Chapter 3 The Early Years
Emma Johnson began to talk in a slow soft voice barely speaking above the other sounds in the room. Missy leaned forward barely able to hear the words of her Granny but holding on to each word and not letting it go for fear that it would be the last time that she would be able to talk with her grandmother. The last time that she would be able to feel and share the love of her grandmother.
Emma began by saying “ Missy I love you and I just want you to know how proud I am of you” She then said “ I need to tell you about some things in my life that you do not know so that you will know the whole truth before I am dead and gone. You need to really know about your family and what caused us to be where we are today. Missy listened carefully as her grandmother continued to talk in short halting words.
Emma went on to say.. “Let me tell you about your grandfather”. I know that you did not know him and I barely knew him; but, he is your grandfather and he lives right here in Riverside even to this day. He was such a good looking boy with good hair and we were only 12 when we started looking at each other in Church. He sat in the pew behind me and we would sneak looks at each other every Sunday. When I did go to school, he would smile at me and I would just blush for there was not another single sole that looked at me or even cared if I existed. But he did.
Soon later I would let him walk me part of the way home until I got where my mother and father could see us and then he would run back down the road. One day Pa was out in the fields plowing with the mule and saw us but I told him that we were just talking about Church. Well one thing led to another and I then got pregnant with your mother and things were never the same with me and my pa. I remember the day when Ma asked me if I was pregnant and I said I don’t know but she knew. Folks always know even before the one who is pregnant knows. Pa asked me who was the boy and I would not tell him even though he threatened to kill me. Pa then told me I was going to leave town that week and before I knew it, I was on the bus to Washington DC. What Pa did not know was that the boy was the son of Reverend Mims. His oldest son and the one that they all said was going to be a preacher like his dad. To this day he does not know anything about it. I know that he suspects but he never know. At least while I am living and not while your mother was living. Even to this day when I see him in the pulpit just a preaching and spitting out God’s word, I wonder what he would say if he knew that you were his granddaughter. I wonder what his wife would say if she knew… Although she did look funny at your mother when I first came back to Riverside to my Pa’s funeral. However I did not let her get too close so that she could see.
Missy began to try and picture Rev Mims and see if he could be her grandfather. There may be some faint resemblance but he was old and wrinkled and she could not be sure. She wondered if her Grandmother was just delirious or was telling her something that she should know. And if so what was she to do with it.
Missy began to think of the many times that she had set in the Church listening to the sermons of Rev Mims. She remembered how her grandmother had always had good things to say about Rev Mims. She always wondered about her grandfather but was afraid to ask. Now that she may know, she is even more afraid.
The nurse entered the room to take the temperature of Emma and she laid back slowly with the thermometer in her mouth and eyes half shut. As the nurse took the thermometer out of her mouth, Emma again cried out “ Where am I – Who are you- What am I doing here? Missy quickly realized that Emma had gone back into herself.