I was seated next to Papa. Uncle Hammer was across the table, next to Denise. I turned to Papa. Sweat was pouring down his face.
Papa grunted. “Well, what you expect, Hammer? It’s hot out here.”
“Yeah, course it is. But you don’t see me sweating like you.” Uncle Hammer, as always, was blunt.
Papa gave him a look. “Body just different, that’s all.”
“Maybe. But I never seen you sweating like this, no matter how hot it got.”
I hadn’t either. I touched Papa’s arm. His shirt was damp. “Papa, you sure you’re all right?”
Papa looked at me. “Just fine, baby girl. Do something for me now. Go get me some of that nice cold ice cream we just churned. It’ll cool me down.”
“Better cool you down,” said Uncle Hammer. “Got a lot of work to do on this church these next few days.”
“Don’t worry, Hammer,” said Papa. “We’ll get it done. Can’t afford not to.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
On Monday morning Stacey drove Dee, Rie, and ’lois down to the Davises. Stacey stayed the night and returned the next morning to begin working on the church. Both Rie and ’lois wanted to help with the rebuilding so they arranged for one of their Davis cousins to bring them back on Wednesday. Another one of the Davises would bring Dee on Friday, and we would all be leaving, along with Christopher-John and Man and their families, on Saturday. All day Monday I worked at the church with Christopher-John, Man, Papa, and Uncle Hammer. Stacey joined us on Tuesday. On both days in late afternoon, we went back home, washed up, had an early supper, and returned to the church grounds for the evening revival service.
After the Tuesday service the boys and I sat with Mama, Papa, Big Ma, and Uncle Hammer around the dining table. Becka and Rachel and the children were staying with a couple of the sisters and their families and they had been since their arrival. There were just too many family members to stay here in the house. With the windows open wide as a thunderstorm approached, we enjoyed some cornbread mixed in clabbered milk and some of Big Ma’s coconut pies. We talked about the night’s sermon, about what was happening all around Mississippi, about our land, and about what the future could hold for us all. Stacey, however, said very little. He had sat quietly throughout with a scowl on his face, looking as if his thoughts were elsewhere.
“You’ve been mighty quiet there, Stacey,” said Papa after a while. “Something on your mind?”
Stacey thumped the table with his fingers and looked at Papa. “Yes, sir, as a matter of fact, there is. It’s ’lois.”
“’lois?” questioned Mama. “That child’s never given you a moment’s worry.”
“Not until now,” said Stacey.
I smiled, knowing what this was all about. Both ’lois and Stacey had told me. ’lois was now a student at the University of Toledo, and although she was studying to be a teacher, she planned not to teach in the States when she graduated. She wanted to teach in Africa. She had applied to the Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy’s new international program to aid developing nations. This was most upsetting to Stacey, who couldn’t fathom his daughter being so far away that he could offer her no protection. He told everybody about ’lois’s plan. “On top of that, she’s saying she wants to be a writer, not a teacher. Now, how is she going to make a living being a writer?”
“She’s a Logan,” Uncle Hammer said. “That’s what she wants, she’ll figure it out.”
Stacey stared at Uncle Hammer, as if not understanding why he wasn’t supporting him in his opposition to ’lois’s plans. But Uncle Hammer wasn’t the only one supporting ’lois. “The Peace Corps?” Mama said thoughtfully. “Oh, the opportunities these young people have these days!”
Stacey, looking stunned, turned to Mama. “You support her in this?”
“I do. Young woman can broaden her horizons, learn so much about the world. I would have liked to have had that opportunity myself when I was her age.”
“But, Mama, she might go over there, get married, then she’ll never come home!”
“Well, what does Dee have to say about all this?” asked Papa.
“You know Dee. She’s scared for ’lois, like she was scared for Rie in those sit-ins, but all she’ll say is long as ’lois is happy and figures she’s doing the right thing for herself, then Dee’s all right with it. She can say that, but I’m not going to have it!” The scowl etched deeper into his face. This was not the plan he had for his daughters, Rie following her own mind, protesting and getting put in jail, and ’lois going off to faraway Africa. “All I want is for them to get married to some good men and give me and Dee some grandchildren and stop all this other stuff. Maybe then I’ll stop worrying about them.”
Both Mama and Papa smiled knowingly, and Papa said, “Believe me, son, you never will. Long as you’re on this earth and they’re here on it with you, you never will stop worrying. They can be as old as me, and you’re still going to worry.”
“Ain’t that the truth!” exclaimed Big Ma with a burst of laughter. Mama and Papa laughed too.
Stacey just looked at them and did not laugh. He found nothing funny about his daughters’ rebellious actions, nothing humorous at all. He had brought up Rie and ’lois in his own image and now they were going off on their own paths. He had done his job well, but right now we all knew he was regretting it. I figured though in time Stacey would get over it and be proud of the daughters he had raised. They were the new generation.
Big Ma sighed heavily. “That child go off to Africa, then I s’pose that’s one more I can’t count on to be on this land.”
“What you mean, Mama?” said Papa.
Big Ma shared her worries. “I don’t mind tellin’ y’all, I’m real worried ’bout what’s gonna happen to this land. I mean, after I’m gone. Ain’t got much time left here on this earth—”
“Ah, Big Ma,” I said, cutting her off, not liking to hear her talk like this.
“Hush, child! It’s the truth. The Bible says three score and ten, that’s all that can be expected if we’re so blessed. The good Lord, though, done seen fit to keep me here way longer than that, and I know He got His reasons for doin’ it, and I thank Him for allowin’ me to be here with my children and my grandchildren and seein’ my great-grands all growin’ up, but I know I ain’t gonna always be here.” She took a moment, then looked from Uncle Hammer to Papa. “For that matter, my boys won’t always be here either. Once they’re gone, then what comes of this land?”