Chapter 6

The concern on Ida’s face was unmistakable. Regina handed her the cup of coffee and sat down close to her. She patted her mother’s knee as she patiently waited for her mother to take the first sip.

“Ma, how can you drink that mess?” She broke the silence in the room as she waited. “It’s a wonder it doesn’t harden your arteries or something.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little molasses in your drink. Why, your grandmother used to put molasses in almost everything we drank. Strengthens the soul, you know. And I do think it helps these eighty-seven-year-old bones keep warm.” She took another sip. The thick liquid slowly coating the tired lining of her throat. She set the cup on the coffee table, not knowing exactly where to start.

“Ma, did Amber tell you she finally got the Bart account last week?”

“Yes, she did. She and Clayton stopped by the other day. She didn’t seem as happy about it as I would have thought. Matter of fact, she was downright short about it. What’s that all about?”

“You know Amber, Ma. She wants to do everything her own way.  From the way I hear it, Malcolm helped her out a bit. She was furious. Hasn’t spoken to him in a week now.”
 

“Well, I don’t know if I feel sorry for Malcolm or not. That boy is always up to something. Hasn’t he figured out he can’t just be her friend?   It’s not natural for women and men to be as close as those two are without something going on.” She took another sip of her coffee.

“That’s not true, Ma. They’ve been friends since they were kids.  They’d do anything for each other.   She’s in love with Clayton, anyway.”

“He does, Ma.  I think he gives her balance. And they’ve been together for a while now.”

“I see the way those two look at each other sometimes. Like they can’t wait to get out of here to go pouncin’ on each other? I don’t believe in these young people having their way with each other, and nothin’ comin’ of it. Do you think he’s going to marry her?” Ida looked at her daughter closely.

“I don’t know, Ma. The world’s changed since I was a young woman. And since you were one too. I worry about her, though. I like him a lot, but I wonder if they ever stopped to think about where they’re going.  It’s hard enough being black in this country, but being black and raising mixed children is something else.  I know most of the world is changed, but it’s not so changed in some parts of the country. There are still parts of this country it isn’t safe for a black person to go out after dark. Remember that man who was dragged behind the truck down in Texas?  Practically ripped his head off.”

“You got to stop thinking of things like that, Regina. Nothing good can come of it.”

‘There won’t be anything Clayton can do if they wander into one of those places.” Regina continued as if she hadn’t heard.   “You and I both
know it.   Except maybe get her killed.”

“Regina, there isn’t anything you can do about that. Amber’s got to know in her heart that what she’s doing is right. Then she’ll make the right choice. She always does.” She turned around and took a deep whiff.
 

“I think our pies are done. Go and pull ‘em out of the oven before they burn, will you?”

Regina got up and grabbed an oven mitt from the kitchen.  She learned long ago not to question her mother when it came to baking. Her mother had been baking sweet potato pie since she was a little girl. And it was always the same. She’d put it into the oven without any regard as to the precise time when it should be ready. She’d use her nose to tell when the sweet potatoes smelled just right. Ida hadn’t overcooked a pie in fifty years.  Try as she did, Regina had never inherited her mother’s gift for baking. She often joked with her mother that it was a “southern” nose that could cook a pie to perfection, and Regina was lost because she was raised a western girl. And it looked like Amber was headed for the same fate.

Regina pulled the pies out of the oven and set them on the stove to cool. She brought back the coffee pot and topped off her mother’s coffee to warm it.

“Ma, you don’t look so well. Maybe we should take you to see your doctor.”  She reached over and pushed back a gray strand from the old woman’s face.  “We can go now if you want.”
 

Ida shook her head seriously. “Goodness, Child, do I look that bad?  I’ve been alive for eighty-seven years now. I know when I need to go see a doctor, and it ain’t today. Now sit down and stop fawning over me.  I have something important I need to tell you.”

“Ma, what is it?”  Regina Brooks was concerned. “Don’t keep me waiting like this. Just say it.”

“I would, Daughter, if you would be silent for a minute.” She took a deep breath and composed herself. She pulled her tired bones up slowly, and went to the table to get her purse. She pulled the napkin out of it and clutched it tightly. Regina came over and helped her back into the chair.
 

“Ma, let me know when you need something, I’ll get it for you. You don’t need to keep getting up and down all the time.” She scolded.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. And we’ve got bigger problems than me.” She wriggled around to get comfortable again. Her chair, like everything else in her home, was almost as old as she was. Both Amber and Regina had tried to buy her new furniture, but Ida would have none of it. That was the problem with their generations. Too high falutin’. If it wasn’t broke, why waste good money to make it look pretty and new?  And a lot of the furniture had special memories to her from over the years.  She’d keep this furniture until they laid her in the ground. Then they could do what they wanted to with it.

“I had a dream a few nights ago. Scared me half to death.”  Her daughter didn’t understand. “Ma, I’m sure it was nothing. Sometimes when I’m stressed, I dream all kinds of things. Even dreamed
I was at dinner with Kevin a few nights ago.”  Kevin was her late husband.

“I didn’t have a dream, Regina.  I had the dream. And I had it again last night.  Makes two nights straight now.” The sudden understanding, and fear, on her daughter’s face was almost more overwhelming than her own.  She would have given anything not to be having this conversation.
While she was definitely not as strong as she used to be, her daughter wasn’t getting any younger either.  Regina was sixty years old with high blood pressure. She didn’t need the stress any more than Ida did.  But this was the only way.

She looked squarely at her daughter and nodded slowly.

“Something’s started, Regina.  And James is at the heart of it. He is too close to something he should be leaving alone, and he’s in danger.”
 

While most would have disregarded Ida’s declaration as the ramblings of an old woman, Regina knew that Ida had foreseen something. Ida had had dreams and visions since she was a little girl in the South. They always foretold danger or an early death, and they were always accurate. As she grew up, Ida’s family found it too painful to be around her for fear that she would dream about them. They weren’t entirely sure whether she dreamed about people because they were going to die, or they died because she had dreamed about them. She was eventually isolated from her parents and her brothers and sisters. Her father sent her to San Francisco to live with an aging aunt. He said it was so she could have a better life than they had had, but she knew it was to keep her as far away from them as possible. She never saw her family again, and faced many lonely years until she met her dear husband Arthur. Arthur was not afraid of death, and helped Ida understand that what she had was a true gift, and not a curse. Arthur would tell her that “the Lord don’t curse angels, Ida. So he didn’t curse you.” They lived a quiet and secluded life for fifty wonderful years until his death a few years ago.

“What did you dream, Ma? What kind of danger is James in?” Was he going too, and her mother didn’t know how to tell her?

“The dream, child. I had the dream.  Death is on its way, and it’s going to strike soon. One of my grandbabies is in trouble.”  Ida heard her daughter gasp.
 

“Are you sure it was James, Ma?” Regina panicked. She held her breath. While she didn’t wish the death of their children on any of her sisters and brothers, she definitely didn’t want to bury her own.
 

“I saw James, Regina. I saw James. And he was lost to us. He wasn’t gone, but he was lost to us.” A tear slowly trickled down her cheek.
 

“Sweet Jesus, Ma. What are you saying? Is he going to die?”

“This was unlike any dream I’ve ever had before. There were so many images in it. I wrote down every detail in case I forgot.”
 

“Ma, you didn’t answer my question. Someone always dies when you have the dream. Is it James?” She was in a panic now. Her heart was
beating so fast she could swear it wasn’t in her chest anymore. She grabbed the center of her chest in an effort to calm herself down. Her mother feared she was having a heart attack. She got out of her chair and went to her daughter.
 

“Regina! Regina!” She was yelling at her to get her to focus again.

“Calm down. We can’t help them if we’re not calm.”

“Them? Ma, did you say them?” She was going to lose both of her babies!
 

“Stop it, and listen to me. I don’t think we have much time. Now go to my desk and get my notebook. I wrote down everything there.” Regina quickly went to the desk and rummaged around. She didn’t see the notebook. “Ma, I don’t see it! ”The panic in her voice was growing.
 

“My night table in back. I put it in there. I wanted to make sure it was with me when I woke up.” Regina didn’t hear the details, as she ran back into her mother’s bedroom. She came back a minute later, reading the pages as she walked.
 

“Ma, what is this?” What she read didn’t sound like a dream, but a distorted nightmare.  “Are these the right papers?”
 

Her mother motioned for her to sit down. “Never in my life have I had such a dream. And for the first time, I actually had to go to the library to figure it all out. I hadn’t been in one in years. I couldn’t believe all the computers they have in there now. But I knew if I didn’t go, my grandbabies would be in trouble.” She sensed her daughter’s growing anxiety, and took the papers from her. “Far as I can tell, this all has something to do with what James is working on now. And this.” She unfolded the picture she had been holding in her hand for the last fifteen minutes and handed it to her daughter. “Do you recognize this?”
 

Regina shook her head. “I bet James would know what this is, though. You know he’s always running around the world picking up these kinds of things.” Once the words came out of her mouth, she realized the importance of what she’d said. She gasped and looked up at her mother. Her mother nodded slowly.
 

“Now let me tell you about my dream. And you need to listen hard.  Because Amber is involved in this too somehow, and if she don’t come around to believin’, I don’t think we have a chance.”