Just Before Dawn

Since it was the summer we would go to work with Mama, and we would spend the whole day running and playing. Every two weeks on Thursday, Mama and Mrs. Johnson, would go pay bills and grocery shopping. They would stay gone all day from 7:00 in the morning until night fall. Mama would tell us to go around on the back porch and play there or in the backyard. She would leave us sandwiches and water on the back porch’s table. She would also leave some in the refrigerator which sat right outside the kitchen doorway on the back porch. This house was so huge and beautiful and the thing that I really liked about it was the porch that encircled the entire house. The one thing that was so special about it, was when it would rain it was a safe haven for our play.

One day we were playing and the sunlight caught a color that was in the window it was almost blinding; so I ran back to the window and looked in. To my surprise it was Indigo and Mr. Johnson kissing. I was just glued to the window. Then Jr. hit me and asked, "What are you looking at knot head?" He came and looked and his mouth fell open. I then put my hand over his mouth. I remember him pulling her dress over her head.

It was red satin that caught my eye. He was holding Indigo’s head and what appeared to me during that time hiding his face in her whole face. Then I remembered him exposing her, Indigo was as dark as her name. She was so black until she looked blue, and she had long black wavy hair that passed her shoulders. She had a body like an hour glass. It looked sort of like Mama’s but Mama’s was a little larger.

Inez was Indigo’s sister but they were as different as night and day. Inez was Rudy’s and I Sunday school teacher. Inez was so nice to Brother and I. I would often times ask Mama if I could spend the day with her. I went home with Inez because she had to take care of her Mama. I asked Inez, "Why do you have to feed your Mama and put her shoes and clothes on?" Inez looked at me and said, "Well it’s because she doesn’t remember how to. She has lost her mind." I wondered where she had lost it at. So Ms. Daja had lost her mind, at least that’s what Inez said. I couldn’t wait until I got home. I ran through the door shouting, "Mama! Mama!" Mama said, "What is it Rena!?" Her eyes were bucked because I startled her. I asked, "Mama, what does it mean to lose your mind?" She said, "Oh, I thought something was wrong! Then she said, "Well, it means that you are not able to think by yourself." I said, "Like Inez’s Mama? I then said, "Oh! Kind of like me." She said, "No, cause you are a child and you will learn things as you grow older, and I’m here to teach you." "So Inez will teach her, I exclaimed!"

Then Mama went on to say, "Well yeah. See the difference is that Ms. Daja forgot how to learn and it is real hard for her to remember. You can remember what I teach and it is not hard for you to remember. Ms. Daja is just sick baby." I said, "Oh, I got it!" I really didn’t understand but I just said I did. I couldn’t understand how someone could lose their mind.

Inez would spend the whole day putting on her mother’s shoes, clothes, and feeding her. She would also take her to the bathroom. She didn’t look too old, but she was just sick. Well at least that’s what Mama finally said. I wondered how long it would last? Well, to my surprise it lasted the whole summer.

Everyday my brother and I would play together until he started hanging around Raydell, and then I started hanging around Inez. I would sometimes stay and play with Brother and his friends. Raydell told me that we would be playing touch football. I ended up catching the ball the next time I woke up I was home in bed.

One of the last things I saw was dark shadows but the last face I saw was Raydell’s. He was smiling like a possum as he was snatching my legs from under me, and about a dozen other piled on top of me. I faintly hear Brother say get off of my sister. When I came to Brother was sitting on the side of the bed with a black eye. I asked, "What happened to your eye?" Brother said, "I had to get Raydell for tackling you!" After that day I started hanging only around Inez. From that day on I decided that the boys were a little too rough for me.

I couldn’t wait until the summer, but during the school year we were always busy with school work. Since Inez had to help her mama, we would only see each other on the weekends. On Saturday, we would do our usual playing and on Sunday we would go to church.

Afterwards, we would go to the Johnson’s pond to read and write poetry. One day, Yolanda walked from across the way and introduced herself. She said, "Hi! My name is Yolanda, and I live across from the lake. I see yawl out here all the time and it looks like yawl are having fun." Inez said, "If you call reading and writing fun, the we are." Yolanda said, "Well, I write poems too." She then ran home to get them. When Yolanda came back, she read them and we clapped and started talking. Yolanda said, "I never talk to you at school." Inez said, "I know. I rarely talk to anyone but the teacher. I know that people think that I’m high minded. I’m not, I just don’t talk much. I only speak when I am spoken to." They started getting close as friends but I wasn’t jealous because I was too young to understand some of Inez’s problems. She didn’t treat me any different, besides we were like sisters. Yolanda told Inez that she was ready to graduate because she wanted to go to college to become a doctor.

We then decided to walk to the store. I had a strange feelings everytime I went into the Johnson’s store. Mr. Johnson, with his old blue eyes was always staring and smiling at us. He was always grabbing at Inez. Since Yolanda had never been in the store without her mother or father, he was just fascinated by her appearance.