The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

Author:Ayana Mathis [Mathis, Ayana]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical, Azizex666
ISBN: 9780385350280
Google: QtRdMXJqQoIC
Amazon: 0385350287
Barnesnoble: 0385350287
Goodreads: 13320466
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2012-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

PEARL AND BENNY CROSSED the Mason-Dixon Line into Pennsylvania. It was safe to stop, so they pulled onto the shoulder of the highway and got out to stretch their legs and relieve themselves. Pearl walked deep into the wood that bordered the road. It was just after dawn and the dew soaked through the ankles of her stockings. These northern forests smell different, she thought, more like tree bark and less like earth and moss. Oh, but that’s silly, we only just crossed the line, and it’s not as though the trees changed because we left Jim Crow.

Fallen acorns pressed against the soles of Pearl’s shoes and into the balls of her feet. She had an urge to take off her pumps and rub her feet in the dirt. Pearl never went into the wood near her house in Macon. She preferred cultivated places. She squatted behind a wide tree, one hand on its trunk for balance and the other pulling her girdle away from her body so she wouldn’t dirty it. She squatted there so long her thighs ached and a wide puddle formed beneath her. The cool air felt nice on her backside, but she couldn’t help looking around to see if anyone was there.

This is the last morning of my childlessness, Pearl thought. The closer she got to Philadelphia the more euphoric she felt—the white men at the rest stop didn’t matter anymore nor Benny’s scorn nor even Hattie’s anger. She would come to see she’d made the right decision. Even that fool August knew it.

Pearl’s knees cracked when she stood. A few feet behind her a chestnut tree was all but picked clean by squirrels, so she walked further into the forest to find another one. She wondered if Ella had ever seen a chestnut tree. She’d probably never seen lots of things: peach trees, sugar beet fields, the horses some of the country people rode into town now and again. She hoped the baby was healthy. Marion had said Hattie was looking worn and sickly. To think Hattie had accused her of trying to buy Ella! She sent that money to put food in those children’s stomachs, and Hattie had reduced it to a bribe. She’d taken the money though, hadn’t she?

Hattie had never been easy to love. She was too quiet, it was impossible to know what she was thinking. And she was angry all of the time and so disdainful when her lofty principles weren’t satisfied. When they were girls, Pearl tagged along behind Hattie wherever she went. Hattie held some part of herself back no matter how devoted Pearl was, no matter how much Pearl loved her. She still loved her, though Hattie made her feel like a failure. Even now, poor as she was and crammed in that house with all of those children, Hattie was as proud and self-sufficient as she was when they were girls in Georgia and their father was the only Negro business owner in town. Even the dole probably hadn’t broken her.

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