Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

Author:Jesmyn Ward [Ward, Jesmyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

A-MEE HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO START THE COLLARD GREENS. THE most she'd accomplished was washing them in the sink, where she felt the dirt of the garden at the back of the house give underneath her fingers like the silt of a riverbank and wash down the drain. Joshua had done the laundry while she was grocery shopping with Rita, and when she walked in the door, the house smelled of comet and fabric softener; he had cleaned the kitchen, too. She found a bushel of greens in the sink. Joshua had picked them. He said the heat was wilting them. The twins had jumped up from the floor to run outside and get the groceries from Rita's trunk and when Joshua brushed her on his way to the counter with a bag, her chest hurt. She did not want to tell them about Samuel. The twins snorted laughter at the TV, and she could not bring herself to take out the pot, to cut the seasoning, to begin cooking. She sat down next to Joshua on the sofa. Lying on the floor, Christophe rolled over to face her.

"I got something to tell y'all." She had made a mistake in not sitting in her chair. A fly was buzzing a slow funeral dirge around the living room. It would die soon. She hesitated.

"We already know," Christophe said.

"You do?"

"Yes, ma'am. Laila told me and I told Joshua. It's okay. He had to come back sometime."

"Who told you?" asked Joshua.

"He came by the house." Christophe sat up. Joshua scooted closer to her. She laid her hand over his and began making small circles on the back. It was the way she'd rubbed his back as a baby. She made herself stop. "It's alright. He came by and asked after y'all. He wasn't bothering me none."

"He didn't ask you for no money, did he?" Christophe was on his knees. The fly had stopped buzzing. Perhaps it had died.

"No. I just don't want y'all to be surprised."

"I should've been here." Christophe breathed.

"You can't be here all the time, Chris."

"Maybe I should say something to him. Make it so he won't come back over here and bother you." He paused. "He on that stuff again. I heard."

"Naw." Joshua was almost off the sofa. Ma-mee's hand fell to her side. "Just stay around. He know Uncle Paul be coming home for lunch." Joshua swallowed, then said it. "He wouldn't steal from his own blood.

"Ain't no blood. He a junkie, Jay. You know how that go."

Ma-mee made a shushing noise. "Don't let him bother y'all none. He just a sad man." She closed her eyes and saw his younger face; that lovely face so like her boys' own, but sneaky, shifty, as if it lacked the integrity of bones underneath. "Just a sad, lost man."

"So you don't want me to say nothing to him, Ma-mee?" said Christophe.

"I'm sure." She patted Joshua's arm and sat in her own chair. She let her hands hang over the armrests. "Felt like I done walked some miles.

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