Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Author:Sadeqa Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2021-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

Keys of Delight

The next day, Tommy found me coming out the house and said the Jailer wanted to see me. I had not spent much time in the tavern, and had to adjust my eyes to see because everything looked dark. The chairs were deep burgundy and the round tables were stained cherry. A long mirror hung behind the bar, and a man in a white shirt was wiping down the countertop. The room smelled like tobacco, musk, and peanuts. The Jailer sat at a corner table in front of his account ledger.

“Pheby.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it. Then he rubbed my belly.

He thought the baby to be a boy, but I knew it was a girl by the way my looks had deserted me. My cheeks had broken out in red dots, and my eyes looked too small for my nose. My hands resembled those of a man’s, and my ankles were thick like tree stumps.

“You wanted to see me?”

“I need you to play tonight. Important clients coming from Kentucky.”

“Here in the tavern?”

We both knew that women were only there to serve drinks and entertain with their bodies. I had no practice with the former and no intention of doing the latter.

“I will be here the whole time. No one will lay a finger on you. You are mine.” He smiled.

Essex had said those same words to me, and now look at what I had become.

“Put on a pretty dress and fix your hair. Play something happy. I want these men to spend money.”

I nodded and exited the tavern. I had not played in front of an audience since Miss Sally hosted parties at the Bell plantation, but there was little time to practice or pull together a repertoire of music. I had no choice but to make it work.

Monroe and July were out back behind the kitchen playing peek-a-boo. When I walked up, Monroe held onto the side of the table with one hand while bouncing on his little knees. Four teeth had come in, and he drooled all down his chin. He looked so much like Essex that the sensation of it caught me in the center of my chest. As soon as he saw me, he fell to his bottom and crawled along the small patch of grass. I picked him up and nuzzled my head in his neck. Elsie came out the kitchen rubbing her hands on her apron.

“Spoilin’ him.”

“What is it to you?” I asked.

“Boy ain’t gon’ know he a slave you keep this up.”

“He is not a slave.”

She laughed. “You thinkin’ ’cause you up at the big house that boy ain’t no slave? Chile, you ain’t smart as you think.”

“What is for dinner?”

“Porridge and carrots. That pleasin’ you, Missus?” Elsie mocked me.

“Mind your tongue.” I carried Monroe toward the house.

“She gon’ learn,” Elsie mumbled under her breath, but I kept walking like I did not hear.

I put her out of my head as Monroe and I played awhile. Then I sat him on the floor next to the piano so that I could practice.

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