The Dark Skinned Sister

Chapter One

As I sit here in my beautiful large living room and stare into inviting eyes that glare at me from the glossy reflection on my hardwood floor I can't help but remember the time my sister and I sat playing on the hardwood floor in the living room of my Grandpa George and Grandma Mindy's house. Every year we’d stay the summer with Grandpa George and Grandma Mindy. I’ll never forget that day. It was a hot, blustery, sweaty June 13th. It was also one year to the day that my best friend in the world, my Grandpa George, died.

We woke early that morning. I was up at 4:00 AM. I glanced over at the clock just as the big hand landed on the 12. I wanted to get up but it was pitch black in my bedroom and I was afraid of the dark. The dark unloosed the dreaded Boogieman, gobblings and ghosts that ate the toes of little girls like me. I heard some shuffling noises in the corner and it scared me so badly that I almost choked myself trying to wrap the sheets around me. I had to quiet the frightened voice in my head so that I could determine just what the noise was. I wanted to scream but I was afraid that the Boogieman would be able to zero in on me by my location. I pulled the sheets over my head and tried to think of a way that I could warn my little sister, Libby, not to move. I let out a few weak peeps in hopes that she’d hear me. I was afraid to move so I just lightly tapped the bed, hoping that would wake her and make her move closer to me. That way we could confuse the Boogieman and fight him together. I tapped the bed harder and harder but Libby didn't say anything nor did she move toward me. I wanted to cry but I was too afraid to make any noise. Knowing Libby, she wouldn't ignore me. She'd make fun of me. I was convinced that the Boogieman had gotten Libby. I couldn't hold back the pain of knowing that my little baby sister had been gobbled by the Boogieman.

I choked back the tears and a big lump formed in my throat. I held my hand over my mouth to stifle the sound. A small whimper escape and then Libby let out a giggle. I sobbed out the words, “Libby, is that you?”

“Um hum,” she said as she let out another annoying little giggle.

Now I was a smart child, not one to be misled easily by the Boogieman, I knew he could disguise his voice to sound just like Libby’s little girl giggle. I figured if the Boogieman could get into my room without my mother hearing him, he could say ‘um hum’ like a little girl, too. My voice was shaking when I said, “Libby, I need to hear you say some words so that I will know for sure that it’s you I’m talking to.”

She laughed and blurted out, “What you want me to say?”

By that time I was mad at her… “What are you doing laughing at a time like this?” I demanded.

“I don’t know.”

“What you doing up?”

She started whimpering like she was about to cry so I quickly changed the tone of my voice. I wasn’t about to give her a reason to alarm or wake my mother. I repeated my question but this time in a very soft, soothing tone… “What you doing up, huh, Libby?” I wanted to add, “You little bean head!”

And, oh my goodness…she said the stupidest thing I had every heard, “I’m waiting on day light so that I can see where my clothes at.”

My eyes where squinted tight and my fist was balled knuckle-tight-white. I really wanted to hit her but still I was a little frightened of the idea that the Boogieman was just waiting for me to put my foot over the edge of the bed. I knew he would have snatched my foot and gobbled me up. He probably didn’t want Libby because she was just a tiny morsel. She was barely bigger than a minute and hardly weighted a pound.

It was so dark in the room that I couldn’t see her or my hand when I held it up in front of me. I was concentrating so hard on the Boogieman that it was the fatigue in my arm that signaled that my hand was still up in front of my face.

After a few minutes it hit me, “Well, don’t this just beat all. She ain’t afraid of the Boogieman no more.” I grabbed my teddy bear off the back of the bed and hit it a few times. Here she was, one-upping me on not being afraid of the Boogieman. I was known to have somewhat of a bad temper from time to time. I didn’t know when she stopped being afraid of him but that, of course, was the last time I feared the dreaded night monster that loomed in the corners of all little girls’ bedrooms. I figured that if he came out from under my bed he would just have the fight of his life…that way I’d show Libby! I wasn’t about to let my little sister be more courageous or fearless than me. Not if I could help it anyway!

We both sat there in the dark waiting on daylight so that we could find our clothes…Libby at her little table and me on the bed. The darkness of the night began to change and turn into a deep bluish purple color at 5:47 AM. It was light enough for us to see. We snatched our clothes and ran into the bathroom. We folded our clothes real nice and neat and placed then on the side of the tub. We shot into Mamee’s room like bullets out of a gun. She was still sleeping. Every now and then I heard a light snore. I let Libby shake her a few times to wake her while I stood at the edge of the bed. She raised her head and saw that it was still dark outside so she lay back down.

My mother had a soft, kind voice that sort of sounded like she was singing a nice smooth melody to you when she spoke. But this time, her voice had a witch-like, wicked tone that cut through me like a jagged knife when she said, “Y’all betta let me get my rest!”

And that’s exactly what we did; we sat there at the edge of her bed like two porcelain dolls and let her sleep until she got up on her own. She must have forgotten that we were in the room because when she opened her eyes she was so shocked to see us that screamed. I ran into the bathroom and ran the bath water. While the water ran Mamee washed up in the basin. As soon as the bath water was just right, Libby and I jumped in the tub, splashing water all over Mamee’s legs and the floor. She laughed at stuff like that and always said something to let us know that we weren’t in any trouble.

She splashed water back on us and said, “I guess it’s time to clean my legs, huh girls?”

We soaped our hands real good and ran them up and down her legs until they were covered in white foam. After a while I stopped playing so that we could get on with the task at hand. Libby didn’t know when to stop. She would have been playing forever if it weren’t for me. I had to remind her that the sooner we finished the sooner we’d get over to Grandpa George and Grandma Mindy’s farm. I loved my Grandpa George but I tolerated Grandma Mindy tolerating me.

It was Saturday but Mamee dressed us up in our Sunday best. She looked real pretty too. She had on some cut-off peddle-pusher pants with slits on the both sides, some beige strap-up leather sandals and a white peasant blouse.

Mamee was a very pretty woman. Everybody said she was pretty all of the time. Most people seemed to think that she would have a much better life if she didn’t have us kids but Mamee always said, “My kids are my life and I love life right ‘bout now.”

By the time we finished dressing and getting our hair combed it was already 6:30. Toot had breakfast ready for us. We gobbled it down and ran to the door to wait for Mamee. She was talking to Toot with tears in her eyes. She always cried whenever we went anywhere without her.

I wanted to scream out, “Just come on, will ya?” but I held it in. I had visions of the No. 5 bus pulling up in front of me and me jumping on board. Yep, I was ready to board that No. 5 bus so that I could get over to Grandpa George and Grandma Mindy’s farm. I was raring up for some real hefty playing.

Mamee and Toot walked much too slow for Libby and me. We were so anxious and energized that we ran in circles around them as they walked. We played tag and gotcha the entire way to the bus stop.

I saw the bus coming before anybody and I started jumping up and down and screaming, “The No. 5, the No. 5.”

Libby copied everything that I did so she jumped up and down screaming, “The No. 5, the No. 5 bus.”

The bus pulled up right in front of us. Mamee walked normally as though we weren’t disturbing her at all. Other people seemed to have more of a problem with us playing around her legs than she did. I could hear people making loud comments as they passed us on the street. They’d say things like, “Why don’t those darn kids be still and walk like they got some sense.” Or, “Just look that those kids, they act like they ain’t got no manners at all.”

Finally, Mamee would say something like, “No ma’am, you’re the one without the manners. My kids are playing and ain’t nothing wrong with children enjoying themselves, so you just mind yo’ business and be on yo’ way.”

Toot hung his head in shame. Mamee touched his hand and stopped walking. I wanted to push her on towards the bus stop but whenever the smile left her face, it was time to stop everything and LISTEN. I stood there trying my best not to look too anxious for her to get her speech out and over with but she knew what was on my mind. She didn’t say a thing. She gave me one of those looks that cut right through me. That look seemed to go inside my head and dare my brain to conceive another thought. So that was it, everything stopped … cold … until she said what was on her mind.

“You kids are good kids. People don’t know you; so they don’t know how good you are. Some people are just rude and out of order. When people say things like what that woman said, you just ignore them. You hear me?”

I stood there antsy, looking at her with my eyes rolled up to the top of my head. The look on my face must have said, is that it? or something just as offensive because she grabbed me by the collar and said, “This is important, Mindy. You listen to me. If anyone says anything ignorant like what that lady said, you ignore him or her! And, if you can’t ignore what they said, then you tell me and I’ll take care of it.”

I twisted my mouth up so much that it felt like someone was pinching and pulling my lips into a little knot on the side of my face while pulling my eyes closed into tiny, little slits.

Through a long sigh, I said, “Okay, Mamee, okay. I will ignore them.”

Without hesitation she told me to go get a switch. My eyes and mouth popped wide open with surprise and fear. She was about to spank me and make me get the switch for her to spank me with. I didn’t understand what was so wrong about twisting my face up just to show her that I didn’t need to hear her talk about ignorant people, AGAIN. But, I must admit that my face was really twisted pretty bad and disgust and boredom covered it entirely, but a switch? My eyes pleaded with her to no avail. She looked me straight into my eyes! Without flinching one time when she told me again, “Go get me a switch and don’t you make me hafta tell you again!”

I felt misunderstood and betrayed…not to mention embarrassed that there were people standing around listening to her and watching me for a reaction! I stomped over to the nearest tree and got the biggest switch I could find. Mamee never hit us with big switches but this time she made an exception for me. As she spanked my legs she told me that I was never to turn my nose up and bat my eyes at her when she tells me something. She mentioned something about me stomping over to the tree and me being disrespectful. I was jumping around so much that I only heard bits and pieces of what she said. She barely hit me with the switch but the idea hurt more than anything I had experienced in my young life.

Finally, we reached the bus stop. I was mad at my mother more than anything. She spanked me in public and that was an insult to a smart child like me! The humiliation was tremendous. The door to the No. 5 opened. Libby was getting ready to take off, I could tell. We both wanted to run up the stairs and shoot to the back of the bus, but Toot had other plans, he touched my shoulder. That meant that it was time to take Libby’s hand. We held hands and boarded the bus like two little saints walking through the pearly gates of heaven.

Mamee and Toot sat in the last seat on the back seat of the bus. Libby and I sat in front of them. Toot gave us a coloring book and two crayons. It was Libby’s turn to pick a page for us to color. She picked the most childish page in the book, the page with stars, the moon and the sun. You would have thought she would have picked a page with lots of objects and pictures on it. My page had more writing than pictures. I had a picture of a ball and jump rope to color.

“Ump, ump, ump,” was all I could think, “a ball and a jump rope!”

On top of that, my crayon was purple and hers was pink. Wouldn’t you just know that she colored her sun pink! She was driving me crazy. I wanted to say something but then I would be the bad guy. They would tell me to just let her color hers while I color mine. Oh yeah, I knew the drill. I’d been there before! And, of course…she colored outside of the lines. I was trying very hard to concentrate but her pink sun was disturbing me. She hummed while she colored. She talked to her star and her sun. She laughed as if someone had told her something funny. She laughed every time she colored outside of the lines. Later on I started to believe that she was laughing just to irritate me because she’d look at me every now and then, and she’d have a big grin on her tiny little face. I had to just ignore her. I focused really hard on coloring my objects - the ball and the jumping rope! I had neatly outlined the handles of my jumping rope with my purple crayon. Toot held his hand out for us to give back the crayons we had and then he gave us two different crayons. This time hers was yellow and mine was brown.

“Ump, ump, ump…purple and brown.”

I really had to get my most creative juices flowing in order to get anything to look half way decent, using those colors. I decided to color very lightly on parts and then create dark undertones by using a heavy color and smearing technique I had created. It worked out pretty well if I do say so myself. I tell you, being a child was a chore when you had to keep creating beauty out of the limited supply of materials that I had to work with. Oh, and Libby colored right over top of that pink sun with that yellow crayon. I just shook my head when I looked at her.

She is just a child. She is doing the best she can and you can’t really expect more from a 3-year old.

I filled in the handles on my jumping rope while Libby scribbled across her star with her yellow crayon. As usual, she had created a mess!

I sat quietly, waiting for Toot to give me my next crayon but he walked up to the bus driver. I don’t know what he said but the bus slowed to a stop. I stood up to see why we were stopping and I saw Grandpa George’s car riding along side the bus. Without thinking and in a flash I started jumping up and down and screaming,

“Grandpa George, Oh my goodness, it’s Grandpa George.” I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself. I was always elated to see my Grandpa George. He wasn’t just my grandpa, he was like a good ole’ friend. Suddenly, my joy was cut short by the startling, screeching, high-pitched, gut-wrenching scream that Libby let out. Her scream made everyone on the bus turn and look at us. They looked at us like we were uncultured heathens! I could see the disdain in some of those twisted up noses and wrinkled eyebrows. The next thing I knew Toot was standing in front of me patting his foot, like it was my fault that she screamed! I whispered in a very excited tone,

“Grandpa George is here, Toot. Grandpa George! Look, he’s right there! It’s Grandpa George, Toot.” I grabbed Toot’s face and kissed him on the cheek and said, “He’s right outside.”

Toot shook his head in agreement. He looked like he was just as happy as I was. He picked me up and said, “We gonna have some fuuuuunnnn!” Libby screamed again. The bus driver shouted for us to hurry up and get off the bus.

Toot turned to Mamee and said,

“Can’t I skip this one summer, Mamee? I think I can make Varsity this year.” Before she had a chance to answer he dropped his head and said, “Never mind. I know how bad we need the money.”

Mamee had tears in her eyes.

“You don’t have to go. We’ll find a way.”

Toot had tears in his eyes too. He was saddened at the thought of going but he told Mamee that he would be all right. I heard him say, “I’m the man in this family so I’ll do what I got to do.”

I hollered out, “You ain’t no man…you a teenager.”

A tear dropped from his eye as he packed our coloring book and grabbed our suitcase. He touched my shoulder and I grabbed the Libby’s hand. She was so excited that she was trying to run off of the bus. I yanked her and we hugged and kissed Mamee and walked in an orderly fashion to the door.

Mamee stood in the back of the bus; Grandpa George was standing in front of the open door waiting for us to jump off the bus into his arms. First, Libby would jump and then I would. Grandpa George was as strong as an Ox; at least that’s what he always said. Toot always walked slowly off the bus and stopped at the last step. Then he ran over and hugged Grandpa George so hard that he had to gasp for air.

As the bus pulled off we could see Mamee standing on her knees on the back seat waving and blowing kisses to us. Libby always burst out in tears and screams. She’d be reaching towards the bus at Mamee. You would have thought that by then she would have known what was about to happen. She was 4 years old and the same thing happened every year when we stayed with Grandpa George and Grandma Mindy. This was Libby’s second year so she should have known what was going to happen. Toot had to hold her all the way to the farm to keep her quiet. By the time we reached the farm, I had to choke back some tears because I was missing Mamee, too. As soon as I saw the horses, my mind started singing the giddy up song and my tears dried up.

Chapter Two

We passed the stable and the barn and down the way, I could see the farmhouse coming into view. I wanted to jump out of the car and go horseback riding but I knew I had to go to the house to see Grandma Mindy first. Grandma Mindy was standing on the porch like a sculpted glass figurine. Her little body was standing as straight as an arrow and her hands were folded in front of her, covered in white lace gloves. At first glance you’d think you were looking at a statute or a poster, she was so rigid and picture-like. Her posture was always perfect. She wanted to present a good look whenever anybody saw her so she always dressed like she was about to be photographed. She always waited in that same spot for us to run up to hug her, even though most of the time she acted like she didn’t like it. Grandma Mindy was dressed up in a pretty, frilly, yellow and white dress and her face was made up to perfection. I always hoped that she’d be leaving to go somewhere, anywhere, being that she was all dressed up like that. But she just sat around the house doing little nick-knack stuff and sipping tea and cross-stitching handkerchiefs. She wore high heel shoes in the house and just about everywhere she went. She wore them so often that I used to wonder if she slept in them. She had pretty legs and I guess she needed to let everybody know just how good they looked, all the time.

Grandpa George pulled up in front of the walkway to the porch. Libby shot out the car and ran up to, and jumped in Grandma Mindy’s arms. Grandma Mindy laughed and blushed while Libby kissed her all over her face. She straightened herself out so that Toot and I could approach her. Toot got out the car slowly and walked up to her and kissed her on her cheek. I was the last to get out of the car. When I got out, I walked up to her and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek but she backed away from me. She brushed off her dress and tried to look down her nose as she spoke. She had hurt my feelings again but this time they weren’t hurt as bad as all the other times. I guess I was becoming immune to her insults.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. She ain’t even human, she is just like a glass figurine - one push and she’ll fall over and break. I opened my eyes and she was still standing there.

I was actually sizing her up and seeing myself placing my hand on her shoulder and tipping her perfectly erect body over. I laughed at the thought of her glass, icy façade shattering as it hit the ground. I know it was a mean thought but I’m telling you what went through my mind. Grandma Mindy was my height or maybe a fraction of an inch taller. For a minute I thought she was reading my mind because she looked at me with a lot of skepticism then I remembered that that was just the way she treated me and most people that she didn’t care nothing about. She never moved back so that I could kiss her and that was all right with me. She had that same twisted look on her face that the people on the bus had. I thought about the twisted look that I had on my face when Mamee tried to talk to me right before getting on the bus. Everyone said that I took after Grandma Mindy - I think that’s why I was named after her and I think that’s where I got my temper from, too. I looked at the twisted look on her face and then I understood why I got that spanking.

“It’s no wonder I got a spanking if I was looking like that. Bet I’ll never put that sour look on my face again,” I said out loud.

Grandma Mindy turned to walk towards the door. She turned back to look at me and said, “Neadie knowed she should have done something more with that nappy head of yours.”

I looked at the ground and slowly backed down the steps. That wasn’t the first time Grandma Mindy made her dislike for me so obvious but it was the first time she showed it in front of everybody. In the past it was little things that made me wonder if she was really showing a difference but this time I guess she didn’t want me to have any doubts. I was told on several occasions by my aunts that Grandma Mindy treated my mother badly too. They always excused her by saying that she was born in the deep, deep south and just being there made you hate anything that wasn’t white or close to it. I just didn’t understand how anybody could not love their own children and their children’s children. But it was clear to me that my Grandma Mindy didn’t love my mother or me. I wanted to run back up those steps and push her down. It wasn’t so bad that she made me feel bad and different from my brother and sister but for her to treat my mother like that was unforgivable. Just the thought of Mamee feeling this bad hurt even more. Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over before I knew it. The thought of my mother being treated like this made my heart sag with pain. I didn’t feel like I could even look up. My head hung heavy with shame and sadness. Libby was squiggling trying to get out of Grandma Mindy’s arms. She hit Grandma Mindy and jumped out of her arms. She ran to the steps and sat next to me.

“What’s wrong, Mindy? Why you crying?” Her little lips where quivering and her eyes filled with tears.

“I was just thinking ‘bout had bad Mamee must have felt when Grandma Mindy treated her like this, that’s all Libby.”

Libby screamed out at the top of her lungs, “Why you treat my mama and sister like this, Grandma Mindy? Huh? You say you sorry!”

I heard the screen door shut and without looking up I knew that Grandma Mindy had walked into the house, ignoring what she had just done and what was said to her. I was hoping that she wouldn’t punish Libby for being so vocal about it. Libby hugged me so hard that she was choking me. My mind replayed the scene of our getting out of the car and going to the porch. For some reason, that was really the first time that I realized that Grandma always let Libby and Toot kiss her but every time I got close to her she’d say something mean or back away. Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes again and the next thing I knew, Grandpa George had me on his shoulder, twirling me around until I was dizzy. He told me to run upstairs and get changed so that I could go riding. He ran up the stairs and into the house where Grandma Mindy was. He must have given her one of his, “I’ll get to you later,” looks.

I heard her snap at him, “Well she knowed that child need all the help she can get. A nappy head on a child that dark is a sin.”

Even though I was looking down at the floorboard after Grandma Mindy backed away from me, I could see the anguish building up in Toot. He slapped his head with the palm of his hand and started walking around in circles. He always did that when he had a tough decision to make. I guess this time he couldn’t hold his peace. I was upstairs in the bedroom but I heard him screech out a loud “Doggone it, doggone it, doggone it!” In the next few seconds I heard the screen door slam and even though he spoke diplomatically, he spoke in a loud agitated voice when she spoke to Grandma Mindy. He said, “Grandma Mindy, if you are gonna be mean to Mindy then I’m gonna have to ask Grandpa George to take us all back home. I cain’t let you treat my sister like that, Grandma!”

Grandma Mindy ignored him, “Georgie, you see how disrespectful these children are to their grandma? You see, Georgie?”

Grandpa George boomed out, “What you ‘spect? Look at how you treated yo’ grandchild! I ain’t never felt so bad in my life as I did when you said what you did to that child, Mindy. Never!” Then he told Toot to have a seat on the porch swing while he took care of Grandma Mindy.

That was the first time I ever heard Grandpa George raise his voice in anger. The next thing I knew Grandma Mindy was upstairs outside my room apologizing for her remark.

As she walked away from the door I heard her say, “You nappy headed, black thang.” I was in the room making faces and licking my tongue out at her while she talked. I could hear the pointy edges of her high heels click with each step she took. I waited a few minutes to let her get back down the steps. At one point, I was talking to myself so much and telling her off so bad in my mind that I didn’t pay one bit of attention to the whether the clicking noises she makes when she walks had stopped. I stopped talking to myself long enough to sit down on the bed. As soon as I was seated I heard her heel hit the step and before I knew what was going to come out of my mouth I heard,

“Least I got some hair…you bald headed nipple.”

I knew I had spoken too loud when I heard a fast-paced, click-click, click-click, click-click of her high heel shoes clicking their way back towards me and the sound of wheezing outside the door. She didn’t open it or come inside but I knew she was waiting for me to say something else.

“Oh my goodness I’m bout to get it now.” Somehow I convinced myself that she was not outside of that door waiting to spank me. And, after what I thought was a sufficient amount of time, I started talking out loud.

“Yeah! Old nipple, take yo’ wrinkled up little made-up butt back downstairs before I hurt yo’ feelings. You round here thinking that you looking cute and you look like an old raisin with powder patted all over you. You old nipple head!”

The door swung open and Grandma Mindy was standing there swelling up like one of those cartoon cats that had been beaten and outsmarted by the mouse. She was breathing hard and each time she’d take a deep breath, her tiny little chest would rise and drop with anger. I’m telling you she swelled up so big that she looked like a cartoon bomb had gone off inside her tiny little body. For some stupid reason I laughed and the next thing I felt were her fists pummeling me on the shoulders and back. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was choking so badly on her words that I didn’t understand anything she said. Her fists were so small and soft that it felt like I was being hit with nerf balls.

I started to cry but when I realized that it didn’t hurt I just stood there looking at her with another grin on my face. This time she slapped me in the face and dared me to move.

“Don’t you move, you dark, black ghetto rat!” she screamed.

That night I just had the bitter pickles in me because I did move. I plastered a big grin on my face and I took a step closer to her. I wanted to let her know that I was not afraid. My fists were not balled but I did have the urge to hit her back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I convinced myself to never, ever, never, never, for the rest of my life - visit Grandma Mindy again.

When I opened my eyes Grandpa George had Grandma Mindy over his shoulder and was going back down the steps. I heard Toot pleading with Grandpa George to take us back home. I don’t know what it was that Grandpa George said to him but whatever it was, it calmed him. Empty of feelings and thought, I sat down on the bed, again. I let out a long sigh realizing that I would have to spend most of my summer with that little ninny and that saddened me to the very core of my soul.

“Why she treat me so mean? It can’t be my color. Not really, she must just say that stuff to make me mad and make me think that my color bothers her.” I asked myself in a loud whisper.

Actually, I didn’t care what it was that bothered her about me because I didn’t really care what she thought about me. I wanted her to like me like she did my brother and sister but since she didn’t, that was okay too. I just wondered why she kept talking about me being dark when she was darker than me. Maybe she thought that because Grandpa George was light-skinned that she somehow was no longer dark-skinned.

By the time I got dressed and back downstairs, Corey and LaMarr had come over to play with Toot. It seemed that Toot had friends everywhere he went. He was very friendly and could talk to anybody about anything. He just seemed to blend in everywhere and I really admired that about him. It was a little harder for me to make friends. It seemed that the first thing people said about me was that I couldn’t be a part of the family ‘cause I was too dark. That never really mattered to me in the past because the people who said it didn’t matter to me at all. For that reason, I was always a bit hesitant about trying to be friendly with new people right away. I didn’t want to be dropkicked with an insult about my color or not being a part of my own family. Anyway, I just loved being at home with Mamee and Libby and Toot. I did have one good friend named Sylvia but she hardly ever got to play outside because she was really bad most of the time. She’d always get me in trouble whenever I was with her. That’s why I preferred to stay at home.

Libby and I didn’t really didn’t have any friends at the farm but we always had a great time. We always played with each other and with the pets. Grandpa George had a chicken named Sir Bean and a wiener dog named Effensberg. Effensberg was like a real person. He ate people’s food and had a little room of his own. Grandma Mindy dressed him in little sweaters and hats and she tied bright colored ribbons around his skinny little legs, and sometimes she’d even polish his nails. Every morning around 8:00 o’clock she’d take him for a long walk. There she was in those high-heeled shoes with that little tiny wiener dog with the ribbons on his legs…Grandma Mindy and Effensberg, both wobbling down that dirt road. And Effensberg looked like he was walking sideways on top of it. Every time I saw her head for the door I had to cover my mouth and run upstairs so that she wouldn’t hear me laugh at ‘er. Sir Bean stayed in the back yard and we played with him all the time.

 Toot, Corey and LaMar ran outside throwing a football around and tackling each other. Libby was sitting at the table with a pair of little white lace gloves on, sipping tea just like Grandma Mindy. Grandma Mindy had put ribbons in her hair and a lace bib around her neck. I was glad to see that she wasn’t holding a grudge against Libby. Libby was a pretty baby girl and she looked prettier with all the frilly stuff Grandma Mindy had put on her. She looked like a little doll or an angel. No one would ever know that she did all kinds of horrible things when she was home, like eating dirt! Yep, she ate dirt and didn’t think anyone knew it. She’d have a black tongue and mud on her cheeks and nose. And, to make matters worse, she would deny eating it if you asked her! I think some of the kids down the street from our house got her started doing that because I can’t think of where else on earth she’d pick up such a filthy habit. Now, there she was sitting there looking like a doll baby with that cutzie little git-up.

Grandpa George was standing at the door waiting for me. I ran down the stairs past Grandma Mindy and Libby straight into Grandpa George’s arms. He threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and skipped out the house. He always skipped so that I could get a better, bumpier ride. He took me everywhere he went. Everybody who saw us would holler out,

“Hey George, the groundhog got his shadow back!”

“Yep,” he’d holler out as we headed on down the way.

Grandpa George always had a funny way of describing things. Whenever he’d have a conversation with anyone he’d say that he was kick’n it with ‘em. So, we’d kick it with everybody we came across. He was real friendly and he knew everybody in town. They all liked him. Those same people who liked Grandpa George so much tried like the dickens to stay out of Grandma Mindy’s way. While we were in town we’d talk turkey with some of the old guys, shoot the breeze with some of the young guys and croon a tune or two in front of the barbershop with the cronies. Every one of them told Grandpa George that Grandma Mindy is a spitfire.

“Yeah, she’s got a fire burning inside that’s for sure.”

From there we’d go to the barn and I’d get to ride Old Tunnel Vision, Grandpa George’s prize gelding, and then we’d go back to the farm.

On the way back into the house right before we reached the steps to the front porch, Grandpa George stopped me. He had a funny look on his face. He hugged me real hard.

“You know yo’ Grandma really loves you, right?”

“How can you love somebody that you don’t even like?”

He sat on the porch and dropped and shook his head in shame.

“She does love you. She’s mean spirited. I don’t know why she’s so mean sometimes. I can’t act like she didn’t do anything wrong ‘cause she was very wrong for the way she treated you. You are a good child and for the life of me I don’t understand her actions. You are my smart, beautiful little cupcake and we both love you. So Mindy, don’t ever forget that no matter what she does, she loves you. Can you forgive her for her actions today?”

I patted his hand and said, “Because it makes you feel so bad, I’m going to ignore her for both of our sakes!”

He looked at me with sad eyes and a pain that seemed to pervade his entire body. His straight posture slumped down,

“Yeah, for now that’s good enough. Just don’t pay too much attention to her when she’s acting like that.”

“I don’t pay no attention to her, Grandpa George. Mamee told me that when somebody tries to hurt my feelings for no reason that they had the problem and that I was to go on ‘bout my business. So, I don’t pay any attention to her at all ‘cause she’s always trying to hurt my feelings. I’m just glad that she treats Libby real good and Toot pretty good.”

He struggled to bring a smile to his face, but his forehead had big creases and wrinkles pinched in the middle of it. His eyes filled with tears, he cleared his throat a few times before he was able to speak. He couldn’t look at me, his head hung low and his voice was shaky but he finally managed to say, “Yeah, I guess that counts for something.” His eyes were fixed on the floor and his posture was drawn and slumped. My Grandpa George was usually a proud man who stood, and sat, straight and tall. I knew that the shame he was feeling in his heart had pulled him down and withered his pride.

That night I heard Grandpa George’s voice resonate throughout the house as he spoke to Grandma Mindy. He didn’t sound angry, he sounded pained and authoritative…the kind of tone he takes when he means for you to stop doing sumthin and he don’t want to hafta tell you twice. He told her that if she wasn’t nicer to me and everybody else that he was going to come back and haunt her when he died.

She made a really strange remark to him. “I know what I did was mean and hateful. I just cain’t help myself I guess.” Well don’t that just beat all, I thought to myself, her mean, nasty ways got her stumped too!

“Well you went too far this time. You just went too doggone far, Mindy. I’m sick of hearing bout how mean you are everywhere I go and the way you treated our grandchild was just plain outright unforgivable,” Grandpa George roared.

Then I head the door shut and the heavy footsteps of Grandpa George as they made the wood creak while he walked down the steps.

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More to come….amanda