Free Legend of Buddy Bush (9781439131824) by Shelia P. Moses Page A

they shout all over that kitchen, before and after breakfast.
    When Mr. Charlie arrives, Miss Doleebuck doesn’t stay sitting in the car like most Sundays. She comes inside, lays her hat on the table, and grabs Grandma’s hand and they pray again. Then they shout together. One by one, all dressed in black, in the middle of June, the women march outto the car. Grandpa and me follow them in shock. Mr. Charlie loses his patience with the women folks halfway down Rehobeth Road. “Can y’all please wait until we get to church before you do all this carrying on?” Grandma stops shouting long enough to roll her eyes at Mr. Charlie and then shouts louder. I want to laugh so bad I don’t know what to do. I can tell by the carrying on that the women folks are doing that there is going to be some shouting going on in Chapel Hill Baptist Church this morning.
    â€œAmazing Grace,” “Precious Lord,” “Somewhere Around God’s Throne”—all before we reach the church parking lot.
    When we get there, the women folks are out of breath and I am scared to get out of the car. I just don’t know what they are going to do next. I look at the tree and the poles and they are all filled with signs. Me and Ma are the only two in the car that can read and today I wish I couldn’t read either. I make the mistake of reading one of the signs aloud. “Look at the signs, Grandpa. They say ‘Free Buddy Bush.’ ”
    Right there on the church ground the women shout.
    Lord do they shout.
    Once inside the church it is chockablock full.
    Reverend Wiggins is preaching like he ain’t never preached before. He mentions Uncle Buddy in every breath and the church is on fire with the spirit. All the deacons stomp their feet louder than usual in the amen corner to the right. The deaconesses in the amen corner to the left shout amen and fan each other with the new church fans. Miss Sally faint while Betty Lou sing “Let the Church Say Amen.”
    â€œGo on and preach,” Miss Lucy Bell yells as she grabs her wig so that it won’t come off. Then she dances down the aisle to her own beat. When the choir sing “Take Me to the Water,” she joins their beat and her wig is now flying across the red carpet, under the wooden bench, where I am sitting next to Grandpa.
    When it is prayer time, Ma and three other women, including Miss Doleebuck, almost faint at the altar. Brother Boone even takes his greennecktie off. Mr. Charlie just nods his head to agree with “the word,” and pats Grandpa on the back every time he thinks he is getting upset. I’m holding Grandpa’s hand tight and I pray this service is over soon.
    By two o’clock, the women of the church have shouted more than I have ever seen them carry on before. Surely Sheriff Franklin will hear them a mile away. He is probably ready to release Uncle Buddy now so he can be saved from hell, that everyone here have condemned him to.
    Lord, when service is over I am so tired. So is everyone else. I just pray that Sheriff Franklin releases Uncle Buddy by next week’s service. I can’t go through this two Sundays in a row.

9
Pretty Lady
    I t’s Monday morning, the land is dry, and I have to go back to the cotton fields to chop weeds. Ma tells me that what was going on with Uncle Buddy is grown folks business and no harm is going to come to me.
    I wave good-bye to Ma and stand at the end of the path and wait for the truck to pick us up. Jones Property is before the slave house if you coming from the other end of Rehobeth Road near the river, so Randy can see me standing here. He is the official driver for Ole Man Taylor this summer.
    The Edwards are already on the back of thetruck, all ten of them. Randy’s sisters and brothers. Like me, they don’t have a daddy either. They live in Old Man Taylor’s other house on Rehobeth Road with their ma, Miss Blanche. When I climb on the back