Free The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips Page B

their whispering, that caused me to close my schoolbook, stare at their backs, and strain to hear what they were saying.
    “You think Hambone gon’ come?” Harvey whispered.
    Sam shrugged his shoulders. “I doubt it, but we’ll see.”
    “I don’t think I want no parts of this.”
    “Ain’t gon’ hurt you to listen to what Junior gotta say, Harvey.”
    Harvey slowly shook his head. “I don’t know ’bout this, Sam. I think we asking for trouble.”
    “We already got trouble. If you don’t know that, maybe you don’t want no parts of it.”
    It was about an hour later when I saw my brothers, all three of them, carrying our milk crates, kitchen chairs, and their bed rolls out to the back porch. I could no longer pretend that I did not know something was going on.
    Laura and Edna were asleep, and Tarabelle was stretched out in Mama’s room. Martha Jean was finally taking a rest in the armchair beside me, and I was clutching my history book and staring toward the kitchen.Wallace came inside, took the kerosene lamp from the kitchen, and was on his way back out when I sprang from my chair and intercepted him.
    “Wallace, what in the world are y’all doing?” I whispered.
    “This is man stuff, Tan.We got some people coming out here tonight, some important things to talk about.”
    “Who’s coming out here?”
    Wallace was moving toward the back door as he answered. “I don’t know, but I gotta go. Sam wants me to stand out front and show them to the back when they get here.”
    The kitchen was now bare, except for the table and the icebox, and I couldn’t even see them since Wallace had walked out with the lamp. I stood in the dark room for a few seconds, then began to pace. I nearly bumped into Wallace when he returned, anxious, rushed, and talking fast.
    “Tan, Sam says to keep the lamp burning in the front room.”
    “How are we suppose to sleep with the lamp on?” I asked. “And, anyway, that’s wasting kerosene.”
    “Just leave it on, ”Wallace said impatiently, and then he was gone again.
    I went to the front door, cracked it open, and stared out into the night. After a few minutes, I heard Wallace call out, “Back here! Back here!”Then I saw the first two men climb up the bank and into our yard. I counted seventeen heads before I saw the one that was Junior’s. I knew it was him because he was carrying a satchel.
    As a girl, I was excluded from the gathering, but there was nothing to prevent me from eavesdropping. I decided to sit on the kitchen floor with an ear pressed against the door. I would listen to every word they had to say.There was the possibility that someone might open the door and bang it against my head, but I didn’t think they would. Everything they needed and then some was already outside.
    I eased into the front room and saw that Martha Jean was asleep on her pallet. Leaving the lamp burning, I pulled my coat from a nail, tipped into the kitchen, and took my position on the floor. I blocked the cold draft that was seeping in from beneath the door with my coat, sat perfectly still and listened.
    At first everybody spoke at once.They kept their voices low, but I could hear them clearly. After a few minutes of chatter, Sam’s voice rose above the others.
    “Awright,” he said, “let’s get started. It’s cold out here, and I know everybody wants to get home. Junior, you the one wanted this meeting. Say what you wanna say, man.”
    “Everybody knows why we’re here,” Junior said, and his voice rose up to me.“Since you’re here, I’m going to assume that there’s something you want to change.This is not about me, so when you leave here tonight, I don’t want you mumbling about how Junior thinks he can change the world. It’s true that I have a long list of grievances against this town, but I’m not the only one. I think every man here should have his say, and we can move on from there.We’ll change what we can, and get help with the rest.”
    As I listened