God Ain't Through Yet (12 page)

“B
aby, if I want to keep up with Henry, I have to maintain a certain image,” Pee Wee told me. I could not believe that after all I'd just said, he was still being resistant.

“That's what I am trying to help you do,” I insisted.

“If I take your advice and hire Lizzie, people might get the wrong impression about me.”

“And what the hell do you mean by that? You're running a barbershop, not the Playboy Mansion.”

“Look, I have to be honest with you. Now, I didn't want to bring this up, but since you won't let up on me, I need to put this out there. I want to say this in a nice way…” Apparently, Pee Wee didn't know how to say what was on his mind, because it was taking him a long time to get the words out of his mouth.

“Pee Wee, I don't know about you, but I have to get back to work soon. Can you move your lips a little faster?” I said.

Once I said that, he couldn't speak fast enough. The words seemed to roll out of his mouth like rocks rolling down the side of a mountain during an avalanche. “There's another thing I'm concerned about with this Lizzie woman. Ain't she kind of…
ugly
?”

I had to organize my thoughts before I could address what he'd just said. The last thing I wanted to do was come off sounding just as off-the-wall as he did. “I wouldn't call Lizzie ugly,” I mumbled.

I was glad that nobody could hear my end of this conversation. For one thing, it brought back some painful memories. I knew first-hand how some people discriminated against plain people. I'd been in Lizzie's shoes too many times myself. I knew for a fact that I'd missed out on some jobs because at the time I was too fat and too ugly. And to some people, I was also too black. Now here I was trying to do the opposite. I was trying to hire somebody mainly because she
was
plain, and it was not working! I didn't know what the world was coming to.

“Well, if she ain't straight-up ugly, I don't know who is.”

Had I known that it was going to be this hard for me to help Pee Wee hire somebody, I never would have volunteered to help. But I was not about to let all my hard work go to waste. Somebody was going to benefit from it, and I had no trouble with that somebody being me. With Lizzie's determination and drive, and the fact that she needed a job, if he didn't want her, maybe I could find something for her on my team. I was going to bring that up next if I had to.

“I will admit that I think she is a little on the plain side,” I said, beginning to sound and feel tired. This conversation and this subject had begun to wear me out. “So what? You're no Denzel…”

“You ain't funny. People want to leave my place lookin' good. They see a homely woman up in here, floppin' around with one leg lookin' like a mop handle, they might get nervous. You know how black folks are when it comes to handicapped folks. Even though they got enough sense to know that thinkin' like that don't make no sense.”

“I know what you mean. With all of the gay black people in the world, you'd think black folks would lighten up on them some.”

“I know where you goin' with this conversation and I'm tellin' you now, I ain't goin' into no argument about gay people again. I was just tryin' to make a point.”

“If you don't like the way some black folks look down on handicapped people, you need to check yourself.”

“Now you stop right there! I never said nothin' about not likin' handicapped folks. I got a cousin in Erie who's been in a wheel-chair all his life, and he's one of my best friends. A lot of my other friends is handicapped, too. Since I was a kid I always treated those people with respect. Other than you, what kid in our neighborhood was as nice to old one-legged Mr. Boatwright who used to live with you and your mama?”

“Oh, I am really ready to end this call,” I said hotly, bile coating the inside of my mouth. “I am not in the mood to glorify the man who raped me throughout my entire childhood.” I choked back a sob.

“Oh, shit. Baby, you know I'm sorry to bring up old Boatwright and them bad memories about what he did to you.” Pee Wee sounded so contrite I thought he was going to sob, too.

“Let's get back on the subject. The one I called you about. Now, do you want the woman to work for you or not? She's got another interview lined up with a shop in Canton. I am sure that if she doesn't take that job, she'll take the one with Henry.”

Pee Wee wasted no time responding. “All right! But if she makes a fool out of me and my customers, or steals somethin' or breaks any of my equipment, I am goin' to hold you responsible!” he told me in a threatening manner.

As soon as I got off the telephone with him, I called up Lizzie. Despite all I had said to her in the café, she was surprised to hear from me. “Annette, what's this about? That was my stepdaddy who answered the phone. He said you needed to talk to me right away.”

I was immediately taken aback. Maybe she was not as sharp as I thought she was after all.

“Uh, are you still interested in the job at my husband's barbershop?” I asked in a reserved tone of voice. I had to remind myself that since I didn't know Lizzie that well, she could turn out to be just as big a nut as some of the other people I had interviewed.

“Oh, my God! Are you serious? I thought about what you'd said in front of Henry and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like you were saying it for his benefit. I didn't know you were really that serious about hiring me!”

“When can you start?” I asked.

“I got the job?” she squealed.

“If you still want it, you can start right away. Now, take a couple of hours and think about it, and call me back at my office.”

“Can I start tomorrow?”

“Sure, be at my husband's shop at nine.”

 

I didn't like to call Rhoda's house now that Jade was back in the picture. I usually waited until she called me. But I couldn't wait this time. I called her as soon as I got off the phone with Lizzie. To my horror, Jade answered the telephone.

“Hello, Annette. Are you still with that fine-ass husband of yours?”

“Hello, Jade. Yes, I am still with that fine-ass husband of mine,” I said stiffly.

“Hmmph! I guess anything is possible. To tell you the truth, I thought he'd have moved on by now. And you, too.”

“What's that supposed to mean, Jade?”

“Well, I have a hard time believing that a man like Pee Wee is still married to a woman like you.”

“If my husband ever leaves me for another woman, you will be the first person I tell. Now, if your mother is available, please put her on the phone.”

“She's in the den having a drink with my husband,” Jade reported.

“Oh yeah! She told me you got married. Congratulations!”

“You don't have to worry about getting me a gift this time.”

“I won't.” I covered my mouth so she wouldn't hear the snicker that I couldn't hold back. “Hmmm. Well, Jade, they say you can't keep a good woman down. You're living proof that that's true. You've had
two
nervous breakdowns, flunked out of college, and had your first fiancé desert you on your wedding day, and you're still going strong. I admire you.”

“Look, lady! If you or anybody else thinks that I am going to curl up into a ball and slide into a hole because Marcelo jilted me, you're wrong—with your piggly wiggly self! Do you hear me? I could marry any man I want, and I did! LaVerne loves me to death! And he does everything, and I do mean everything, that I tell him to do! See, he
knows
what he's supposed to do to keep a woman like me happy!” Jade's outburst did not surprise me, and her hostility didn't faze me the way it used to.

“Have a blessed day, Jade.”

“Ugh,” she grunted.

I was very anxious to meet her husband now, so I could see with my own eyes what a real fool looked like.

The next voice I heard belonged to Rhoda. “I hope my daughter didn't say anything nasty to you.”

“To be honest with you, I couldn't tell if she was being nasty to me or if she was being her usual self. Anyway, I called to tell you that I hired somebody to work for Pee Wee, and she's going to start tomorrow. She was just that anxious. Remember Lizzie Stovall?”

“Lizzie…Lizzie—oh yeah! Your mama and I were just talkin' about her the other day. Of course I remember her. Poor thing. She was that lame-legged girl who used to sit behind me in Miss Kline's homeroom. Lizzie was so sweet! She used to bring the whole class homemade chocolate-chip cookies twice a week. You couldn't have found a better person to work for Pee Wee. I am so happy to hear this news!”

I laughed. “Rhoda, calm down. It's just a manicurist job, not a walk on the moon.”

“Well, it's an important job, and I know that Lizzie will look at it as such. Not only is she dependable and loyal, she's as appealing as a sow's ear. You won't have to worry about her runnin' off to get married or comin' in to work late because she was out partyin' the night before at the Red Rose.”

“Based on what she told me, if her social life was any slower, she'd be dead. She doesn't even date much either.”

“Much? Honey, she doesn't date at all. Can you believe that in this day and age? She's even a couple of months older than I am. And accordin' to the gossips at Claudette's beauty shop, that poor woman is still a virgin, or at least close to it.”

“That's her business,” I remarked.

“Well, she does good work. If you like her, you'd better make sure Pee Wee treats her well so she'll stay.”

“I'm sure he will,” I told Rhoda.

T
he northern part of Ohio was enduring one of the worst winters in years. There was so much snow on the ground the last Friday in February, the schools and some businesses had to close until the weather got better. I was not lucky enough to get any time off. We had too many cases pending. Some were fairly recent, like people who had overspent on Christmas a couple of months ago. They were the people who had acquired new credit cards just before the holiday season. Then they'd maxed them out and failed to make the first payment. The merchants wasted no time turning them over to us. But the majority of the delinquent accounts were from the previous year, and the years before. Mizelle's Collection Agency kept the local process servers in business.

I still looked forward to going to work. It was a tough job, but that was one of the things I liked about it. It kept me on my toes and well grounded. It also made me appreciate all of the things that I had to be thankful for, like my husband and my daughter. Speaking of Charlotte, she was as happy as a clam that she didn't have to go to school that Friday or Monday, and her plan was to lounge around the house and watch music videos. Her daddy had other ideas. He decided to take that Monday off, too, but he didn't plan on sitting back and letting Charlotte goof off.

The weather got even worse. By Tuesday evening, it was so bad they had to close some of the streets, so I couldn't drive home from work or get home any other way. The closest motel to my office was one that I swore I'd never set foot in again because it was where I'd spent a lot of my time sexing my young lover last summer. But it was spend the night at the Do Drop Inn, my office, or my car. It was too cold and dangerous for me to sleep in my car. The few diehard employees who reported to me who had come to work that day had all managed to get rooms at the Do Drop Inn because they'd called early enough. By the time I called for a room, there were no vacancies left. Just as I was about to get comfortable on the vinyl couch in my office, using my tweed coat for a blanket, the motel manager called me back and told me they had a cancellation. I didn't think to call Pee Wee up to tell him where I'd be. But the next morning when he called my office, he didn't sound too happy.

“Where the hell did you spend the night, woman?” I didn't like his gruff voice, and I had told him more than once that I didn't like it when he referred to me as “woman.”

“I told you that I couldn't get home because the roads over in this part of town had been closed down by the city.”

“That ain't what I asked you!” he bellowed.

I didn't respond right away, and that seemed to upset him even more. “Annette, did you sleep in your car or what?”

“No,” I mumbled.

“Well, you didn't sleep in your office like you said you was goin' to do. I called your office four times, and you didn't answer your phone. Now, was there someplace at your work where you slept that was so far away you didn't hear the phone ringin' in your office?”

“I slept at a motel. Most of the people who work with me had rooms there, too. Happy?”

“You slept at that fuck-nest where you fucked that punk last year, didn't you?”

“Yes, I slept at the Do Drop Inn. I had no choice. Like I said, the roads were closed. They kept coming on the radio telling people not to try and drive. I couldn't fly, so I couldn't come home. What else could I do?”

“Did you sleep alone?”

“Of course I slept alone, dammit. What the hell makes you think I didn't? I wouldn't lie to you about something like that.”

“You did before.”

“Well, I am not lying now!” I must have been talking pretty loud because the receptionist knocked on my door. “Yes!” I shrieked.

“Annette, is everything all right?” Donna asked in a shaky voice.

“Everything is fine!” I hollered back. “Pee Wee, you got some kind of nerve coming at me with this foolishness. I spent the night at that motel last night, and if I can't get home tonight, I will spend tonight there, too. If you don't like it—you can kiss my ass!”

“I just…see I…for one thing, you could have called me from the Do Drop Inn to let me know you were there!”

“So you could talk all that trash about it being that fuck-nest where I screwed Louis Baines? Look, I am not in the mood to deal with you right now. I'm sitting here in the same funky underwear and clothes that I wore yesterday, and even though I took a shower before I left that fuck-nest, I feel nasty as hell. I am warning your black ass that if you continue this foolishness when I get home this evening—if I can get home—you will be sorry.” I slammed down the telephone.

An hour later, he called again. “Look, baby, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean no harm.”

“You told me that you wouldn't throw my affair in my face,” I whined. “And it was the first thing you could think of…”

“I said I was sorry. Now, I just called to apologize, so when you get home this evenin', we won't mention it. All right?”

“Well, I can assure you that I won't mention it. Now, if you don't mind, I have a meeting to go to.”

He didn't mention our heated discussion when I got home that evening. He didn't mention much of anything, and neither did I. We talked only when we had to. It was a tense week. He slept in the same bed with me, but he slept so close to the edge that the only way I knew he was even in the bedroom was by his loud-ass snoring.

Since he was so grouchy, I waited until the end of the week to ask him how Lizzie was working out. He had softened a lot by then. A sour look immediately formed on his face, so I braced myself.

“You and your bright ideas,” he said with a dry laugh. He stood by the sink in the kitchen working on his second cup of coffee that morning. He was already dressed for work. He looked so good standing there in his crisp white smock and black pants. Right after I'd sent Charlotte off to school, Pee Wee and I rushed to our bedroom and made love for the first time since our argument. We had just returned to the kitchen.

“Oops,” I said, cringing. “Things aren't going that well, huh?”

He shrugged. “I won't say things ain't goin' well. It's just that things ain't goin' the way I expected them to be goin' by now.” He set his empty cup in the sink and joined me at the table. “Henry might run me out of business after all.”