Catfish Alley by Lynne Bryant

Author:Lynne Bryant
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mississippi, Historic Sites - Mississippi, Historic Sites, Tour Guides (Persons), Historic Buildings - Mississippi, Mississippi - Race Relations, Family Life, African Americans - Mississippi, Fiction, African American, General, African Americans
ISBN: 0451232283
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-04-05T05:00:00+00:00

Grace

We finally have ourselves one of those cool fall days. I think how nice that is because Halloween is usually so hot around here. I'm having my second cup of coffee on the front porch so I can look at the pecan trees that line the road up to my house. Those old trees are glowing gold today and the ground is just covered up with pecans. I'm going to have to get Brother Daniel to make an announcement down at the church for folks to come out here and pick them up. It would be a shame for them to go to waste, but Walter can't keep up with all of them.

The pecan pie for the cake walk at the church Harvest Festival this afternoon is in the oven, and I've sent Walter out to cut some flowers. I didn't really get to enjoy my first cup of coffee this morning like usual because Mattie Webster was calling me on the telephone before the sun was even up good, all excited about her granddaughter Billy and Brother Daniel.

"Grade, you ain't going to believe what happened yesterday," she said.

"What's that?" I said, a little irritated because I usually don't like to talk that early in the morning.

"Brother Daniel was here visiting me when Billy got in from Chicago, and you should have seen the eyes she was making at that man! And him studying her, too, like she was the finest thing he'd seen in a very long time."

"Now, Mattie, that's the preacher you're talking about."

"Well, he's a man, ain't he? And you know how good-looking my Billy is. Anyway, Brother Daniel and I talked her into showing him the Queen City Hotel."

This surprised me. "I thought you didn't want the Queen City on the tour."

Mattie snorted. "To tell you the truth, I don't give a plug nickel whether the hotel is on that so-called African-American tour or not. What I care about is Billy, and as far as I can tell, she couldn't find a better man than Brother Daniel. If I was a little bit younger, I'd have a crack at him myself. Why, he's so fine, he reminds me of the time ..."

Mattie had me laughing like she always does and I told her to be sure and let me know how it goes with Billy and Brother Daniel. I can't see Billy leaving Chicago to move back to Mississippi for a man. And it would be a sad day if we lost Brother Daniel. But these things tend to work themselves out. The Lord moves in mysterious ways.

I think over the places I've shown Roxanne Reeves: the old Union School, Dr. Jackson's house, the Queen City Hotel, Catfish Alley, the church. Kind of a pitiful collection of places, I guess. But I can't imagine my life without any of them. And it's been interesting to watch Roxanne over these last few weeks. At first, she was so jumpy and nervous all the time, I thought I'd have to tell her to find somebody else to help her.

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