I drove Interstate 20 West at eighty miles per hour.  I slowed to seventy at the infamous speed traps. Then, I put the pedal to the metal again.  Mama had summoned me to Jefferson.  Bethany Belle was cutting up again.  My baby sister was going to be listed as the cause of death in my mother’s obituary if we didn’t get her under control soon.  She was seventeen going on twenty-five in her ignorant mind.

The speakers in my Navigator were booming and shaking from the hard-core rap CD I borrowed from my sister Gloria.  It always puzzled me that she listened to that stuff, so much misogyny and violence.  She said she liked the beats.  I was feeling misogynistic and violent that day so it suited me fine.

During the forty-minute trek, the humidity of Louisiana became the dry, fertile air of East Texas. But the welcoming sights of my birthplace were lost in the swirl of anxiety increasing with each rotation of my twenty-four inch rims.

Why did Mama always call me when she had a problem? Yes, I was the eldest, but Ray patrolled Jefferson all day in his spotless cop mobile. He lived two blocks from Mama. Tina was in Jefferson raising five children by different daddies with her live-in girlfriend.

After having all of those children out of wedlock, Tina decided she was gay.  When she told Mama, all Mama said was, ’Ain’t no atheist in prison.’ My mother was always saying cryptic stuff like that.  Sometimes I wondered if she was wise or schizophrenic.  Not that it mattered.  I just wondered. 

Carefree Fred was in college at East Texas Baptist University over in Marshall.  Keith paid Fred’s tuition and I paid all of his other expenses.  The least Fred could do was drive home occasionally and try to be a good influence on our baby sister.  Between everyone’s travels, jobs, and indifference, no one remained to put out fires but me. 

I parked beneath the carport my multi-millionaire brother, Keith, had added to Mama’s house despite the fact Mama didn’t own a car and had never learned to drive.  I heard the squeaky grunt of the screen door as I stepped onto my running board.  My annoyance with my sister was immediately forgotten when I walked up the porch stairs and into the warm embrace of my origin.

Mama squeezed and rocked me in a way uniquely her own.  ’Thank you for coming, Son.  I can always count on you.’

I blinked away the moisture gathering in my eyes and leaned to kiss her soft, warm cheek. ’Of course, Mama.  It was time for a visit anyway.’ We walked into the house arm in arm.  The heat was sweltering. 

’Mama, do you have the air conditioner turned on?  It’s burning up in here.’  Beads of perspiration appeared on my forehead in seconds.

’I keep it turned up.  I don’t want to run my electricity bill up too high.’

I located the thermostat in the hall.  ’Good Lord, Mama.  It’s on eighty-two!  You could have a stroke in this heat.  Don’t worry about the bills.  We’ve got that.  Keith had central air conditioning installed so you wouldn’t get too hot in the summer.’  I adjusted the temperature and cool air began to blow through the vents immediately.

’I reckon y’all gone put me in a nursin’ home when I start runnin’ up high electric bills.’ She sounded serious.

’Mama, no one is going to put you in a nursing home. Why do you keep saying that? You have nine children who love you. You are not now, nor will you ever be a burden. You can always come live with me and Dog.’

She smiled wryly as if she knew secrets about life and children I didn’t yet know. ’Come on in the kitchen,’ Mama said, wiping her hands on her apron. ’I was cookin’ a little supper.  I wasn’t sure what time you was comin’ but it’s almost ready.  I just need to put the corn bread in the oven.’

The front door opened without the courtesy of a knock and Tina’s four-year old came running into the kitchen.  He threw himself at my mother’s legs.  ’Hi, Two-Mama.  Can I have some candy?’

Mama kissed his nappy head.  ’There’s some peppermints in the dish by my bed, Baby, but first, say hello to your Uncle James.’

The boy’s eyes widened in surprise as he turned around and noticed me for the first time.  Then, he broke into a big grin that made him look like a cute, gap toothed elf.  ’Uncle James!’  He jumped into my arms and gave me a ferocious hug. 

’What’s up, little man?  You sure are getting big.  Let me see those muscles.’  He flexed his little arms to display his pint-sized biceps.  ’Oooh, you’re strong. Gimme five.’ We exchanged dap and I was pretty much out of kiddy conversation at that point.  ’Where’s your mother?’ I asked.

’She coming,’ he explained, carefully examining the quarter-carat diamond stud in my left ear.

’Is that real?’ he asked.

Before I could respond, Tina ambled into the small kitchen carrying her nine-month-old daughter.  ’Well, well if it ain’t James Louis.  Is that your Navigator outside?’ she asked without so much as a courtesy salutation. 

I watched her take a sip from the large cup she was carrying.  I tried to hide my shock at her appearance.  Tina had been one of the prettiest and most popular girls in town at one time.  The remnants of her homecoming queen potential were barely visible anymore.  Behind the stringy hair combed back for lack of a better direction, the sallow skin, and the spotted legs that hadn’t been shaved in ages was the sister who almost cost me everything I treasured.

As I looked at her, I wondered if my efforts were wasted. 

I could hear echoes of my father’s oft-repeated warning. ’Son, women ain’t nothin’. They trap you with a baby you don’t want and spend the rest of their days jawin’ you down to nothin’. I tell ya, they ain’t worth a nickel. Like James Brown said, this heah is a man’s world.’

I cracked my knuckles and tried to sound pleasant.  ’Yes, that’s my car.  I’m fine and how are you Tina?’

’Oh, I’m living like a princess, as you can see.  Must be nice to have money to spend on rims while your poor sister waits for her government check.’  Either her neck rolled because her eyes rolled or vice versa.  It was a good trick though.

’As I recall, I was sending you checks on a regular basis before you turned into a full-time baby factory and cursed me out for questioning you about it. Oh, I guess you forgot about that.  And don’t think I’m unaware that Mama gives you some of the money I send her every month,’ I replied bluntly, hugging my nephew. 

Obviously starved for attention, he clung to me, resting his head on my chest.  The third round bulge beneath the sagging breasts in Tina’s candy apple red tube top caught my attention.

She followed my eyes.  ’Yes, I’m pregnant and it’s none of your damn business,’ she said, waving her drink in my direction.

No, I thought.  That’s between you and the state of Texas.  I help those who help themselves. 

I was happy to send a little money to Crystal when her band was short on gigs.  I made sure Fred always had spending cash in his college khakis.  And Ray was a homeowner because I cosigned for him.  I even broke bad Bethany off a few dollars when she made decent grades, which was rarely.  But Tina and her partner, Moira, were on their own.  I loved her children because they were blood but, at the same time, I felt she needed to get her tubes tied and quit trying to follow in Mama’s footsteps.  She could look at Mama and see where that path led.

I tickled my nephew’s side and inquired, ’Is that Moira’s baby?’  My sarcasm was diluted by his laughter.  He locked his arms to his sides and ran into the den.  The reflective lights on the back of his laceless sneakers flashed red with each small step.  My mother was strangely silent.  She hummed and washed the dishes in the sink just like old times: the bad old times.

’Go to hell, James!  You think your better than everybody because you got all them degrees and you live in a big house in Shreveport.  Well guess what?  You ain’t better than nobody.  You just like the rest of us.’

’Go to hell?’  I smiled sweetly.  ’I bet you say that to all the boys.’ I heard Mama sigh deeply. ’Tina, look I’m sorry. I don’t mean to argue with you. Let’s call a truce. Okay?’

Tina started yelling. ’James Louis you can just’’

’Hush, girl!’ Mama said, raising her voice. Tina and I both stared. And hushed.

As if sensing the tension, the baby put her thumb in her mouth and patted her mother’s cheek with her pudgy fingers.  To my surprise, Tina’s scowl vanished with an act of maternal instinct.  She kissed the child’s nose and hoisted her higher above the wide hips jiggling through every movement despite the tight fitting black, spandex shorts that had seen one cup of Tide too many.

Tina’s loving attitude and respect for Mama’s house was short lived.  She glared at me.  ’For your information, Moira is fine with me having another baby.  We wanted to have another baby together.’ 

My mother dropped the glass she was drying.  I raced to her side.

’Are you alright Mama?’

She sighed heavily.  ’Yes, child.  The glass slipped.  Since Old Arthur come into my hands, I can’t grip thangs like I did usedta.’ 

Her flesh had stretched and curled around the swollen joints of her fingers. Even with arthritis in her hands, shoulders, and knees, she managed to care for herself and Bethany.  I felt guilty, worrying that I should have hired a housekeeper over her objections.  What would Daddy do if he was around?

Tina made no attempt to help me clean up the broken glass.  She put the baby on the floor by the dinette and refilled her cup with some sweet tea in the refrigerator.  Mama scooped the infant up before she crawled into a shard of glass. When Tina’s cell phone chirped, it startled me.

Her clipped responses to the caller were subdued and hesitant.  When she hung up, she jerked the baby from my mother’s arms and said, ’I got to go.  I need to straighten up the house before Moira gets home.’

’You can leave the chirren,’ my mother offered. ’I got plenty food.’

’No, Moira wants everybody at home when she gets off work.’  She left hastily leaving my mother and I shaking our heads in disbelief.

*****

It was ten minutes after 2 AM when Bethany finally arrived home. We were waiting on her.  She knocked over the suitcase by the front door as she stumbled in.  Her eyes were red.  She reeked of marijuana or one of its close relatives.  The tank top and Capri pants she was wearing were disheveled like her artificially red hair.  I recognized the dark brown sand caked on her shoes.  She’d been at the lake, walking along the damp shore in the moonlight, a family tradition.

She looked at my mother like she was a filthy panhandler on the sidewalk.  ’I told you not to be waiting up for me,’ she blurted, weaving around the luggage.  She frowned when she saw me sitting in the armchair across from the television.  ’What you doing here, James Louis?’  She was so high she sounded as if she’d had a stroke.

’I came to get you,’ I answered cryptically.

’What?’

I pointed to the suitcase.  ’Mama packed your things.  She says you’re tired of living in Jefferson and following her rules so I’m taking you away for a while.’

Her face lit up, ’Do I get to live in Shreveport with you?’

’Eventually,’ I answered casually.  ’Go check your room and see if we missed anything.  I’m ready to go.’  She staggered to her room.  I doubted that she had the presence of mind to notice an overlooked item.

My mother stood and pulled her housecoat tighter around her narrow frame.  ’James, why don’t y’all wait until daylight?  It’s dangerous on these roads at night.  I can fix you a good breakfast in the mornin’ and then you can head out.’

’Mama, I’ve already missed one day of work.  If we leave tonight, I can have her there by morning and still get in a half-day of work.  I’ve done the paperwork and made the deposit.  They said I can drop her off and leave. Dr. Wright was kind enough to cover for me but I don’t want to inconvenience him any more than necessary.’

Mama look troubled.  "Son, I don’t know about her coming to live with you after she gets out. You got your work and other responsibilities.  You don’t know nothing about raising children.  Girls is a lot different from boys, too.  I think you ought to bring her on back here."

"Mama, we’ll be fine.  She’s not a baby.  I can take care of her.  Gloria will help me."  Actually, Gloria thought Bethany was Satan’s spawn.  She thought Bethany was selfish and mean.  In fact, Gloria turned down other scholarship offers and went to college at UCLA primarily to get away from Bethany.  But Mama needed reassuring so I threw in Gloria to appease her.  "It’s the least we can do," I continued.  "You’ve raised nine children.  You deserve a break.  If she acts right, you’ll have her back at the beginning of the year.  That’s less than five months away. You can spend more time at the church and go visit Aunt Jean. She’d love that."

She puckered her lips and nodded.  ’Let me go hurry her along then.  Be sure not to tell her where you’re headed until you get there. That girl can act a fool when she wants to.’

’Don’t worry Mama.  I can handle her.’

Mama got a large, gift wrapped box from behind her recliner.  Unable to keep from smiling, she placed it in my hand.

’What’s this?’

’A little birdie told me that you have a birthday next week.  You didn’t think your old Mama forgot did you?  And you gotta promise not to open it until August thirty-first.’

I held the box aside and hugged Mama tight.  ’What about Bethany?’  I asked, knowing I was going to open my present as soon as I got home.  ’It’s her birthday, too.  I’ll hide both gifts in the car right quick.’

Mama waved her hand in dismissal.  ’Lord knows I love all my chirren but that child done took more from me than all the rest of y’all put together.  I’m getting her exactly what she deserves for her birthday.  A big box of nothin’.’

By the time I pulled out of the driveway, my sister was fast asleep in the passenger seat oblivious to what lay in store.