Read Online Corregidora (Bluestreak) by Gayl Jones - Free Book Online Page B

stuffed it in her mouth, and then they hanged her. They let him bleed to death. They made her watch and then they hanged her.”
    I got out of my wedding suit and was sitting on the couch/bed in my slip when Tadpole came in.
    “Y’all women sho act funny at wedding time,” he said. He was excited with drink. He sat down and held me around the waist and kissed me. I’d been sitting stiffly but relaxed and returned the kiss. He squeezed my breasts.
    “That hurt?”
    “Naw.”
    “It hurts some women.”
    “It doesn’t hurt me,” I said.
    I sat there, letting him hold me around the waist. I was saying nothing.
    “I told Thedo to stay on the rest of the day. I thought maybe you might wont to drive down to Midway or over to Versailles or something.”
    “Naw.”
    “Aw, that’s right, you said you was tired. You been taking those iron pills the doctor give you?”
    “Yeah. I’m all right now though. I just felt a little tired. But I’m all right.”
    “You want to do anything? I’ll take you somewhere else for dinner tonight. Maybe over to the Spider or something.”
    “I thought I’d be singing the supper show tonight.”
    “I won’t have you working on your wedding day.”
    “You won’t start that too, will you?”
    “Start what?”
    “Nothing. It’s not the working. I’d like to sing for you.”
    “Sing for me here,” he said. He unbuckled his pants and lay down on the bed. I sang for him, then we made love.

 
    II
    Sal Cooper and I had never been friends. She worked during the day and would leave during the supper show, so that we weren’t there more than two hours together. But even during that time she’d always managed to avoid me. I tried to be friendly at first, but she didn’t act friendly back, and I’ve always been the kind of person that when I see somebody don’t want to be bothered with me, I don’t be bothered with them. So it surprised me when she came over and said something to me. And when people started changing in their feelings toward me, I wasn’t one to begrudge them. I didn’t even suspect why she was being nice then , though now, when I think back on it and what she told me then, I think I know why. I’d married Tadpole, and Tadpole was dark like she was.
    “How was the ceremony?” she asked, sitting down. She hadn’t said anything when we came back from the wedding. She waited a couple of days before she said anything.
    “It was nice,” I said. I smiled.
    She didn’t return the smile but she had a pleasant look on her face. It was two o’clock in the afternoon, the time of day when there’s not much business, and she was taking her break. I’d come downstairs because it was so hot upstairs, and I was tired of staying up there. We just sat there saying nothing. She was having a Coke. I had a beer.
    “You know every since I first laid eyes on you I thought you was one of my long-lost relatives. I can’t help it, I just kept feeling that you kin to me. You know, I’m a spiritualist. I believe in things like that.”
    I kept looking at her. I didn’t know what she was talking about.
    “I reckon you think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
    “No,” I said, but I wasn’t sure what I thought.
    She sat silent a moment. I didn’t say anything either.
    Then she explained, “My mother came out the darkest, and so they wouldn’t claim her. I don’t know who they are. I don’t even know what they look like. Mama probably wouldn’t even know them now. She think they up in New York somewhere now though, passing. I don’t know, but when I first saw you, I had that feeling.”
    “I couldn’t pass,” I said. I had to say something. I felt resentful, and a little angry because she was saying those things to me.
    “I don’t mean passing white. I mean passing for Spanish or something, you know. Like Cole Bean getting in the front door down at the Strand that time.”
    I started to say I didn’t know, but I nodded.
    “Come over here, baby.”
    I went over to the