Home > Books > The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois(72)

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois(72)

Author:Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

“The young lady was Aunt Olivia?”

“Correct. Olivia Ellen Hargrace. The best woman in the world, after my mother. And that’s why I took her last name.”

“Okay . . . but what does any of this have to do with David?”

“Well, Olivia forgave me, in my youthful foolishness. Do you think you could do that with David James?”

“Why are you being so nosy? Did he say something to you?”

“Ailey, I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

“But you’re my uncle, not his! And I thought we were best buddies!”

“Wait a minute. Don’t get your pressure up. Let me explain.”

“I gotta go. Take me back to the farm—”

“No, no, please listen. Give me a chance.”

I sighed. Leaned back on the sofa and folded my arms. “Fine, Uncle Root.”

“Thank you. Now, you are indeed correct. Despite the difference in our ages, you are my closest and dearest friend. I adore you to the moon and back, but I’m a man of honor, Ailey Pearl. And just as I would never betray your confidences, I cannot betray Brother David’s. I can tell you, however, that he has never said anything negative about you. Whenever he speaks your name, it is always with sincere reverence and affection. I hope that reassures you.”

“Whatever. I don’t care what he has to say anyway.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” He looked at the chessboard. “Lord, child, that’s checkmate again! You have to learn to protect your queen! Let’s start over and see if I can school you before I take you back to the country.”

“But, Uncle Root—”

He held up a hand. “No, sugarfoot. Your granny’s preserves can wait. Mastering chess cannot.”

Song

Why Women Are Strong

Back when her name had been “Beauty,” Aggie’s grandmother had told her men were stronger than women, save one exception: women’s times of bleeding. Helen had said in the moon house women bled and watched the fire. They talked together. They sang together and told stories. To men, this place was a curse. Blood was a curse. A smelly stain on the thighs of the weak. Yet women knew the power of dark jewels. That the moon house was not for the cursed and the weak but for the strong and the blessed.

Helen explained, their power was why women had to stay away from men during their bleedings. Though Helen had been a Christian, the old Creek lore had been passed down to her and she knew a story of a great Creek warrior. This warrior had ridden his horse so fast, to regard him was like trying to catch lightning. His clan had been powerful and undefeated, and the men that they conquered in battle, they had insulted by comparing them to women.

The warrior was very careful about who cooked and served his food, too, and came within his reach. He had several wives that he insisted live far apart, so that they would not bleed together; thus, he was never in the range of a woman “on her moon.” Yet one evening, a young maiden from an enemy village sneaked into this warrior’s village. This maiden was in her bleeding time, and instead of sleeping and living in a moon house, she was freely walking about. Thus, when she walked around the undefeated warrior’s hut, she touched the walls. At the cooking pit in front of his hut, she waited until the other women’s backs were turned and stirred the pots. That night, when the warrior called for a woman to warm him, the maiden volunteered. As the maiden and warrior kissed, she whispered that she had a surprise for him. When she disrobed and he saw the blood on her thighs, he yelled and reached for his knife. The warrior easily killed the maiden, but by then, it was too late.

The next time the warrior rode into battle, his clan was defeated, and the time after that, the warrior was killed.

How Aggie Was Brought to the Moon House

One day, as Aggie was headed to the fields with her chopping hoe, Carson Franklin stopped her. He was the son of Aidan, the white man who had moved his family to the shadow of the mound many years before. Carson still lived on that same land on which his own sons still could not make cotton grow.

Carson was the overseer, in charge of the Quarters-folks working in the field. He told Aggie he needed her to walk with him to the moon house. And Aggie was afraid, as she had heard from women in the Quarters that Carson had dragged them to the moon house and attempted to ravish them, but he proved incapable. And when Carson was unable to rouse himself with these slave women, he beat them instead.

Ordinarily, the moon house was unused: it was off-limits to the Negresses on the farm. Aggie had seen them abashed as their bleeding began. They ran from the fields with red stains on their skirts. These embarrassing moments had happened to Aggie as well. This farm was not like the place where her mother and father and grandparents had lived, where bleeding women, including Aggie and Kiné, were allowed their privacy and sacred space. As a tiny girl, Aggie had stayed at this small cabin with Kiné, until she was old enough to leave her mother’s breast and be cared for by Helen. When Aggie had entered the cabin because of her own blood, Kiné and she had stayed there together again. It had been a precious time, just the two of them.

 72/304   Home Previous 70 71 72 73 74 75 Next End