The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Author Name: Sadeqa Johnson
- Book Genre: Fiction, Romance
- ISBN # 978-1982197360
- Edition Language: English
- Date of Publication: February 7, 2023
- File Format: PDF / EPUB
- PDF / EPUB File Size: 2 MB
Philadelphia, October 1948
MOMMIES AND DRAGONS
Ruby
My grandma Nene always said that early was on time, on time was late, and late
was unacceptable. Fatty was unacceptably late again. Knowing full well that I had
some place important to be. I didn’t mind staying with Grandma Nene overnight
once a week so that Fatty could clean offices. All I asked was that she be home in
time for me to catch the bus to my Saturday enrichment classes. And for the third
week in a row, Fatty dragged her heavy feet through Nene’s apartment door
fifteen minutes behind schedule, calling out in her high-pitched voice, “Ruby girl,
I’m sorry. Let me tell you what happened.”
My cousin had more excuses than a hoe going to jail, and I didn’t have time to
entertain her colorful tales this morning. I had one hour to getall the way down to
South Philly, and I twisted up my lips in a way that I hoped conveyed how
annoyed I was over her lack of consideration.
“You got my carfare?” I thrust my hand in her face, but Fatty brushed past me
in the narrow hallway, past the crooked family pictures that hung in mismatched
frames, through to the small L-shaped kitchen. I stomped behind her as she
snatched back her pageboy wig and tossed it on the counter.
“Your mother said she’d leave it for you.”
A baby cockroach scurried from under the toaster, and Fatty smashed it dead
with her palm.
“You gonna make me walk all the way back in the opposite direction? Just give
me twenty cents.”
“I would if I could,” she said, scrubbing her hands at the apron sink. “But I’m
broke as ajoke girl until next Friday.”
My scalp heated. “Grandma ain’t got no money round here? What if my
mother forgot?”
“Chile, I talked to Inez last night, she said she would. Now quit wearing out
my nerves. If you leave now, you’ll make it.” Fatty reached into the icebox and
cracked open a can of Schlitz. She tipped it to her lips and took a long swallow,
then exhaled in a way that suggested that she had been thirsting for that beer her
whole way home. After another hungry swig, she undid the buttons to her blue
uniform down to her waist. The rolls around her middle sighed with relief.
“Did Nene take her medicine?”
I snatched up my school bag, nodding my head with frustration. “She’s been
sleep twenty minutes. Her next eye dosage is at eleven.”
With the front door open, I could smell scrapple frying from the new
neighbor’s apartment on the first floor. She had twin babies who kept up a chorus
of crying all night long. “I’m not doing this for you no more.”
Fatty belched, then called after me, “I said I was sorry. Damn girl, what you
want? Blood?”
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB
[quick_download_button title=”Download Now” color_bg=”#ffc107″ open_new_window=”true” url_external=”https://zeroupload.com/11870e148d58429ce9bbfbf305a6cc01″]
[quick_download_button title=”Download Now” color_bg=”#ffc107″ open_new_window=”true” url_external=”https://zeroupload.com/c184e111aef2ac60485ce4eaab122bda”]