The Upper Room by Mary Monroe

Author:Mary Monroe
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Runaway Teenagers, Everglades (Fla.), Social Science, African American Families, African American Studies, General, African American Women Healers, American, Literary Criticism, Ethnic Studies, Mothers and Daughters, African American, Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Migrant Labor
ISBN: 9780758267344
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Published: 2011-03-29T11:02:48+00:00

Before daylight the next morning, Maureen heard Ruby stomping up the stairs to the upper room. Ruby entered noisily. She snatched open the door, singing “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” at the top of her voice. Maureen pretended to be asleep when Ruby came and stood over her.

“Oh, Mo’reen, you sleep?” Ruby whispered. Maureen said nothing. Ruby leaned over and started to shake Maureen’s shoulder. “Oh, Mo’reen . . . you sleep?”

“Let me alone, I’m tired,” Maureen replied.

“I need to talk to you about somethin real important, darlin. Set up.”

“I know what you want . . . let me alone, Mama Ruby.”

“I do need to talk to you about somethin, Mo’reen.”

“What is it, Mama Ruby?” Maureen opened her eyes wide and sat up.

“Darlin, is Bobby Boatwright comin to the house today?” Ruby asked in a near whisper.

“I don’t know. He was just down here last night.”

“I know. What about that little albino boy that is so crazy about you?”

“What about him?”

“You think he might be comin this way today?”

“I ain’t see him in a long time. You know that.”

“Hmmmm. I wonder why he stopped comin over here?”

“It’s probably because you pulled a gun on him the last time he was here,” Maureen reminded Ruby.

“Oh.”

Ruby sighed and bit her bottom lip.

“When you see him, tell him I ain’t goin to mess with him. Also, ax him to bring me a few beers. If you see Bobby Boatwright first, ax him to get some of his daddy’s beers and bring em to me.”

“Boatwright say he ain’t sendin no more beer to you on credit on account of you never paid him the last time. Snowball scared to come here.”

The albino, Tommy “Snowball” Hutchins, was a twenty-one-year-old who lived on the Belknap migrant camp. He was the only person Maureen knew who was involved with drugs. He had a heroin habit and it was common knowledge that whenever he was coherent, he pursued Maureen. But Bobby was her man and she had only a vague interest in Snowball.

“I don’t want him comin to see me on account of I don’t want to see him,” Maureen said tiredly.

Ruby looked hurt and turned away from Maureen with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Well . . . if he do come here today, ax him to go get me a few beers. I ain’t goin to mention it, but you can run up to his camp and ax him if he plans to come to see you today. That way, you can put in a bid for them beers in advance.”

Maureen let out her breath and gritted her teeth.

“OK, Mama Ruby, you win again. I’ll go see if I can find you some beer. When I get up. It’s too early to be peckin on somebody’s door.” She turned over, turning her back to Ruby.

“Oh horsefeathers!” Ruby pouted. She sighed heavily and started to ramble around in the upper room, humming another one of her spirituals. Maureen turned back over and sat up to find that Ruby was on her knees on the floor looking under the bed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.