A Matter of Souls Read Online Free PDF Page B

Daddy, proud as ever, was the one who’d decided they better soften it with “Ann.” The “Baby” part had stuck, even after Miriam had surprised them all ten years ago. Any way it worked out, George was her father’s child more than any of the others.
    And once again, when Hazel looked under her eyes at them while Daddy said a long grace, she wondered for the hundredth time how the blood had mixed up to make
her
so different from everybody else. Well, look so different. It shouldn’t matter in a family, and mostly it didn’t. But to Mama Vee, Hazel was the stain she couldn’t clean away.
    â€œAmen,” their voices united to end the prayer. Glasses and plates and forks clinked.
    â€œOh! Hazel!” Baby George speared a tomato and looked at her sister with bright gray-green eyes. “Lucky Johnson asked me to the dance next Saturday. Didn’t JC ask you?”
    Everything clattered to a stop, and Hazel found herself almost choking. First of all, a boy had asked Baby George to a dance,
and she was happy about it
? And secondly, JC had discussed his plans with his brother, and now her sister—her whole family—knew?
    Mama’s head whipped from one side to the other, and all she could get out was sputter.
    â€œUnbelievable!” Velma Jean and Violet were so surprised that their twin-speak flared up and they said the exact same word at the exact same time.
    â€œI declare, these girls are so fast! Evelyn, you need to do something about your fast girls,” Mama Vee muttered with a frown at her rice and gravy.
    Only Daddy didn’t seem to need to recover from anything.
    â€œWhy, ain’t this nice?” He nodded slowly at Hazel first, then Baby George in turn. “They call that a double date, and how ’bout it’s two brothers and two sisters? Brown Sugar and Baby George is growin’ up into women!”
    Mama coughed. “Now, George, I don’t know about all that. Hazel, maybe … but George Ann’s only fifteen!”
    Baby George opened her mouth to protest, turning beet red, but no words came out and she looked helplessly at Hazel. She really wanted this! Hazel was shocked at George’s moment of weakness, but she wasn’t going tolet her down. “It’s all right, Mama. Lucky and JC are real respectable boys. And you always say George Ann ought to be involved in more ladylike activities. Besides, I’ll be right there. I’ll be her
chaperone
.”
    In some strange way, Miss Clotille had come to the Reed dinner table. Hazel ran a glance past her grandmother’s slow boil, over the twins’ open-mouthed stares, and Miriam’s giggles to look at her parents.
    â€œWell!” Mama breathed. Something like a twinkle sparkled behind the rims of her black eyeglasses. “I guess Miss Clotille has sunk a whole lot of the fine points of culture into you after all, Hazel. I—I don’t know what I’ll make of you if she gets you off to some college …” her words trailed off, almost wistfully.
    Hazel had once spoken to Miss Clotille about the possibility of training at the Colored Normal College, maybe following her footsteps to a classroom somewhere, but Miss Clotille had declined to give advice, saying she didn’t want her to have false hopes. Now Hazel’s hopes weren’t certain, and she wasn’t sure where any college money would come from. Still, a little bit of her had wished for a different kind of reaction.
    So she said nothing to Mama.
    â€œThat’s fine. Just fine,” Daddy said, looking at Hazel hard. “You a girl with natural smarts, Sugar. If life takes you along the school way, that’s all right. And if you have an honest working life, that’s all right too. You got good sense, and that’s what counts. George Ann couldn’t havea better one to look up to.” He said that last sentence with finality and then proceeded to sprinkle