CHAPTER 35
A few weeks following Junior’s encounter with Fred, it was raining outside, and the children were forced to play inside. Everything seemed to be going well until Mary heard a gut-wrenching scream come from the back of the house. She rushed through the living room and down the hallway to the girls’ bedroom. On the floor was Mary Jane, curled into a knot and sobbing. She was unable to talk. Mary Jean stood near her, tears rolling down her face.
“Mary Jean, what happ’n to yo sister,” Mary yelled?
“Junior hit her in her back wit’ a box!” Mary Jean said angrily. “It was a big box too, and it was wood!” Her eyes were wide and spilled forth tears.
Mary kneeled down to Mary Jane and attempted to talk to her. Mary Jane opened her mouth but words did not escape. Her pain was quite visible.
“Lord! Lord! What wrong wit’ that boy?” Mary said as she rushed out to the bathroom to get something to ease Mary Jane’s pain. She glimpsed Junior in Fred’s room, sitting on his bed.
“You stay right there 'til yo daddy git home. He goin’ whip yo tail!” Mary yelled without stopping.
When she reached the twins’ room again, Mary carefully lifted Mary Jane from the floor and placed her on the bed. Mary Jean watched closely, fear in her eyes for her sister’s condition. She’d never seen Mary Jane in this condition before.
In fact, Mary Jane was always the tough one who seemed able to handle anything. Still, Mary Jean did not understand why Junior hit her sister with the box. It happened so suddenly. A few words were exchanged, then wham! The box hit Mary Jane, she hit the floor, and Junior ran.
Again, Mary told Fred of Junior’s behavior. And when Fred saw what Junior had done, he took the leather belt to Junior’s bare skin again. This time it sounded worse than the first time, Mary thought as she sat in her bedroom holding Derek. She thought Fred would never stop pounding that belt against Junior’s body. “Maybe he act better now,” she whispered under her breath.
For several days, Mary rubbed Mary Jane’s back and exercised her body. She knew Fred would never take the children to a doctor because he often said that he couldn’t afford it. In fact, home remedies were all that Fred believed in, and he believed in them strongly. And whenever the twins or Junior got tonsillitis, Fred went to the hardware store and bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for them to gargle in.
“Don’t swallow it!” Fred warned as each child gargled and spat in the toilet. “If you swallow it, you goin’ be sick.“ The peroxide bubbled inside their mouths and foamed, but they never swallowed a drop. And miraculously they always recuperated.
And whenever either of the children caught a cold, Fred always had Vicks Vaporub on hand. He would wait until after supper and the sick child was dressed for bed. Then he would get the jar and take it into the child’s bedroom, or sometimes he would doctor the child in the kitchen. But always, he’d say, “Open your mouth.” When the child opened his or her mouth, Fred placed a wad of the ointment on the back of the tongue and said, “Swallow it.” Of course, the child would swallow with a frown, and retreat back to the bedroom. Again, in a couple days, the child would feel better and back in school.
In fact, Fred didn’t believe in allowing a child to miss school. Although he was a man with little education, he still knew the importance of education. Aside from attending church, attending school was the most import thing in Fred’s mind. And he was determined to see all of his children graduate from high school. Therefore, the only times any of his children missed school was when they caught a communicable disease. A simple cold was not worthy of a missed school day.