Rhythms of Grace Read Online Free Page B

it down,” she said from somewhere so far away it seemed like a dream.
    “I ain’t putting nothing down. This is my boy.”
    She did put it down, though. Mama put it down and stepped away, backed up against the wall.
    Miss Eva tried to talk to her while Brian helped me up.
    “Thanks,” I said, not really looking at him. I’d told him never to bring anybody, but this time I guess I was glad. Still, my mother was shouting with Brian’s mother in the corner, and I didn’t know how it might turn out. Miss Eva talked calm, but I’d seen her snatch Brian off a basketball court while he was in midair. She was nobody to play with.
    “Yeah,” he said back with a quick nod.
    Miss Eva smiled at Mama and took a deep breath. “Marie, I know you and I knew your mama too. I know that man done you bad and I’m sorry, but this has gone on too long. Now stop before you beat this child to death.” She walked over to me and touched the side of my face.
    Child? I was no child. I was a man. And my grandmother? Miss Eva had never mentioned knowing her. I tried to recall what she looked like. A kind voice. A soft touch. And nice eyes. Brown eyes. No face would come.
    I tried to sit up, knowing without looking that Mama was gone. Her shows were private. Though Mama would never admit it, she was embarrassed by Eva’s kindnesses and hated them for knowing our secrets probably more than she was prejudiced against them. That was Miss Eva’s theory anyway. She restated it again as she crushed me to her bosom. “Don’t you mind your mama. She’s just shamed at me seeing her like this.”
    “I told him not to bring you. She’s got a gun.” I whispered the words into the flowers on her dress.
    “Marie is bad off, I know, but Brian Michael was so upset. I was just going to come up here to talk before I called the police. Then I heard you scream when we was still a ways down the road. Lord, that scream . . .”
    That stupid screaming. If I’d only held out a little longer, she probably would have fallen asleep and everything could go back like before. “I didn’t mean to scream,” I said without looking at Brian. “She caught me by surprise. I’m sorry. She could’ve got the gun and shot y’all or something . . .”
    Miss Eva’s chest moved up and down. It made my head hurt, but I stayed put.
    “The Lord looks after babies and fools, right? It looks like we both qualify today. And don’t worry about screaming, baby. Don’t ever stop.” She pulled away and held me in front of her. “Someday you might even have to scream for somebody else.”
    Brian draped my arm over his shoulder.
    I grabbed on to the wall. “My notebook. In the room. Third drawer. Can you get it?”
    A grin inched across Miss Eva’s face. “The word of your testimony. Have you been writing every day like Joyce told y’all? That’s almost half your grade, you know.” She held me up while Brian darted into the next room.
    It hurt to breathe. “I’m trying.”
    I thought about what the room might look like to Brian, even in the light of the street. I shrugged. He’d seen worse. He’d seen things that nobody else had. To prove it, he came back seconds later with the notebook shoved under his arm. “Let’s go,” he said, having had enough experience with Mama to see the wisdom in a quick getaway.
    We went out the door and down the steps together, all the family each other had. There weren’t any words to be said, so none of us looked for any. As the rain baptized us, curtains inched back at the windows we passed by. Even in the storm and shame, Miss Eva smiled and waved her hand as the drapes fell back into place.
    Brian didn’t slow down until we stopped at his place, a yellow frame house with pink roses. I tried to walk inside by myself, but Brian wouldn’t let go.
    I shook my head. “Don’t, man. I’ve got this.” I didn’t have it, not my strength or anything else. If it weren’t for the rain, I’d have passed out on the way. Brian knew