Where Is He My Black Man?

The Dream

“Boy, what a dream!” It was frightening. I dreamed that our black men had gone out to fight a war and there sat hundreds of black women in this immense auditorium awaiting their return. I was among them. We had been waiting for several hours. It was in late August; the temperature was a scorching ninety-eight degrees in the metal fabricated hot auditorium. It did not have any air. If it did they did not turn it on for us black folks.

There sat beside me a tall thin beautiful dark skinned well-dressed woman who had become restless. She got up from the metal chair and started for the opened door. Before she could reach the door she spotted the ship coming down the river a mile away. She turned toward the waiting women with gleam in her eyes yelling out to the crowd: “Y’all, here they come!” Influencing her body to leap for joy permitting the tears to run down her dark cheeks: “They are coming!” she shouted repeatedly, finally convincing us.

Everyone jumped up from their seat tearing out for the dock. It had to be at least one thousand beautiful black women of all shades. Their skin colors were from hi-yellow to velvet black. They all were yelling and screaming. Everyone was calling her man by his name. You could hardly hear your own voice for the noisy women, but no one seemed to mind. This was the happiest day of our lives.

At last the ship came to a complete stop, we continued yelling and screaming. Two mysterious looking white men exited the ship. One was very tall and hideous looking. The other one was a dwarf and kind of cute. They didn’t agree with the noisy women.

After everyone noticed how antagonistic the two men were, it got so quiet you could hear a pin fall (if one would have fallen). The tall weird-looking one ordered us to go back on the inside. Everyone began looking at each other with astonishment clinging to their faces. We became a little skeptical of the two suspicious looking white men. We were wondering, “Where our black men were.”

We became so absent-minded forbidding us to go back on the inside. The men did not like it one bit. Reminding us of the orders the tall one said:

“You people go back on the inside! I ain’t gonna tell you no more!”

As we were heading back into the direction of the auditorium few of the women ignored the bidding coming from the white man. Glancing back at the ship it was a dispirited moment for us. The world seemed to have stopped from the silence in the air. All was heard was, the rough waters splashing against the dull white ship. One of the women looking back spotted the black men coming from the ship:

“There they are!” she yelled, “Here comes my baby!” The tears were streaming down her light complexioned face like a rainy day.

Everyone ran back heading for the ship to greet the men. The two white men surrendered to the unruly women. With caution they stepped aside. They knew they were no longer in control. Some of the women recognized their men. They were hugging, kissing, and crying all at the same time. The remaining women waited for the others to come from the ship. We were about six hundred men short. Finally the tall white man abruptly closed the metal grayish white door to the ship with a disgusting look about his face. He stood in front of the closed door without a spoken word.

In the silence of our disappointment, my eyes fell on the setting of the sun behind the towering pine trees standing in harmony. Just when a stout dark-skinned vociferous woman stepped out from the crowd not giving up. She yelled out to the two men:

“Hey! Where are the rest of our black men? This ain’t it!” she begged, “Tell us, where are they?” The two white men never answered her.

After that I woke up. I don’t remember anymore. That was some dream--wouldn’t you say! The perplexity of the dream bewitched my spirit so until I felt as if I had been consumed with alcohol. I yielded to the tainted bed while struggling to interpret the dream.