Free Mama B - A Time to Mend (Book 4) by Michelle Stimpson

sworn to
uphold and protect. I got to report child abuse when I see it. And I can assure
you— that house is child abuse! I feel assaulted right now
and I didn’t even walk more than ten feet inside.”
    I felt Ophelia’s gentle grasp
on my arm. “She’s got a point, B.”
    “Well, that was the whole
purpose in us coming over here, to help get the place in order. I know this
house is dangerous, which is why I wanted to help Julia by cleaning it. If more
folk would help each other out, we wouldn’t need to get the law involved on
everything,” I reasoned as we huddled at the street curb. “Back in my day, when
we saw a neighbor strugglin’ with a problem, we tried to help get it fixed
before gettin’ the police and such involved. Say if a woman’s husband hit her,
all she had to do was go tell her Daddy and her brothers, or her pastor and
he’d round up some deacons. They’d go over there and set that joker straight.”
    “But B, times was different
then,” Ophelia said. “We handled our problems in our community because we
didn’t want to turn nobody over to the police. We knew once a black man went
off in the police car, we might not see him no mo’.”
    We heard a beatin’ sound
coming from up the hill. All of us turned toward Julia’s house again. She had
got our attention by hittin’ the glass window. She mouthed the word “Go” to us.
    So we piled back in the cars
and went back to my house, where the argument continued in my kitchen.
    “Jeffrey is special. He can’t
be thrown just anywhere,” I reminded them.
    “They won’t take Jeffrey
right away. They’ll give his parents some time to the house cleaned up,” Myesha
calmed me a little.
    “That’s why I’m not
understandin’ why we left. If she gonna eventually end up cleanin’ up no matter
what, why can’t we just skip callin’ the police and disruptin’ their home and
help her clean up now?”
    “Because she need to know
this ain’t just us tellin’ her she nasty. She need to hear it from a judge .
Light the fire under her behind to stop being so lazy,” Ida Mae fussed. “We go
in there and help her clean up today, I guarantee, it’ll be back to the same
terrible condition in six weeks.”
    LaTonya sighed. “Mama B, the
parents probably need to see a psychologist. No one in their right mind lives
like that.”
    “Well, he don’t be there all
that much,” I said, conceding that they had some logic to their points as well.
“Mostly just her and Jeffrey.”
    “Is it any wonder why he don’t
want to be there?” Ophelia asked. “Don't no man want to come home from a hard
day’s work to all that confusion.”
    “That’s what it is.
Confusion. She’s confused,” I agreed. “Me and the Lord been workin’ on getting
to her heart, and this clean-up was supposed to be the start of me introducin’
her to Jesus, thank you all very much.”
    “Honey, Jesus done been to
hell and back, but He ain’t goin’ in that house,” Ida Mae said. “You
need to bring her to church.”
    “You think she’s gonna be
inclined to join me and the church ladies after all the ruckus we raised
today?” I asked.
    “I’m sorry, Mama B,” Myesha
spoke up. “I wasn’t trying to be rude. I really couldn’t breathe.” She covered
her neck with her hand. “My throat closed up.”
    “Well, I got to go back to
the prayer closet for Julia now.”
    “And I got to make my phone
call to child protection. I can’t turn a blind eye to what I saw,” Ida Mae
insisted.
    “You do what you feel you got
to do, Ida Mae,” I murmured.
    “I wouldn’t have it any other
way,” she barked back, leading the procession out of my house.
    Lord, Jesus. This has been a
total flop.
     
    Chapter 11
     
    Even though I didn’t feel it
was time for me to go back and try to aid Julia again right away, I did
everything I could to let her know I was still thinking about her and praying
for her. Sent over a lemon meringue pie, a smoked turkey-sausage and