The Sacred Place by Daniel Black

Author:Daniel Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

THE CROWD LEFT, WHISPERING SOFT SALUTATIONS AS THOUGH suspecting a lurking foe. The search committee sneaked into half the barns in the county before they agreed, long after midnight, to resume the search the next morning.

“Y’all didn’t find him?” Miss Mary asked Jeremiah, who undressed in the dark.

“No, ma’am, we didn’t. Ain’t no tellin’ where dey got dat boy,” Jeremiah said, defeated.

Miss Mary reached for her husband’s hand. His touch was cold, but she was determined to soothe his fretting heart.

“I feel so …”

“Shhhhhhh,” she hissed comfortingly and pulled Jeremiah onto the bed. “Just lay right here and don’t say nothin’.” Miss Mary placed Jeremiah’s right hand on her left breast and embraced him fully. “We still got each other, old man. Dat’s how we done made it dis far, and dat’s how we gon make it on.”

Jeremiah stroked the left side of his wife’s face, loving the wrinkles and grooves as testimony of the longevity of colored love, and he knew at that moment he wouldn’t take anything for the years he and Miss Mary had endured. At one point, years ago, he had hoped she might drop some of the weight that mounted after the birth of each child, but now, staring at her round form, he realized how much more he loved this woman than the one he had married.

“How’s yo’ wound?” she whispered, touching his side gently.

“Oh, it’s fine. Still a little sore, but nothin’ to worry about. You fixed me up good, old lady.”

He kissed her cheek.

“Jes hold me, old man,” she sighed, wrapping her husband’s wiry frame in her wide, thick, safe arms.

“Yous all right wit me, old woman,” Jeremiah smiled. “I don’t know how all dis gon turn out, but I’m sho is glad I got you right next to me.”

Miss Mary met his puckered lips with her own.

“We jes gotta keep on believin’, old man. I speck I oughta get word to Possum tomorrow. We cain’t put it off forever.” She looked to Jeremiah for confirmation. He had hoped this decision would remain unnecessary, but he knew Miss Mary was right.

“Dat girl gon have a fit,” he whimpered, shaking his head sadly. “She done sent him down here to stay wit us, and I done let—”

“You done let?” Miss Mary repeated, sitting up in bed. “I thought we stand together as a family?”

“You know what I mean, honey,” Jeremiah said dismissively.

“Naw, I don’t.” Miss Mary’s tone was terse. “Like tonight at de meetin’. Every time I said anything, you looked at me like I wuzn’t suppose to say nothin’.”

“That ain’t what I meant, Mary. You jes seem to be takin’ over sometimes and—”

“So I wuzn’t spose to have no opinion on nothin’? I wuz spose to jes grin and agree with everything you said?”

“No.” Jeremiah joined Miss Mary in the upright position. “But you is spose to be my helpmeet. I’m de husband.”

“I know what you is, man!” Miss Mary spoke a little too loudly. “But dat don’t mean I’m spose to stop bein’ me.

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