Read Online Because We Are by Mildred Pitts; Walter - Free Book Online Page B

at home. Mama wants to surprise me. A sob escaped her throat. She knew better. Suddenly she realized she could not face those girls. She found the telephone. “Mama, I want to come home. Yes. Now, please, come.”

Nine
    By the time her mother got her home, Emma felt she had cried herself dry, but she shook as if she had been seized by a fit of shivering. Her mother helped her through a warm bath, insisting all the while on trying to soothe her with the thought that it was a mistake. She would straighten it out.
    Finally, in bed with a hot water bottle at her feet, Emma sipped warm milk. Her mother sat on her bed in silence until the milk was finished, then left the room. Emma slept fitfully, her sleep disturbed with unpleasant dreams that woke her frequently. One that she forgot immediately upon waking left her frightened.
    She sat up in bed and realized it was one o’clock in the afternoon. The quiet in the house drove her from her bed in search of her mother. In the hallway, voices filtered through to her from the kitchen.
    â€œYou know, you sound as if you’re happy that she’s rejected,” her mother said. “What’s with you, Larry? Are you ashamed of Emma, or is it that you don’t expect much from her?”
    â€œDon’t go putting what you feel off on me. I’m merely being realistic. Blacks who have class are no different from any other people with class—thank God for that—and anybody wanting to be considered by those with class have to measure up,” her father said.
    â€œAnd you think your daughter doesn’t measure up because she was railroaded out of Marlborough?”
    Emma became rigid at the asking of that question. Did her mother really feel that Ms. Simmons had lied and had never admitted it before? She wanted to rush in and interrupt the conversation, but she didn’t want them to know she was eavesdropping. She turned to go to her room, but stopped when her father answered, “Let’s not be dishonest. Emma was not without guilt. We had both noticed the chip on her shoulder.…”
    â€œIs that reason enough to be transferred? I made the mistake to let them force me to confront them without Emma. I never had their word and Emma’s at the same time. And, of course, you were no help at all. I’m just tired of fighting battles alone.”
    â€œIsn’t it possible she cursed? Here lately she’s been acting like a lot of Blacks who think all authority is racist.”
    How could he take the side of Ms. Simmons? Emma thought as her anger flared.
    â€œI can remember in the sixties when you were afire with Blackness and knew most authority is racist, and I know who cooled your fire; but that is not the issue. The real issue is: We didn’t go to bat for Emma and left her out on a limb. If I had thought for one moment our so-called friends would cut her off, I’d never given in that easily.” Her mother’s anger showed.
    â€œWhy are you so surprised, Janet? Has there been a Manning girl a Golden Slipper debutante, ever?”
    â€œEmma is not ‘a Manning girl,’ and you know it.”
    â€œShe’s there. Let’s face it.”
    â€œListen, Larry, those people are your friends, more so than mine. Will you talk to them? Rules can be broken.”
    â€œI don’t know what good it will do. Whether Emma is a good girl, or bad, Manning girls are not considered Golden Slipper material. That’s that.”
    â€œAre you saying you won’t ask? I think it’s just a mistake.”
    â€œI’m not saying I will and I’m not saying I won’t; I’m just stating a fact.”
    â€œLarry, we don’t ask much of you. I don’t ask anything for myself, but I’m begging you now. Do this for Emma.”
    Emma heard the tears in her mother’s voice, and forgetting she was eavesdropping, rushed into the kitchen and put her arms around her mother. “Mama,