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“Well, it’s about time you all got here,” said Uncle Hammer when he opened the door to us. It was midmorning and we had driven through the night, but had seen the sun rise over California.
“We were getting worried,” his wife, Loretta, said, standing beside him. “Come on in, come on.” Aunt Loretta was a vibrant woman, voluptuously built, with bright red lipstick and long red fingernails and formfitting clothes. She was a divorced lady with two grown children whom we had never met. Uncle Hammer had married her ten years ago. He had brought her only once to Mississippi so we all could meet her. Soon after that, he had made his move to California, and though he had been back to Mississippi since, Aunt Loretta had not come with him. She was a Chicago woman and very much unlike the women back home in our community. She was a looker, as the men liked to say, and dressed loudly, as the women liked to say, but she seemed to fit Uncle Hammer. I liked her.
“So, what took you so long?” asked Aunt Loretta as we seated ourselves on plush gray furniture.
“You know we told you on the phone,” said Stacey, “trip would take us three or four days. Would have made that time if we hadn’t gotten held up in Iowa.”
“Car broke down,” Christopher-John explained.
“Well, why didn’t you call?” asked Aunt Loretta. “We’re not in Mississippi, you know.” The reference of course was to the fact that no one in our Mississippi community had a telephone. That in itself had been unnerving to Aunt Loretta when she visited. “We’ve got telephones here,” she finished.
“I think they know that,” Uncle Hammer said brusquely, and leaned back in his chair. “Now that you’re here, what’s your plan, Stacey?”
“Like I told you, Uncle Hammer, get a job if I can. If I can do that and it seems steady, I’ll bring my family out.”
Uncle Hammer took a cigarette from a silver box. Aunt Loretta came over and took one as well. I had been surprised the first time I had seen her smoke. No other woman in our family smoked. In fact, I had seen no other woman in our community smoke. Out of respect, Aunt Loretta had not smoked in the house or in the presence of Big Ma, Papa, or Mama, but she had lit up in front of the boys and me. She lit Uncle Hammer’s cigarette with a lighter, then lit her own, and sat back down. Uncle Hammer watched her, then looked again at the boys and me. “And what about the rest of you? You all planning on jobs out here too?” He looked directly at Christopher-John.
“Well, I don’t know yet, Uncle Hammer,” Christopher-John answered. “I’ve got a part-time job at a dealership and the owner said maybe I could be full-time if I come back. Right now, I’m just on leave, but they’re holding my job for me for a few weeks.”
Uncle Hammer drew on his cigarette. “What about you, Little Man?”
I laughed. “He doesn’t answer to ‘Little Man’ anymore, Uncle Hammer. Says that’s the name for a child.”
Clayton Chester spoke up for himself. “Man’s okay, Uncle Hammer, you want to call me that. I still answer to family, no one else. I just don’t like being called ‘Little’ Man anymore.”
“Why should you?” stated Uncle Hammer. “Childhood names sometimes stick a little too long. Sometimes folks forget your given name, they call you by these nicknames so long. Folks used to call me ‘Babe’ ’til I put a stop to it. So, in answer to my question, you planning on staying here?”
“Haven’t made up my mind yet. I’ve been accepted in the engineering program at the University of Toledo under the G.I. Bill, but if I stay here, I’ll apply to a California college. Depends on Stacey.”
“You got a girl?”
Christopher-John laughed. “Yes, sir, he’s got a girl all right! Man’s always got a girl!” Man shot him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything.
“And what about you?” Uncle Hammer asked of Christopher-John. “You thinking on marrying soon?”
Now it was Man’s turn to laugh. “More than likely, he’ll be married before the year’s out.” Christopher-John smiled and made no reply.
Uncle Hammer nodded at that. “The boys have all had their say, Cassie. Still waiting on you. What are your plans, or are you waiting on what Stacey does too?”
“Pretty much. Course, too, I just wanted to see the country.”
“And what do you think about the country?”
“Learning about it.”
“And just what did you learn?”
“You really want me to tell you?”
“I ask a thing, I expect an answer.”
That was a fact. So I told him in detail about Iowa, about Wyoming. I told him about the food we had ordered and walked out on, leaving the threat of the police coming after us.
“Y’all did that?” exclaimed Aunt Loretta. “Oh, y’all bad!”
Uncle Hammer looked at her. “Could’ve done worse.”
“Oh, baby, I know you have,” she said, grinning widely at him. Uncle Hammer only grunted and looked away. “Well, on that note,” said Aunt Loretta, “looks like that’s my sign to go fix some food for y’all. This man’s already grumpy from waiting for y’all, so I better get this food on the table.”
I rose to help.
Aunt Loretta waved her hand at me. “Ah, girl, sit down! You’re tired and fact is, I do better by myself. Just talk to your uncle. He’s been talking ’bout hardly nothing else since he heard y’all was coming. I’ll call you when the food’s on the table.” As she passed Uncle Hammer, she leaned down and kissed the top of his head. Uncle Hammer showed no reaction except to look after her as she passed. The boys and I smiled at that. As gruff as Uncle Hammer could be, it was obvious that Aunt Loretta was his match. We also knew that though Uncle Hammer could be gruff in manner, there was always love in his heart for his family, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for the people he loved.
After we had eaten, Uncle Hammer said, “Now that you got food in your stomach, there’s a man I want you to meet, Stacey. He’s a colored fella, owns a trucking company. Man named Strickland. I’ve talked to him about you. Told him you’d had experience driving big rigs. We can go see him now, ’less you feel you need some sleep first.”
“Slept in the car. I’m not tired. Course, I would like to wash up first.”
“We all would,” I said.
“Well, then, I’ll show y’all upstairs,” Aunt Loretta volunteered, getting up from the table.
I got up too, picked up my empty plate, but then Aunt Loretta stopped me.