When Everything's Said & Done (3 page)

“Yeah, I’ve been fighting.” Cora heaved a sigh. She looked at the new poultice. “You’re going to tell me I’m wrong?”

“No. I’m not going to tell you that.”

“No?” Cora was surprised. With a spring in her step she went over to the cabinet where Nebia kept her oils.

“There is no wrong, the way I see it,” Nebia contin
ued. “But there are choices, and all choices have consequences. You may have been fighting for something you thought was right, but whatever choices you make, make sure you are prepared for the consequences. In this case that means the scratch on your face, and hiding out from your mama until the redness is out of it so she won’t know that you’ve been fighting. But remember, Cora, as you get older the choices will become more serious and so will the consequences,” Nebia warned.

Cora spent the rest of the afternoon helping Nebia grind herbs into powders, and bundling up small bou
quets of dried lavender, sage, and peppermint. With Laura’s permission, they enjoyed a companionable meal, and Cora did the dishes.

“Nebia, why do you always say there is no wrong when the whole world knows things like smoking and drinking and having sex when you’re not married are wrong?” Cora asked as she folded up the drying towel.

“I guess I look at things a little differently from most folks. I think there’s a danger in believing that God, or the forces of God, are only one way. God is in everything because He created everything. If God doesn’t know about it, then who does?”

“The devil.”

“But you see, I believe Satan, if you believe in him, is a tool of God’s. How would you know what light is

without the dark, and how would you know what beauty is without
ugliness? You need them both, Cora. And if God is the creator. He created all of it. And how could God create anything wrong?”

Cora nodded, but her brow furrowed as she thought about Nebia’s words.

“It’s all about choices, Cora. God has laid out a plan, but it looks like a maze to us. All of us aren’t gon’ make the best choices for our highest good every time, but there’s always another chance. We’re done when we finally make the choices that bring us true happiness, and that prove to us how much we are like our creator, like God.”

“Is that why we’re here?” Cora hung up the drying towel.

“I believe that’s the reason. Some of us go about it with more passion than others, but it doesn’t make them better or worse. We are all equal in God’s eyes.”

Cora nodded again. “Thanks for dinner and for the aloe.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Good night.” Cora said as she opened the door.

“’Night, Cora.”

Cora stepped onto the back porch and looked up at the moon. She stood there for some time wondering about the things Nebia had said.

“Hey, Cora,” a voice called. “I heard you whipped up on that Mason girl pretty good today.”

Cora looked over into the empty lot next door and saw Warren coming home through a path lined with weeds.

“Be quiet, boy. My mama or your mama might hear you.” She walked down the stairs. “And you know if Lucille finds out she’s going to tell Laura.”

“Boy? Who you calling boy?”

“I don’t see nobody out here who would fit that description besides you.”

“I got your boy, all right.” He sat down on the step beside her feet. “I’m going into boot camp in two months. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “No you’re not, Warren,” Cora looked down at the curly head she had known for so long.

“Yes, I am. It’s all settled.”

“I don’t know why I’m so shocked. I never thought you would join the service.”

“What did you think I was going to do? I’m not exactly your best student. And my mama don’t have no money for me to go to college.”

“I don’t know what I thought,” Cora replied quietly, sitting down beside him. “Things are really changing. Brenda graduates this summer. She’ll be eighteen next month. And in the fall she goes off to Florida A&M. I never thought about a time when Annette, Brenda and me wouldn’t be together. ”

“Well, what do you plan to do when you graduate next year?” Warren asked.

Cora looked at the sky. “I’ve got so many things I
want to do. I want to see other people and places. I want to paint. Perhaps, I’ll even open up my own flower shop one day.”

“You’re not going to college like Brenda?” Warren watched a firefly land on the stair rail.

“No.” Cora rubbed her thigh. “Brenda got a scholarship. Besides, she already knows what she wants to be.” “What’s that?” Warren asked.

“A sociologist.”

“That sounds like Brenda.”

They turned quiet.

“Why don’t you join the WAC, Cora? That way you’ll get to travel and learn some skills to support yourself.” “I don’t think so.” Cora squinted. “The army is not for me. Now, think about it. Can you see me in one of those uniforms? All crisp and neat and obeying all those rules?” She threw her head back and laughed.

Warren looked at her, but turned away before Cora saw the admiration in his eyes. “I think you’d look good in a uniform.” He made the words sound casual. “You do?” She scrunched up her nose.

Warren nodded and kicked a candy wrapper near his foot.

“Well, you’re about the only one,” Cora replied. “Nope. I can’t wear nobody’s uniform. I’ve got to be free to wear whatever I please, whenever it pleases me.” She wriggled her shoulders suggestively.

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“You know. Act like that.”

“Like what, Warren? Like those girls I see you mess
ing around with after school? You seem to like it when they do it.”

“Well, that’s different. They’re not you.” He paused. “You’re special.”

“I am?” Cora looked at him.

“Yeah. You are.”

“And how’s that?”

“You don’t have to do the things that girls con
sciously do to get a guy’s attention. Just the way you are naturally gets his attention.”

“Is that right?” Cora smiled.

“Yeah, it’s right.” Warren leaned forward. “And you know it, too.”

“No, I don’t.” Cora sighed. “You know, it’s so con
fusing. Some days I want to be like Sheila Frazier or some of those other sexy women I see in the movies. Then on other days I feel like I felt today, full of hell and wanting to take it out on folks who like dishing it out but can’t really take it.”

“I think everybody feels like that sometimes,” War
ren said.

“Everybody except for Annette.” Cora laughed, then she sighed again. “We’ve had some good times around here, haven’t we?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“It was always you and me playing tricks on Brenda and Annette. It’s funny how things that made them crazy didn’t bother me a bit.”

“Yeah. You were a good partner, Cora. I’m going to miss you.”

Cora patted her thighs and eased up off the steps. “I’m going to miss you, too, Warren. For the first time I realize I’m going to miss a lot of things around here.”

Nebia’s Story...

Nebia coughed. “Cora’s thoughts and desires were like an underground stream, powerful enough to cut their way but still needing a place to surface.”

“What d’ya mean. Miss Nebia?” Sheila asked.

“She had so much going on inside her, things that a lot of young people don’t give a second thought to. Cora didn’t want to think about them but they were there vying for her attention. She couldn’t see that War
ren cared for her in a special way. And even if she had seen it, it wouldn’t have mattered because she was on a journey of self-discovery that wouldn’t allow anybody in besides her family or me.”

“So did Warren go off to boot camp?” Cynthia had to know.

“Yes, he did. And Brenda went to college and got a degree in sociology, and Cora went her own way traveling and living in different cities, making a living off of her paintings and flowers. She would take an odd job here and there if it suited her. But basically she lived as she wanted. Somehow she managed to do that even if it meant staying with a man that took her fancy, or living in one of those communes that were still plentiful back in the seventies.”

“You mean Cora would live with a man just so that she could have a place to sleep?” Erica asked with dis
approval.

“No-o...” Nebia drew the sound out long and deep. “She had to fancy him. Cora had to want him as bad as he wanted her, but for Cora there always came a time when enough was enough, and she would leave.”

“So she would live with him, have sex with him, then leave whenever she got ready?”

“That’s about it.”

“M-mmm. I don’t know about that,” Erica said. “She sounds like a mighty loose woman to me.”

“Well, those were the choices that Cora made. And she seemed to be happy. But things changed when Michael Dawson moved into this building and started living in the efficiency upstairs.”

“Is that the man that messed up everything?” Cynthia asked.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Nebia replied. “It was cer
tainly not his intention. But life has a strange way of unfolding at times. It might have been simpler if Michael had never come to this area when he was looking for a job. Or maybe if he and Brenda had gotten together the first time she saw him at the college party and liked what she saw. You see, Michael attended Florida A&M when Brenda was there. But it just didn’t happen that way.”

CHAPTER 4

“Nobody’s gonna come. I don’t have nothing but old folks and little kids in the backyard,” Annette complained as she and Brenda stood on the sidewalk in front of their house.

She glanced back at the Robinson’s backyard that looked like a carnival with large colorful Christmas lights strung from tree to tree and balloons dangling everywhere. An extension cord ran out of Nebia’s kitchen window to power the record player that sat on a card table in the middle of stacks and stacks of forty- fives. The frappe was still fresh with lumps of orange sherbet floating in a sea of ginger ale. There were cook
ies and cake and fried chicken piled high on a platter beside a dish of deviled eggs. And there were gifts, for what would a graduation party be without them?

“What are you talking about?” Brenda asked. “There are plenty of young people back there.”

“Yeah, I know.” Annette sighed. “But not the right people.”

“You’re thinking about that guy Michael that lives upstairs again.”

“Yes, I am. He said his trip would only take a couple of days, and he promised if he didn’t make it back in time for the graduation ceremony that he would definitely make it to my party. ”

“He still can, Annette. It’s early,” Brenda reassured her. “Listen.” She stopped and cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that—It is! That’s ‘Til I Reach The High
est Ground,’ your favorite. Let’s go back there and join everybody else.”

They turned toward the house but the beam of car headlights turning onto their street stopped them. It was a string-bean green Nova, and it came to a halt right at the end of their sidewalk.

“Who’s that?” Annette asked.

“How am I suppose to know?
I haven’t been back in St. Pete but a couple of days. You don’t know anybody with a green Nova?”

“Uh-uh,” Annette replied.

They watched as the car sat silent; then the door opened on the passenger’s side. A young man with a psychedelic shirt bent his head and climbed out.

“Who is it?” Brenda strained to see through the trees and the dark, but Annette was way ahead of her.

“Michael!” Annette nearly screamed. She ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck, then she took them down quickly and folded them in front of her.

“You made it back.”

“I told you I would.” He smiled at her and touched her cheek.

Annette stepped back and looked at the Nova. “But whose car is this?”

“It’s mine.”

“Yours? You left here on the bus.”

“Yep. But when I was in Memphis I went to a police auction. I was able to buy this and drive it off the lot for two hundred and fifteen dollars. And there’s only one thing that I know that’s wrong with it. You can’t open the driver’s door from the inside.”

“This is unreal.” Annette covered her mouth and started laughing. Then she looked at Michael and smiled. “Well, come on. The party is in the backyard and it’s going great.” She grabbed his arm and began to pull him toward the house. “Oh, Brenda,” Annette said when she saw her sister standing there. “This is Michael.”

“Hello.” Michael smiled.

Brenda’s mouth opened but no sound came out. Fi
nally, “hey” emerged. “Forgive me for staring but... didn’t you attend Florida A&M?”

“Yeah.” Recognition dawned in Michael’s voice. “I remember you. I’ve seen you on campus.”

“I thought so.” An uncomfortable look surfaced and faded in Brenda’s eyes.

Michael continued. “We hung out in different groups, but I remember one day there was this big dis
cussion about black folks not owning any business in Florida. You piped up and said your family owned an apartment building here in St. Petersburg. I remembered that when I got a job here.”