“But how many of the Chinese who come here are trained? I thought China was a poor farming country,” I say, as I realize that the only thing I know about China is opium and rice. “Didn’t the dead nearly overrun the country in only a few weeks?”
Carolina shrugged. “That’s most places. And rich white people don’t care about training, they just want to feel safe. White people have the money, Chinese people have the numbers and are well organized, and everyone else is left out in the cold. Plus, space is getting scarce inside the wall. Now that the East Coast is gone people have started thinking about being behind walls in a way they haven’t since the Chaos Years. This area is hotly contested, and someone has tried burning out the colored folks no fewer than three times. Most of these people lost everything in the last fire, including their loved ones. There ain’t a lot to keep the Negro in San Francisco. Folks are hard-pressed to stay when there are better places to go. Ahh, here we are, Miss Mellie May’s boardinghouse.”
The building we stop in front of is barely standing. It lists ever so slightly and there are burn marks along the facade. It is a small sign of the fires Carolina mentioned, but there is more evidence all around us; as I inspect the land, I see the remnants of so many more buildings, all burned to the ground. No wonder this entire sector of the city is tents and hastily erected clapboard structures. No sense in building something permanent in this place, and anyone with a clue and the ability to leave has most likely gotten out.
We make our way up the stairs of Miss Mellie May’s house, and my heart is heavy. All my hopes and dreams have turned to ashes, and for the briefest moment I consider grabbing Carolina’s arm and having him take us over to the white sector. Sue could pretend to be hired help, and Lily could be my younger sister. Things would be awful at first, but eventually I could perhaps learn to forget who I am, to ignore the snide comments about Negroes and don a mantle of gross indifference. And Lily is young and has spent the past few years passing.
But then I look at Sue, and I do not know how I could even consider dragging her to a place where her skin makes her a target every single waking moment. I think about the months I spent back in Summerland, laughing to hide my discomfort, pretending that I shared the same ideas about the world as those fine white families, and the way I felt as though a very important part of me was slowly dying, a brilliant rose robbed of light and sustenance.
This world may hate the Negro, but that is who I am. I do not care about the story my skin tells. I am a colored woman, and I will not let them make me hate myself.
Carolina raps on the door three times, and it is yanked open by an immaculately dressed Negro woman. She is nearly as dark as Sue and her complexion sets off the peacock-blue traveling suit she wears in a way that steals my breath. This woman, who I am taking to be the eponymous Miss Mellie May, is tiny, but exudes all of the ferocity of an alley cat.
A pencil-thin eyebrow cocks upward when she takes in our merry band. “Seamus, you bring me a bunch of riffraff to care for again?”
“Seamus?” Lily barks out. “Your given name is Seamus?” Sue and I exchange a glance, and she stifles a grin. The way Lily says the name, SHAAAAAYYYYYmus, makes it as clear as day why Carolina put that proper name behind him.
He clears his throat and, ignoring Lily, says, “I brought you boarders, Mellie. Paying customers. These girls here have come all the way from Nawlins on the Capitán, and they aim to make a name for themselves out here in the West. Did I mention they’re paying customers?”
Miss May huffs out a little breath and puts her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s nice, but seeing as how I’m heading to Sacramento for the foreseeable future, it’s a little bit too late. Plus, don’t think I’ve forgotten about the money you owe me.”
I look from Carolina to the boardinghouse proprietress, and frown. “Do you two know each other?”
Miss May gives Carolina a bit of side-eye. “This fool is my brother, unfortunately.”
“Her older and wiser brother,” Carolina says with a rakish grin.
“If you’re wiser, how’d you end up getting robbed by that saloon owner last time you were here? Too dumb not to remember to stay out of the gambling halls.”
Carolina clears his throat and puffs on his cigar, his embarrassment etched on his face. “Why are you going to Sacramento? You finally getting hitched?” he asks, deftly changing the subject.
Miss May rolls her eyes. “Juliet has an outfit up there escorting folks up into the mountains and back down again. It’s a bit of a treacherous trip to her outpost, but a bunch of us left here are going to make our way there. There’s nothing left for me in San Francisco.” She lowers her eyes and blinks. “And before you start lecturing me about how important this place was to Momma, let me tell you that Mei’s family came for her, again, and this time she went. She was the last good thing about this place and without her I am disinclined to stay.”
Carolina’s chagrined expression melts into one of sorrow. “Mellie, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I should’ve known the moment I saw her that she was going to break my heart.”
The pain written on the woman’s face is naked and raw, and my sympathy goes out to her. Carolina is looking six kinds of uncomfortable, so I push around him to talk to the proprietress myself.
“Miss May, I am so sorry for your heartbreak. I’m Katherine Deveraux; this is my colleague Sue—just Sue—and our protégé, Lily Keats. You say there is a group of people here going to Sacramento, and I must say that I am intrigued by this prospect! Being newly arrived in San Francisco, I will admit I am a bit dismayed at the opportunities for Negroes here. I had heard that California was a land of opportunity for all. . . . Pray tell, how do the fortunes of colored girls like us look in Sacramento?”
Miss May’s expression shifts into one of curiosity. “Well, I would say that the fortunes of enterprising young ladies are vastly superior in Sacramento to what they are here. The Chinese presence is smaller, and most of the white folks have fled north to Oregon. Not only that, but there is a strong contingent of Buffalo Soldiers up that way, many of them keeping the cavalry tradition strong and the area safe from the occasional dead. But, you say this little one is your protégé. What, exactly, are you girls about?”
I laugh, the sound high, tinkling, and amiable. “Oh, Miss May, we are experts in the defensive arts. As you can see from Sue’s broadsword, she specializes in horde clearing; I myself focus on personal defense. Lily here is learning both disciplines, and though she is nigh passable at this point, I daresay that in a few years she will be a marvel to rival Hattie McCrea.”
Miss May frowns. “I don’t know who that is, but you girls do look well-fed. And capable.”
Carolina knows an opening when he sees it. “Oh, the girls are more than capable, Mellie. I was trying to get them to stay on the Capitán, but I’m afraid I couldn’t convince them.”
“Well, of course not, that smelly old ship doesn’t have anything to offer a cadre of audacious young ladies. I daresay it’s hardly any better than San Francisco here. But Sacramento”—Miss May pauses and grins winningly—“there you could find your fortune.”