The Cress Series 1: Cress in Waterbee by Joye Johnson

Author:Joye Johnson [Johnson, Joye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Coming of Age, United States, African American, Historical, Teen & Young Adult, Children's eBooks
Amazon: B00OOBAPJ2
Published: 2014-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

14

An Iris, a Violet, and a Little Boy

In October, falling leaves spun their way through Waterbee. They flitted from birch and maple groves, from hills aglow with autumn. Cress and Drew’s walk to school filled with yellow, reds and orange. They had to make the most of those walks, for Drew’s promotion to the fifth class had sent him to Miss Chesterton’s room. Cress was put in the second class, which meant two more years of the fair-haired Miss Stanton.

Drew could no longer put on shows during recess, for he had a later playtime now. When Cress told Guardian Romah that Miss Stanton locked her in during recess, Guardian Romah frowned. But instead of yelling at Miss Stanton again, Romah told Cress that recess was only for a little while, and that she could play when she got home. Romah explained that Armon Cornelle or someone else could make off with her, and Drew would not be there to stop them.

More and more people liked Guardian Romah’s newspaper column. She and Miss Francine got invited to tea every day that she was not at the paper, and she went to a lot of Sunday dinners. She went to more parties too, and sometimes was allowed to bring Cress. Cress had to hold Romah’s bag and fetch things, then sit in a corner with maids or chaperones. They never spoke to Cress, but some talked very loudly about ‘dirty, smelly Negroes who took work from Christian white folk’, and ‘maybe Miss Gornan had a Negro chore girl because she was Negro herself.’ When they came home from a party at the Foresters’, Cress asked Romah if she were Negro.

Romah grew still. They were in the Tulip Room, Romah braiding Cress’s hair for bed. “What on earth would make you ask that?”

Cress felt a bit scared. “Some of the maids said that you picked me for a chore girl because maybe you’re a Negro. But you don’t have my kind of hair, so I don’t think you are.”

Romah heaved a sigh. “Good heavens, where do I begin? First of all, Cress, you are not a chore girl. Chore girls are paid to work for people. Of course you have chores around the house, but so do I. Second, there are certain Negroes who are very light, and their hair is straighter than mine. But I am not a Negro, Cress. I take care of you because I want to. At times you’ll have to pretend you’re my servant, but that’s because people get angry if a Negro is treated the same as a white person. I don’t want those people to hurt you. But it’s only pretend, all right?”

Cress tied on her night cap. There had been something scary in her guardian’s voice, but it was gone now. “All right.”

* * *

“Beware the ides of December.” Drew looked up through the school’s leafless oak tree, Jayce’s leash in hand. “It’s really winter now.”

Cress tied on a scarf as snow fell from the gray above.

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