The Sittin' Up Read Online Free

my tears, but I cried too.
    â€œIt’s all right, children. It’s a fine day when a colored man gets to die on his own terms,” he said.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    I looked towards Ole River and Slave Grave while Papa finished hitching the wagon. Seem like I could see Mr. Bro. Wiley and all his people gathered there. I thought about what he told me and Pole. The white folk had surely mistreated his family. They didn’t belong at the bottom of the river. I was kind of mad for a minute. Then I thought about how happy Mr. Bro. Wiley must be when he saw his mama, pappy, and Miss Celie Mae face-to-face in heaven.

T HREE
    â€œP apa, I want to spend them final hours with Mr. Bro. Wiley just like the grown folk. I want to go to the sittin’ up.”
    â€œI reckon you-you old enough. You are about to be a teenager. Them years went by so fast,” Papa said as we headed out of the yard. “Low-Low Meadows men take care of our own—the living and the-the dead. Your ma’s right. It’s time you learn how to take care of the dead. I won’t always be here.”
    I tried not to listen to Papa talk about not being around. I just couldn’t think about him dying after watching Mr. Bro. Wiley leave us the night before.
    â€œWell, I think it’s only right that Pole come to the sittin’ up too,” I said.
    â€œYeah, Pole too. If her folk-folk say it’s all right.”
    Ain’t no way in the world I wanted to go to my first sittin’ up without Pole. We’d done everything together all our lives since I didn’t have no sisters and brothers. Willie was so much older than Pole that she barely knew him. Pole was surely the sassiest girl in our school and smart too. Most of all she was my best friend in the world.
    Sometimes, I tried to sneak away to do stuff with the menfolk, but not my first sittin’ up. Pole had to be with me. It wasn’t gonna be easy to tell her that our Mr. Bro. Wiley was gone to glory.
    I looked back at the house where Ma was still standing in the kitchen door.
    Papa threw her another kiss as he turned Mule Bennett towards Stony Hill.
    â€œWhy we headed to Stony Hill?” I asked.
    â€œâ€™Cause-’cause, Son, I got to-to get Lottie Pearl. I heard what your ma said, but we-we can’t leave her alone with Mr. Bro. Wiley. Up-up, Mule Bennett, climb up,” Papa said.
    â€œHow long do you reckon she gonna be sad?” I asked. I really wondered how long we all would grieve for Mr. Bro. Wiley.
    â€œSon, you can’t put-put no time on a grief. Death is a heartbreak that will keep you up at night. Wife will heal by and by. We all will.”
    When Mule Bennett finally made it up Stony Hill, I could see Miss Lottie Pearl sweeping her wide front porch. A slight breeze had a hold of her big flowered beige dress. She wore that dress to the field every day.
    Pole was in the yard, picking up sticks that the storm left behind. Even in her field clothes, she looked pretty. Her white blouse was always ironed and her little denim britches were rolled up neatly around her ankles. The future doctor had on a pair of Mr. Jabo’s gloves to protect the hands that she swore would be those of a surgeon one day.
    Pole was always helping her mama keep their home place clean. The Cofields’ house belonged to Mr. Thomas as did all the houses in the Low Meadows. They worked for him like all coloreds who lived on his land had to do. Their house had the highest porch I had ever seen. Papa said Mr. Thomas built the porch high off the ground ’cause he was scared of the water. He had stayed there one year and then he said the water was still too close for his comfort. He said he got tired of the storms that came often. He asked Papa about moving in the nice house first, but we couldn’t live there with all those steps and Papa’s bad leg. Happy to leave their old stack down at the river, the Cofields moved in that winter Mr.