the center median of Broadway. Some of the stores had their gates pulled off and the windows smashed. A liquor store at the corner was completely trashed and on fire.