Holding Silk by Marie Murphy Duess

Author:Marie Murphy Duess [Duess, Marie Murphy]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary, United States, American, African American, Literature & Fiction, Women's Fiction
Amazon: B00QMOMWXQ
Publisher: Waterfall Publishing
Published: 2014-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Spring 1962

“What that?” Adam asked me while we were cleaning out my suitcase so that I could pack his clothes in it. Mother was taking him to New York for the weekend to see the circus. She wanted me to go, but I had final exams and needed to concentrate on studying. Graduation from nursing school was only a few weeks away. Taking Adam away for a few days was a Godsend for me.

“What, honey?” I asked him. He handed me a business card. I took it without looking and placed it on my dresser. “Come on, sweetie, let’s get your clothes all packed. Uncle Terry is getting the car ready to take you to…”

“York City,” Adam finished for me.

“New York City,” I corrected him with a hug. He struggled to carry the suitcase by himself, and I laughed at how comical it looked with him waddling under the weight and height of the suitcase.

“I gonna see the elephants,” he said over his shoulder.

“Yep…and the horses, and giraffes, and doggies.”

“King?”

“No, not like King. King is so old he can barely climb the stairs. But other doggies…smaller dogs, wearing fancy clothes and doing tumbles and jumps through hoops…you’ll like seeing it, Adam.”

“I won’t like it…I’ll love it!”

I picked him up in my arms and nuzzled him, laughing. “You will, doll baby…you’ll love it!”

We packed him up and I carried the suitcase down to the door. Mother followed. She looked like a million dollars…dressed in a shrimp colored suit and matching high heels. “Good God, Mom, you look gorgeous.”

“Well, I’ll probably bump into some old friends. I don’t want to look like a country bumpkin now that I live here at the lake most of the time. There’s been enough gossip about me. The last thing I need is to have their tongues wagging and saying, ‘Oh, poor Helen, she looks like a pauper…she was dressed in rags.’”

I had to laugh. “You don’t own a single rag in the three closets you’ve taken over upstairs. And you’re anything but a pauper.”

“Well, fine then…I need to look like I just stepped out of Vogue, don’t I?”

I walked them to the car. Just as he was getting into the back seat, Adam decided that he didn’t want to leave me and clung to my neck. “Come, Sissy…please come with Adam.”

“Don’t be silly, honey. You and Mommy will have a wonderful time. I have to sit and read books all day. That would be so boring for you. Go with Mommy and see the circus, Adam.” I pried his arms from around my neck and placed him on the back seat, but not before kissing his cheeks ten times on each side.

“How many nights I won’t be with you?” he asked.

I took four of his fingers and held them up, “Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You’ll be home on Monday!”

“Too long,” he whined, straining against the car seat.

“You’ll have too much fun to miss me.”

His eyes filled with tears, so I quickly closed the door and walked back away from it.

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