Read Online Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange - Free Book Online Page B

Bets . . . Elizabeth, Charlie’s cousin. He stays with us here. Oh, but I guess you know that awready.”
    Betsey didn’t know what to do. If she climbed down the tree, they’d think she was a tomboy. If she went through her window, she’d lose sight of Eugene. If she stayed where she was, they might knock her out of the tree. Not on purpose, but every shot is not a perfect one, not even for the likes of Eugene Boyd. Betsey sat up where she was, pulling her skirt over her knees to hide the scratch marks and to seem more grown, she thought. At least she wouldn’t be up in the tree with her skirt hung up all round her waist like she was ten, or she didn’t know thatboys liked to look up girls’ dresses, big boys too. She knew that cause Charlie talked a lot, but Charlie had disappeared to the back where the real basketball net was justa yearning for him.
    â€œCome on, Gene, let’s play ball.” Charlie’s voice floated round the edge of the house.
    Eugene just kept looking at Betsey up on her perch with her hands over her knees and cheeks blushing like strawberries.
    â€œYou always stay up there?”
    â€œNo, I’m not always up here. I come up here to think is all.”
    Betsey didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t want Eugene Boyd to think she was weird. Then, on the other hand, she didn’t think it was weird to stay in her tree, comforted and free as she was when boys weren’t throwing balls over her head.
    â€œWhat you thinkin bout up there? Your boyfriend?”
    â€œNo, oh, I always think about him when I’m alone. He’s so handsome and very tall, but he’s not from round here. He’s from somewhere else.”
    â€œWhere? Sumner? Beaumont? I wanna know cause if he’s not as good looking as me, or a center forward like me, or nearby, I’d like to be considered, or rather, I’d like to come and visit with you sometime. Unless he’s always on your mind.”
    Betsey perked up. She looked all over the tree for some advice, some indication of what to do next. What should she say? How should she move? Where were her pretty dresses? Wasn’t she supposed to have on a glorious dress at a moment like this? Eugene Boyd was at the foot of her tree. This was important.
    â€œCould you wait just one minute? I’ll be right down. I’d like to talk to you a little bit longer, if you don’t mind. My boyfriend lives far away from here, don’t worry about him, okay?”
    Betsey somehow finessed her way to the balcony, looking like a trapeze artist. Once she reached it she jumped throughher window, onto her bed, about to scream with joy and surprise. Eugene. Eugene Boyd was downstairs. In minutes she’d oiled her legs, twisted her ponytail, washed her face, and put on her Sunday-school dress with the polka dots and the ribbon that tied just beneath her almost breasts. With a giant sigh and a smile right behind it, she took the front stairs very slowly, step by step, as if she were in a wedding procession. Then she forgot herself and skipped every other step, reaching the front door in a very unladylike sweat.
    â€œHi, here I am.”
    Betsey waved to Eugene, who was still over by the side of the house looking up at her tree. The two of them were one big smile trying to cover itself up. Charlie’d left Eugene with the ball and gone off on his bike to razz the white girls, but Eugene had found his adventure right on Charlie’s front porch.
    â€œWhat’d you say your boyfriend’s name was?”
    â€œOh, it doesn’t matter, believe me. I watched you play the other day. You’re so good.” Betsey scooped up her skirt and sat on the stoop, while Eugene dribbled and bounced and dunked and turned this way and that, doing his best to impress her and get close to her. He dribbled the ball up and down the steps, asking her questions, like how old she was and did she like to