Red Jacket by Pamela Mordecai

Author:Pamela Mordecai
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

28

A Graduation Fuss

“I can’t take this, Phyllis. I wouldn’t feel right.”

“Why not?”

“A thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

“It’s yours, Grace.”

“Not if I don’t take it.”

“It’s yours whether or not you take it. It’s been in a bank account with your name on it for years.”

“There’s plenty things you could use it for.”

“That’s true. But you’ve read my letters; you know when I opened that account. I put in a few dollars a week, whatever I could. There’s still money in it. I’ll keep putting in what I can, for as long as I can.”

“I don’t need it. I’ve managed. I can still manage.”

“It has nothing to do with whether you can manage or not. How could it? I didn’t know where you were, what you were doing, anything. I just put the money in, probably more for my sake than yours.”

“Please don’t get upset. It’s the end of a long day, a day that’s supposed to be a happy day …”

“Can’t you see it as part of the celebration, my contribution?”

“ … and it is late and everybody is tired. And is somebody else’s house.”

“Grace, I fully appreciate that this isn’t my home or yours. I wouldn’t think of causing any kind of upset. But I’ve looked forward to this for years, thought about a moment like this every time I got a pay cheque.”

“Look, I’m really glad you could come, that somebody from my country, of my race, and my family was here to see me graduate. That’s plenty. You don’t need to do any more. You certainly don’t need to give me money.”

“I need you to have it for the same reason I needed to deposit those few dollars week after week.”

“Okay, fine. I accept. Thanks. Argument now over.”

“Is that how you talk to your mother?”

“You are not my mother.”

“I am your mother, like it or not.”

“Blood is not everything.”

“Blood is plenty. Didn’t you say just now that having family around you today made a big difference?”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“Same thing or not, you can take my word about the blood business. Some African cultures have a concept of spiritual blood, something that’s passed down through generations and contains the memory, history, and wisdom of the tribe.”

“Nobody use the word ‘tribe’ anymore.”

“What kind of work you say you studying to do?”

“Development planning, something of that order.”

“Perhaps you should think some more about it. Those jobs need empathy, imagination. But we can speak about that another time. Good night.”

Grace was fixing up a cut-eye but she stopped herself, said a muted “Night,” put the cheque on the hall table and went to join Steph in the study.

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