The House of Eve (50)

“Hot damn.” Nene clapped her hands together. Ernie Banks of the Kansas City Monarchs hit a home run with the bases loaded.

The window was propped open with an old two-by-four, and a steady breeze caressed my skin. Dipping my finger in the hair grease, my mind wandered over to Shimmy.

An entire week had passed without a word from him. I knew he was dealing with his father, but I was dealing with the egg, and as each day passed it became harder for me to make believe that things would be okay. Aunt Marie still hadn’t heard from the contact in Delaware, and thank goodness she hadn’t brought home any more homemade remedies for me to try.

“How’s that scholarship program working out?” Nene’s raspy voice brought me back into the room.

“Pretty good. I should know something in a few months.”

“That a girl. Be the first in our family to go to college. You make me so proud.”

Guilt made my shoulders stiffen. “I ain’t get it yet.”

“But you on your way.” She twirled a corner of the quilt with two fingers. “Last night I dreamt that I could see again and all the pain from my body, gone. Hallelujah! I was standing at the stove frying us up a fat piece of shad. Just a crackling and popping in the skillet.”

“Nene, you the only one like that bony fish.”

“Maybe,” she said, and I could tell by the way her head got heavy in my hands that she liked the way I moved my fingers through her hair. We were quiet for a while. Nene and I could always be together in silence.

She sat herself up straight. “You know what they say when you dreamin’ ’bout fish, don’t you?”

It took my full concentration so that my fingers didn’t stutter step.

Nene left her comment hanging in the air. I looked out the window at the pigeons pecking at the trash on the street.

“You can always tell me anything,” she said softly.

My insides fluttered in response, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell Nene the very thing that would crush her. She had already been down this road with Inez. I couldn’t break her heart, too.

“Naw, Nene, nothing I know good. Except your hair is growing like weeds.” And then I got working on the plaits at the nape of her neck.



* * *



When I pushed the door open to Aunt Marie’s apartment, three dimes wrapped in numbered paper were on the floor, which meant her money man was out and she was back in business. Maybe now she wouldn’t have to work so many shifts at Kiki’s. I bent down and placed them in the jar next to the telephone, just as it began to ring.

It was Shimmy. “Meet me in the alley in ten minutes.”

“Where you been?”

“Long story but I have a solution. Be there soon.” He hung up the telephone.

I couldn’t imagine what he’d come up with, but I was excited to see him. I changed into a clean blouse, and then stood in the bathroom mirror pinning my hair with the ruby comb he had given me on the day we broke up. Aunt Marie had fished it out of the trash those many months ago, and I now wore it all the time.

True to his word, Shimmy was in the alley waiting for me. He drove us to the back entrance of the candy store. After he kissed my hand, he led me inside. A single candle burned on our makeshift table in the storage room.

“What’s all this?” I asked.

Shimmy reached into his pocket, and before my very eyes got down on one knee.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, as he held up a bow band gold ring.

“Marry me, Ruby.”

I laughed, then covered my face with my hands. “Stop being foolish.”

“This isn’t a joke. I’ve thought about it long and hard and I’m serious.” He held the ring up to me and I pulled him up off the floor.

“Have you lost your cotton-picking mind? I’m still in high school and your family will disown you.”

“Let them.” His face was dead serious.

“Shimmy.”

“You love me. I love you. We are having a baby. It’s what people do.”

He was right, but not people like us. From opposite sides of the universe. My legs felt all of a sudden heavy and I sank down onto the floor. Shimmy slumped next to me, resting his head in my lap with his ear against my stomach.

Oh, how I desperately wanted to believe him, but I had not been raised on fairy princesses being rescued by the handsome prince. No one I knew was living their happily ever after.

“You’re my girl,” Shimmy said, smiling up at me.

For the ease of the moment and to relieve all the stress I had felt in the past two weeks, I pulled Shimmy’s face close to mine. Other than the back of his father’s car, the storage room was the one place we could be Ruby and Shimmy. In that moment I needed to feel good, and Shimmy was the one person who could make me feel that way. Pulling him on top of me, I kissed him fanatically and reached for his belt buckle.

After the rhythm of our breathing had returned to normal, Shimmy threw a tablecloth around us.

“I’m scared to dream so big with you,” I confessed.

“Don’t be, I’ve figured it all out.”

The back of my head was pressed into his chest with his arms threaded around my waist. As we cuddled, I listened to his plan of how he had worked out our future. Shimmy was so passionate and convincing that I began allowing myself the luxury of visualizing it.