After the Fire by Jerry Izenberg

Author:Jerry Izenberg [Izenberg, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Admission Press

Annie Mae Washington could barely breathe, the ferocious stress in her life squeezing to the point she knew she couldn’t take any more. On one front, she was desperate to keep her daughter safe from the unchecked citywide racial in-fighting that she knew could swallow both Mickey and Junior. On another, she had become a force in the PTA in an effort to keep the gangs out of her twelve-year-old son’s schoolyard.

Her ex-husband, Talmadge, continued to harass her, ostensibly over rumors he’d heard about Mickey and a white boyfriend, but really over child support for T.C. To avoid payment, he’d moved from Essex County ten miles down Route ! to Union County, forcing her to start the legal process all over again.

She was well aware of the bureaucratic delays this would cause for her child-support checks. He had done it before.

And finally, she now had the added heartbreak surrounding her middle child, Charles, the one she kept foremost in her prayers every night. He was the only one of their children not angered by Talmadge’s treatment of their mother.

A high school dropout whose only apparent income was as a street worker for Kiongosi’s mayoral campaign, Charles worried her constantly. And in her heart, she knew the truth. On the few nights he slept at home, she had seen the bankroll on his nightstand. She had meant to confront him about it for months.

Now it didn’t matter.

Charles had been arrested early that morning, but Annie Mae did not know until she and T.C. had returned from church early in the afternoon, when Charles finally got his one phone call. She let T.C. go to a friend’s house, called Elizabeth, and then sat alone in the kitchen while she waited for her friend. She made no attempt to call Mickey, thinking, “Lord, she got enough trouble. Let her breathe happy while she has the chance.”

Annie Mae had told Elizabeth everything she knew over the phone, but still she urgently wanted her friend by her side. An untouched cup of tea sat before her. In one hand she clutched a soggy tissue.

By the time Elizabeth arrived, Annie Mae could barely speak and was clearly in need of a lifeline. Her eyes were red. She had changed back into her night clothes. A faded green terrycloth robe was draped across her shoulders.

As a lifelong friend, Elizabeth knew what was required and immediately sprang into action. She poured the cold tea into the sink, put water on the stove to boil, and placed an arm around Annie Mae’s shoulder.

“Lady, I’ve known you how many years? You are the strongest, most clearheaded woman I have ever known. I know it ain’t gonna be easy, but I know you. Lord, honey, you trying to raise T.C. without a man in the house, Mickey got herself a white boy, and they fightin’ the whole city. You got an ex-husband who uses you for target practice and won’t pay a dime to help raise his own kids. And now this.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.