White Lines Read Online Free PDF Page B

in the door. She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her daughter.
    “Out,” Jada answered, as she breezed past her mother and walked into the kitchen.
    “I know you were out, Jada. Out where?” Edna asked, following Jada closely.
    “Ma, I went out. What’s the problem?” Jada asked, nonchalantly. She poured herself some juice and stood there in the kitchen and drank it. When she’d drained the glass, she looked at her mother and grinned. Then she turned to wash out her glass.
    “The problem is, I told you to be home by ten o’clock. It’s almost one o’clock in the morning, Jada. You’ve got school tomorrow.”
    Jada frowned, seeming confused by her mother’s concern. “Oh, so now you care about my education? Since when?
Oh, that’s right.
I almost forgot, J.D. is dead. So
now
you have time to worry about me. I’m having a hard time getting used to that.
Now
you wanna be a parent?”
    Edna stood silently and soaked up her daughter’s cold words. Jada knew that whenever she brought up J.D. and Edna’s failure to protect her daughters, Edna was defenseless. There was nothing she could say to that. Edna’s voice was low as she spoke. “Jada, I need you to be in this house at a decent time every night. I’m not gonna keep putting up with you coming in here this late.”
    Jada smirked. “What you gonna do?” Her tone was defiant. She was challenging her mother. “What are you gonna do if I don’t listen to you, Ma?”
    Edna picked up on the mockery in Jada’s tone. “I can put you out of here. You can make it on your own, just like your sister.”
    Jada laughed. “You can do that. That’s what you want, anyway. To get rid of both of us, so you don’t have to worry about us no more. Go ahead and put me out. Ava already hates you. Go ‘head and make me hate you, too.”
    Edna stood, silently fighting back tears. Disgusted, Jada rolled her eyes and walked off to her bedroom and shut the door, knowing that Edna’s threats were empty ones. Jada knew how to manipulate Edna’s emotions and break the woman down. She thrived on her ability to reduce her mother to tears.
    What Jada had said to Edna was true. Ava did hate her. But Jada didn’t. What she hated was the weakness in her. She hated that about her. But other than that, Jada felt sorry for her mother. Edna was a pitiful excuse for a woman, in Jada’s opinion. She was powerless and toofragile. She was too strict, and she had waited too long to try to play the role of a parent. For too many years the girls had witnessed one emotional meltdown after another from their mother. So to have her suddenly attempt to enforce rules was something neither of them welcomed. Jada wanted freedom.
    But what she needed was a firm hand. She needed her mother’s strength and control. But Edna had neither and she couldn’t even hide it. She felt useless and unloved by all the men in her life. And now her own daughters were against her. Edna felt as guilty as Jada and Ava wanted her to. And she was too timid and guilt-ridden to do anything other than sit by and let her daughter get away with murder. Part of her was frustrated by Jada’s strong will and rebelliousness. And another part of her was just unwilling to
try
to control her child. Edna had spent her whole life handing over control to someone else. So she allowed Jada to have control over her own destiny. In essence, Edna gave up.
    Ava was out of her jurisdiction. Edna didn’t even really try to control what Ava did or how she behaved. She knew that she had done Ava wrong, so she never gave her much grief or really tried to parent Ava. She left that up to the people running the home. Her life had turned out in a way that she had never imagined it would. So Edna began to seek solace in the arms of Jesus Christ. Him, and Mr. Charlie.
     
    “I told you, ain’t nobody gettin’ high!” Jada yelled.
    “Come on, now!” Edna’s attempt at yelling fell sadly short. “Your eyes are bloodshot half the