Color Me Black

Chapter Fourty Eight

Clara Mae's Point Of View

Today was my birthday.

Yet here I was all alone, and shut up in my room.

Daddy was out doin' nasty thangs at that whorehouse.

I almost wish that I woulda neva' overheard him an momma talkin' that mornin' about Daddy sneakin' around wit them whores.

In my eyes my daddy was perfect.

Before I knew what he was doin'.

Had been doin' fo' awhile now.

Now, I couldn't even stand to look at him.

Momma was laid up in bed, too sick to even thank straight.

Well, that's what she claimed.

But I really don't thank a person that's sick would be drankin' wine the way she was.

Momma was drankin' it like it was water.

Lina was supposed to be out wit her friend Polly.

But I knew betta'.

I thank she really hangin' out somewhere wit some boy.

The way she been actin' lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she ain't already let one of them nasty little niggers into her drawers.

I wasn't exactly sho' about my suspicions, but I was most definitely gonna keep my eye on her.

Since momma ain't care nothin' bout her, I felt like it was my place to correct her when she need it.

Maybeline had been out all day wit her man Lionel Grant.

I couldn't stand him, cuz I knew sooner than later he was gonna snatch her up and marry her.

Charles Junior was already gone.

The last thang I needed was fo' Maybeline to leave me too.

I still cain't figure out what she see in Lionel.

He ain't nothin' but a big black jigaboo.

A po' one at that.

What gal in they right mind would wanna marry a sharecropper?

Maybeline had plumb lost her mind, an I knew momma was the only one who could set her straight.

I sit up on my bed, and place my chin in the palms of my hands.

All I wanted was fo' somebody to acknowledge my birthday today.

I could care less if it was the devil himself.

The sweet potato pie that my Aintee Vera had made fo' me was long gone.

I had shared a slice with daddy, and ate the rest of the pie by myself.