CHAPTER TWO
Cissy thought she and Woodrow had "words" before about Benjamin, it wouldn't compare to his reaction when she got home.
She knew there would be questions, but she already had an explanation for everything.
"Remember Benny, just keep quiet and let Mama do the talking," she said, as the Cadillac cruised through the tepid summer air.
The child looked out the window, towards an area of town he was more familiar with.
"You're my cousin's child," she told him. "She always was a little
trashy. I'm just trying to do my Christian duty by taking care of you
while she's in prison."
Javar nodded slowly.
He couldn't understand much of what she said. He knew it was something about being his cousin.
Maybe it would be ok after all.
He didn't want to get a whipping when he got home, but if this white
lady was his cousin, maybe his real mama's boyfriend wouldn't hit him
so hard.
Javar couldn't say so, but that's why he ran away in the first place.
The man in the house was always beating him over something.
This time Javar had spilled his milk.
The man started swatting and Javar started running.
He just kept running until he got to the highway near his house, then he turned left and kept on going.
Now he was with his white cousin, who kept calling him by a different name.
The big car pulled into the driveway of a nice house, in the white section of town.
A stocky man was scowling, and the car seemed to slow down a little more as it got closer to home.
"Cissy, I don't know where the hell you got him, but you take that child home," Woodrow screamed as the car pulled to a halt.
"Of all the hair-brained, dumb-ass things you have ever done, this has got to the worst."
"Why Woodrow, this is Benjamin," Cissy said. "You know, my cousin's
child. She decided she didn't want him. She's in prison. We had to take
him in, you know. It's our Christian duty."
Woodrow looked as if he was about to explode.
"What cousin? You never told me about a cousin like that, Cissy. Are
you crazy? Take him the hell home. Let someone else feed him. We can't
keep somebody's else kid. What will people say? He's not even the same
color as we are. Good Lord woman, I can't take my eyes off you a second you don't come up with something else stupid."
"Woodrow," Cissy said, speaking more loudly to him than she had ever spoken in her life.
"This is our child now. You will not treat me like that in front of our
son. Do you understand? You will not curse in front of Benjamin or I
will tell everyone in this town what a little man you actually are. Do
you understand. Your satan-loving ways have got to stop. Or I'm going
to tell all about it. And when I say 'tell it,' you know what I mean."
Woodrow was so surprised, he clamped his mouth shut.
He had never witnessed Cissy take a stand before, especially not against him.
"Come on now, Honey," Woodrow said. "I didn't mean it that a way. I was
just asking you a question. What does he eat and all. We never had a
youngun' around here before. Especially not one that's uh, not quite
like us. Why is he so dark. What was your cousin into, exactly?"
"Well," Cissy said, lighting a cigarette. "She obviously didn't have
the best upbringin' in the in the world, or she wouldn't have had, uh,
a child like this. I think she liked Italian men. Who knows why? We
didn't grow up in the same house. But Jesus said, welcome the little
children, Woodrow. Well, Benjamin is our child. The Lord said welcome
him, and that's what I did. Now you just shut up. Do you hear me? Not a
word about this to anyone. This is strictly a family thing, Woodrow.
And we know about keeping family secrets, don't we."
