Free Trouble's Child by Mildred Pitts; Walter

her mind wandered with worry.
    At last Titay came for her. “Come, hep me now. That lil one’s on its journey, so be quiet and still.”
    The curtains were drawn and the room was lighted by a lamp at the foot of the bed. Martha saw Cam’s face drawn in pain, but no sound came from her lips.
    Titay whispered, “Hep yo chile, chile’ll hep you.”
    Cam’s breathing and Titay’s whispers became one rhythm. The room was very quiet. Martha heard her heart beat as she watched the two women. Cam grabbed Titay’s hand and held on. Titay gave of her strength.
    Soon Titay whispered, “Now.” Martha saw that the baby’s head and shoulders were coming. Titay placed a finger under each little arm and lifted the baby up.
    The baby let out a cry and Martha said, “It’s a boy.”
    â€œSh, sh!” Titay whispered as she clamped the cord and carefully placed the baby face down, his arms and legs folded, on the mother’s belly. He rested there.
    The baby was so quiet Martha felt something was wrong. She held her breath. She wanted to say, “Do something, Titay,” but Titay just waited.
    Cam’s hands touched her baby lightly. Martha watched Cam caress the small dark body against her flesh and thought of the waves of the Gulf touching the shore. The mother’s breathing was the only sound heard in the room. Suddenly the baby moved. First an arm, then a foot, then he quivered; he breathed! Titay smiled. Her face in the lamplight brightened and she looked young.
    The strange quiet, the baby’s movement, the mother’s breathing, Titay’s smile—all these things touched Martha. She stood still, her eyes unable to turn away. A slow rising surge of joy passed through her. It stayed for only a second. She had never known such joy and was saddened that it could not last.
    With swift precision Titay cut the cord that connected the baby to its mother. Until now Martha hadn’t really seen Titay’s hands. What beautiful hands, wrinkled with age, but soft and sure. How gently they touched that baby as she cleaned him and wrapped him in the layers of cotton and wool to keep him warm. Then she sent Martha for Cam’s husband.
    When they left the happy mother and son, Titay said to the father, “Leave em lone awhile t’ git quainted and t’ rest.”
    In the twilight of day, Martha looked at her grandmother. She was an old woman now, tired after her day’s work. But as if she knew what Martha was thinking, Titay said, “Tis joy, Mat, t’ bring one o’ them lil ones safe through that dark t’ light and life.”

TEN
    â€œYou hurry back heah and don’t come sayin you weary, yuh hear me?” Titay called as Martha rushed out of the house. She went along the path that led to the school.
    â€œHey, cha,” Ocie called. “Yuh goin like a house afiah. Ain’t got no time fuh yo friends no mo, ahn?”
    â€œHey, please don’t say that, Ocie.” Martha was surprised that Ocie would even speak to her after the scene at the commissary.
    â€œAin’t it true? I sho don’t see yuh. Always uner the teacher. I got some news, but go on. Our way ain’t good nuff fuh yuh.”
    Stung by Ocie’s tone, Martha felt trapped between the women and Miss Boudreaux. Between the old way and the new. But she must hurry. She would be late and Miss Boudreaux would probably chide her again.
    If only she could go away to school and have the time she needed for her studies. It was all finally coming together for her. Lessons with Miss Boudreaux and what she was learning from Titay were clearly related. Words she wrote in her composition book were like the words Hal spoke. What if she spoke like that?
    She wished that Ocie was still a friend. Then she would have someone to tell that the teacher was always surprised at how well she did algebra; how much fun she had seeing things in her science book that