"Hmm?" "I'm on my way." "Come on, Nanny." "Come on, Mama, please." "Come on, Nanny." "Please, Nanny, come on." "Come on, Nanny." "Please, Nanny." "Come on now." "Mama, please!" "Mama, please, come on." "Come on." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on." "Come on, Nanny." "Come on, Nanny." "That's right, Nanny." "Come on." "Come on, Nanny." "Come on." "Please, Mama." "Please, Mama." "Come on!" "Come on." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Hey!" "You want these nice and iced, Miss Samson?" "Aw, he don't know what to do with that!" "Piss off now." "Come on!" "Go on, man!" "I better stop before I hurt somebody!" "Hey, baby!" "In 1956, Lackawanna, New York, like all Great Lakes cities was jumpin'!" " Where's your mom at?" " Back home in Tennessee!" "And in the middle of it all," "Rachel Crosby... "Nanny,"" "that's what we all called her." "Or just plain "Mama. "" "I want you to hit me like Sugar Ray Robinson do a white man!" "That's the only place he can and get away with it!" "You hear me!" "Now seeing what a colored person could have if they worked hard and was in the right place," "Nanny rushed back to her home town..." "Farmville, Virginia" " in that old Buick..." " Y'all having a good time?" "!" " Yeah!" " All right then!" "...to bring more folks up north." "Yeah!" "When I win this night," "I'm gonna send in some money to the N.A.A.C.P.!" "Help keep Martin Luther King outta jail!" "Hey, Mother!" "Wish me luck." "Luck is you getting outta Georgia alive!" "Nanny was one of those country folk to have a taste of the city." "Listen now, y'all, we've got to get this food out of here!" "We've got some hungry people, baby!" "And they partook and they partied!" "Here it comes!" "Woo!" "Yeah!" "Oh, this man!" "I dreamed about you last night and here you come." "Let me get you your key and a plate, all right?" " Hey, Pauline." " Hey, Nanny." "All right, girl!" "Jimmy!" "Yeah, Mama!" "Pauline, come on, girl, huh?" " You look so good tonight!" " Thank you, baby." " You look so pretty!" " Thank you, Nanny." "Doll, how come you didn't finish the back of your head?" "I didn't want to be late for the fish fry." " You look pretty." " Honey, I know I do." "You do, too!" " Thank you, baby." " All right, thank you." " Where are you going?" " You know where." "You ain't gonna start no mess up in here tonight, right?" " No, you know me." " I know you better not." "Where are you from?" "Segregation forced those folks to make their own heaven on earth." "And Nanny's Friday night fish fry was the place to be!" "Hey, Daddy!" " Y'all like this new car, don't you?" "!" " Aha!" "Now, for most folks, this was just another Friday night." "But for me, this night was special." "Whoo!" "It was the night my journey with Nanny began." " Ma!" "Ma!" " Hey!" "Ma, where's Ma?" "!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Hold it, Ruben." "Calm down." " She's going to have a baby right now!" " Oh my God!" "Okay." "Bitch, I will pitch it so loud, throw it in your goddamn face!" "Pauline!" "Have you lost your whole mind?" "Please, Ma, you come, okay?" "See the baby." "One minute." "If you don't straighten this out before I get back," "I'll do it for you!" "Bill, make sure she stay out of trouble." " Ma, come." " Go, okay, okay." "Alean!" "Oh, Lord have mercy." "Ruben, get me some hot water and all the clean towels you can find." "You ain't leaving yet, is you?" " Ruben, move!" " Yes, right now." "Ruben!" "Where's that hot water, boy?" "I'm going right now, Ma." "All right, this baby ready to come!" "It's me and you now, okay?" "Come on, you can do it." "You can do it!" "Yes, Lord, have mercy!" "Push, baby." "Come on." " Yes!" " Yeah." " Yes!" " Yeah." " Yes!" " Yeah." "Yes, push!" "Ruben!" "Push!" " You're crazy!" " Jimmy Lee, I love you, baby!" "Calm down!" "Give me the knife!" " You've done lost your mind, Pauline!" " Jimmy!" "Shh, shh..." "It's okay, it's okay." "Ooh, thank you, Jesus." "Thank you." "That wouldn't be the last time Nanny came to my rescue." "By the time I was two, Alean and my dad had split." "Clean sheets." "She figured she'd make a pit stop at Nanny's rooming-house" " till she got back on her feet." " Here you go, Einstein." "Why must we equate intelligence with white men?" "What of W.E.B. DuBois?" "Alain Locke!" "Alexandre Dumas." "Next you'll tell me Jesus was a Negro." "And Jesus!" "Mohammed!" "Dinah Shore." "Clean sheets." "Clean sheets." "Excuse me." " Where is she at?" " At the Flame, she's a barmaid there." "Run over there, tell her the baby with me." " I wanna see her when she get off work." " Yes, ma'am." "Hey, I'm headed over to Maxie's, so don't wait up for me." "Have I ever?" "What you doing with the little curly-headed rascal anyway?" "He's spending the night with us." "Want some sherbet, baby?" "Don't put him in my bed." "He'll keep me up all night tossing' and turnin'." "We'll you ain't gonna be in it." "Bill was Nanny's husband, a big ol' yellow Geechee boy, 17 years her junior." " I'll see y'all." "Mm-hmm." "Mm!" "Show me how what you do." "Yeah." "Ooh, let me see if I can do that." "He's sleeping good, so I ain't gonna bother him." " That makes sense." " Nanny, we need to talk." "Yes, we do." "Just 'cause you letting me stay here don't give you no right to go in my room and take my baby." "Alean, ain't nobody took nothing from you." "You can't leave that child in a room by hisself." " That ain't right." " It ain't right you invade my privacy." "Well, I'll invade Russia when a baby is concerned." "Now, you ought to let his father keep him when you're working." "Nanny, I can take care of my baby." "I am working my ass off, got two jobs, and I'm doin' the best I can." "I'm just down the street at The Flame, and I'm running back and forth checking on him every chance I get." " He's asleep, Nanny." " What if the child wake up?" " He'll be scared to death." " Nanny." "Look, 'cause you and Ruben can't make it, don't mean the child got to suffer." "Let me keep him when you go to work, that way you ain't got to worry about him and I ain't got to worry about him." " Plus, he'll get a nice hot meal." " Nanny, I feed my baby!" "You ain't got to worry about him, and I ain't got to worry about him." "It ain't no trouble at all." "Ricky come up in The Flame and she putting my business in the street." "I know I'm a good mother." "We ain't worried about what nobody else say." "This here is between you and me." "Let me help you with this child till you're able to help yourself." "Everybody need a little help sometime." "Nanny, I appreciate you trying to..." "This my baby." "And I always..." "Nanny, I love..." "I take care of him." "Listen at me good now." "We both want what's best for this child." "I know how much you love Junior, but I also know you up against a lot right now." "Now, I'm gonna always be here for you and this baby, you understand?" "Now, we gonna try this." "See how it work out." "And things did work out for a while." "See you later." "Can you wave goodbye for me?" "Yay, little man!" "Hands up." "Yay!" " Have you been practicing?" " Mm-hmm." "See you later." "That girl done gone and got herself locked up again." "Alean?" "How come..." "Hi, Nanny." "Hi, Ruben Daddy." "Breaking into some clothing store, the policemen took them all downtown." "I went down there and made bail for her." " Where's Junior?" " He's upstairs getting his baseball." " What she say to you, man?" " I didn't stay." " I was too upset at her." " How could she do something like this?" " Look, I want my son." " Look..." "No, how come she don't give to me my son?" " That's his mother." " You his mother." "You." "Listen, go on to the baseball game." "Try to have a good time and forget about this mess for now." " This is not right." " I'll talk to her later." "She gonna be by here." "Hey." "Hey, Junior." "We're going to the game, man." "Going to catch a ball." "Perfect!" "No, I got it, man, for real!" "You better look out now." "You better not be out here smoking that stuff." "Go on now, Bill." "Your seat's getting cold up at The Flame by now." "Alean, girl, Nanny up there waiting on you." "Ricky, do me a favor and go pull her to the side and tell her I'm out here." "I'll split the cards." " Go ahead, come on, come on." " King of clubs." " King of clubs." " What you got over there?" " Who's winning?" " I'm winning." "Bam!" "What you tell Junior?" "Nothing." "I'm gonna let you tell him." "This is the second time I had to come down there and get you out of jail." "I don't know what you be thinking sometimes." "Just trying to provide for my child." "I can't do that if I ain't got nothing." "That boy has been bouncing around since he was two years old." "That's just the path I've been on, Nanny." "Wherever I'm going, my baby's going too." "Now what sense does that make?" "You in a stew, so he got to be in a stew?" "Nanny!" "I won." "Nanny, I won, I won, I won." " Ma, I won!" " You did?" "That's my baby." "Now you go on back in the house and we'll be in soon." " Nanny, are you gonna play again?" " Do like your mama said." "Aren't we going to play one more game?" "Why you have to go and steal, huh, Alean?" " Ruben, don't start with me." " What is wrong with your head?" "You're supposed to be this boy's mother." "You're like a child yourself." " Don't tell me how to be a mother." " Go in the house." "I want my son." "You won't be with him anymore." "Go in the house, get your things." "Ruben, take Junior in the house." " Come on, Alean!" " Don't you touch..." " You better not touch her!" " You better get right back in your car." "Nanny, I wanna live here with you." " Just go on, we'll work it out." " No!" "No!" "For real, Nanny, I just wanna live here with you." "It'll be all right, baby." "We'll talk about it." "Ruben?" "Son?" " Leave us a minute." " Okay, ma'am." "Come on, Junior." "Come on." "Nanny, you don't know what I'm going through." "You're right about that." "But I know this:" "It's hard on little black boys out there." "Now that boy is something special." "Whatever he wants to be, I'm going to see that he gets that chance." "I can do that for him, Nanny." "I just wish everybody would back up off me and quit trying to run my life." "I'm grown!" "Girl, hush!" "I done heard enough and I done weighed in." "Now I'm gonna take Junior and park him right here until he finishes school or until you or his daddy can prove to me you can take care of him better than I can." " We got an understanding?" " Nanny, I..." "It ain't about you no more." "When I get myself together, and I am, you're gonna have to let him go because I'm coming to get my baby." "Fair enough." "Nine of hearts." "Shit!" "But I'm gonna be right there, Nanny." "I ain't going nowhere." "I'm gonna come pick him up every weekend, and I'm gonna help you with his clothes and stuff." "I'm gonna drop you off some money every week." "Do what you can." "I'll get myself on my feet by the summer, then I'll come get him." "I pray for you every day, Alean, and I know you can do whatever you put your mind to." "Despite all this other mess," "I'm proud of you for doing the right thing about this child." "Yeah." "He don't need this life I'm living right now." "He don't need it." "My mom did come see me every weekend for a while." "Then I didn't see her for a long time." "Nanny told me she had to go away." "Then one Christmas, I got a big box." "Nanny said, "Look what your mama sent you!"" "It was 20 years later that I found out" "Nanny had given it to me." "People used to say," ""32 Wasson Avenue ain't no place to raise a child... all them fools Nanny done taken in. "" "'Cause see, all of Nanny's roomers were ramblers or drifters of some sort and they each had some experience with prison, mental hospitals, alcohol, drugs, pimping, gambling, or church." "And every one of them had a story to tell." "Hey, Ruben, when I was playing ball with the Negro league, we used to travel all over." "There was Ol' Po' Carl, raconteur and King of the Malaprops." "New York City, now that's the city!" "That's the city where they got the Statue of "Delivery"!" "Well, the French give it to 'em, deliver her, put her right there in the harbor." "J., come on now!" "I thought Ricky was the coolest dude living there... and she was." "Shakey Winfield and Numb Finger Pete." " Uh..." "Nile's the longest." " Damn!" "I told you, you ignoramus!" "Shakey was Nanny's second cousin." "Nanny brought his whole family up from Virginia." " That's a big river!" " Numb Finger Pete thought he was smarter than everybody else and was quick to bring up the point." "I spent more than a year at Tougaloo College." "Yeah, what did they teach you?" "How to be an ass?" " Pete got drunk and fell in the snow." " You ain't got no education!" "His fingers were frostbitten so bad, they had to remove all of them, except his forefinger and thumb." " Clean sheets." " Jimmy Lee and Pauline." "One day they're trying to cut each other's throats, the next day..." "We're in love!" " Hey, Doc." " That's Freddie Cobbs." "He was the first person I ever saw signed his name with an "X."" "And Mr. Paul." "Uncle Bill told me he had killed somebody." "Doctor told me to quit drinking." "He said I had "roaches" of the liver." "I didn't know whether to believe him or not, but I did feel something kind of moving around in there." "That's Lonnie." "Although he didn't live at 32 Wasson, he was always standing around outside jangling his keys." "Lonnie, Lonnie, baby?" " Nanny used to say..." " Come on, let's go inside." " All of him went to Vietnam..." " I've got some cornbread, nice, hot cornbread." "...but only half of him came back." "That's an E7 chord, one of the first things you learn about the blues." "Like John Lee Hooker say," ""You don't need to play but one chord. "" "See?" "This is our story." "This ain't in no history book." " Mr. Lucius?" " Mm-hmm?" "And just like me, they all had a story as to how they ended up at Nanny's." "How did you lose your arm?" "I was just wondering." "I was courting this gal named Annie Mae for more than a year." "And I fully intended to marry that gal." "One day she told me about this ole white boy named Joe Tinsley... who'd been picking with her and saying things like," ""Well, you're my little brown sugar. "" "Now one day my uncle gave me this straw hat he'd brung back from Cincinnati, because he know I love me some hats." "I put that hat on, shined my shoes, got my gal, and we strut to church." "And on the way back home, up comes Joe Tinsley with his horse and buggy... and he said something." "I act like I don't hear him." "So he stepped down and he slapped my hat off my head." " He slapped you?" " Mm-hmm." "Did you hit him back?" "Annie Mae was holding on to my arm, whispering, "It's okay, Lucius." "It's okay. "" "Joe Tinsley climbed back up on his perch, and said, "You girls have a nice day. "" "Haul them." "And when I dropped Annie Mae off, I just kept right on walking, picking up a tree branch along the way." "He was sitting on the porch, drinking a jar of lemonade." "But he saw me stepping up to him, opened his mouth up to speak, and I slapped him upside his head with that piece of lumber, just like you would a hog." "When his body hit the ground, seemed like he wanted to get back up, but I..." "I hit him again... and again." "Then I just walked away." "I didn't run, Junior, I walked." "Now I took and put some turpentine on my shoes so the dogs couldn't follow me, and I took off for the swamp." "I didn't sleep for two days." "I was so tired." "And I dozed off finally, and I woke up to this sharp pinch in my arm, and then I see this snake squirm off." "So I pulled out my case knife, and I try to open up the spot, so the venom could ease out with the blood and the puss." "But it started swelling and bleeding, so I stuck it in there again until I hit bone." "I packed it with mud and leaves, and I kept on going." "Through the grace of God," "I got outta that swamp." "I got to Augusta, Georgia where this colored doctor told me I was lucky to be alive, but he had to take that arm." "Come here." "When I came up north, that's when I first heard about Miss Rachel, that she had given so many people a start." "When we met she asked me, "What happened to your arm?"" "I said, "I was defending this lady's honor. "" "Then she said..." ""I'm just gonna tell you right now, just in case you ever wonder," "I can handle my own honor... so your other arm is safe. "" "Now when folks got North," "Nanny would find them jobs, and if they didn't have nothing, she provided food, shelter, clothing." "Nanny was like the government, if it really worked." "And she didn't just wait for folks to come to her." "Mr. Taylor?" "Mr. Taylor?" "Oh!" "Miss Rae!" " How are you doing, huh?" " I'm fine, thank you, Mr. Taylor." " How are you doing?" " Just fair to middling, ma'am." " Just fair to middling." " This here is my son Ruben." "He was a tall man with a barrel chest and one leg." "I bet you're smart too, huh?" "What's the matter?" "You ain't never seen a one-legged man before?" "And with that tongue darting in and out of his mouth," " he looked like a giant Negro iguana." " Huh?" "Then watch this..." " Whoo!" " Whoa!" "Now are you gonna stand there and watch a one-legged man throw a rock further than you?" "Try it." "Yeah!" "Now, I don't allow no wild women in and out of my place." "I don't do no cavorting, no gallivanting with none of these wild and crazy women out there." "And your rent is due on time, $25 a week, room and board." "And when my rent come, you know, I'll pay you in advance." "In fact..." "I got me $160 saved up." "You can have any part of that, ma'am." "No, Mr. Taylor." "You keep your money." "And you've got to take your medication." "You ain't got no problems out of me." "I don't bother nobody," "I stick to myself, and take my medicine just the way it says on the bottle." "Now, Miss Rae, as long as I've known you, you've been like a rock to all the peoples that come to you in need." "Now..." "Mother..." "I'm in need." "I'm just asking for a chance." "And that's how we all ended up at Nanny's." "Now there wasn't a person dead or alive who hadn't asked Nanny" ""What are you doing with Bill?"" "But Nanny told me, "Sometimes a man and a woman have an understanding that no one else understands, not even their own selves. "" " Yeah!" "All right, Ricky Girl!" " Yo, big one, girl!" " Girlie-girl." "Y'all know that's awful!" "You all see them Negroes walking around shouting, "Black Power"?" " The Black Panthers?" " Mm-hmm." "Hair as nappy as can be." "I need to get them up in my chair!" "I got all the black power they need right in this hot comb." " Yeah." " I like their hair natural like that." " I might get me one." " What?" "What's wrong with that?" " You don't like to use this?" " No, too heavy." "It makes me feel trapped." "Here's your sandwich, baby." "Now when we go out tonight," "Mr. Paul's gonna be here" " in case you need anything." " Okay, Mama." " Are you all right, Mr. Taylor?" " Yes, ma'am." " Ow!" "Ouch!" " Pauline, I'm sorry." "You're gonna have me going to the party all burnt up around the forehead!" "Well, you can't be fidgeting like that." "Pauline don't scream like that when Jimmy Lee be going upside her head." "She'll be right out by Maxie's for him tonight." " Huh-uh, I'm going with Nanny." " Yes, indeed." "The ladies are gonna show out tonight!" "Bertha, you know you're always welcome to come along with us." "Uh, let me check with Jabble 'cause you know how I loves my piece of man." "Maybe we outta take all these piece of mens we got together and make one whole man and spread him around." "I know that's right, Nanny!" "Y'all are over there laughing, but Rae knows she ain't going nowhere without me." "She's going to sit right there till I say, "Come on. "" "Ooh!" " Nanny did you hear that?" " I see his lips flapping, and I don't feel nothing but a breeze." "Okay, well, if that's the case, maybe I'll go out and get myself a new girlfriend then." " Ooh!" " And when you're all through, why don't you bring her back here so she can help me do some of this work around here?" " What makes your big head so hard?" " My!" "At Maxie's Bar and Grill, the '40s dance was the event of the year!" "Everybody would show out to party and reminisce about its heyday when Billy Extine, Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, and Hot Lips Page would perform." "They would laugh about that night that Wynonie Harris got drunk and fell off the barstool, or talk about that day that Malcolm X stood out in front, admonishing the liquor and gambling that was always flowing inside." "It didn't matter how you were dressed from the ankle up because it was the shoes that made you sharp." " Yeah!" " Yeah!" " What makes your big head so hard?" " My!" "Hey!" "And when folks weren't dancing, they were dining on Maxie's famous fish sandwich with the special sauce and wilted lettuce." "They cook the lettuce on these sandwiches." "Huh-uh, when they put the cold lettuce on the hot fish, it's cooked." "No, the sauce is hot and when they put that on there, it wilts the lettuce." "And they were all there:" "Sucking Finger Willie, Buffalo Shorty," "Bo Jack, Big Wheel," "Pepper Red and Dick Barrymore." "You know, my mama told me to leave Caldonia alone, that's what she told me." "She said, "Son, leave that woman alone." "She ain't no good." " Don't bother her. "" " Nanny, are you in?" "But Mama didn't know what Caldonia was hunting down." "I think I'm gonna let mine ride on Dick Barrymore." "I'm going by Caldonia's house to ask her just one more time." "Gentlemen." " Yeah!" " Yeah!" " What makes your big head so hard?" " My!" "Hey!" "Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen." "Thank you." "While they were at Maxie's listening to jump blues, the blues I was hearing had a whole different kind of sound." "There were a lot of things happening in 1956." "That's the year I was born." " You know who that is?" " No." "That's Nat King Cole, one of the world's greatest song stylists." "That's the night that he performed in front of an all-white audience and a mob attacked him." "See, he was black, you know, black and shiny and his hair was always perfect, not a strand out of place." "Those white folks jumped on that stage that night, and old Nat King Cole jumped the hell off." "His hair was messed up that night." "Talk about getting your kicks on Route 66." "He got his kicks the hell out of there that night." "When did you say Jimmy Lee and Bill are gonna get here?" " I ain't studding Bill." " Tell her." "Ain't waiting for no man." " Bertha, are we on?" " Come on, Bertha." "Come on, Pauline." " I brought you your winnings." " So, how've you been?" " Well, Miss Rachel," "I'm still vertical." "Now I know you're gonna let me have one dance before my bunions start hurting in these Stetsons." "Damn Bill!" "Girl, you and me, we go all the way back to Farmville, Virginia." "In that same year, they enforced the Supreme Court decision on mandatory segregation." "Everything's equal." "You can go anywhere you want to." "My brother thought that... and he got into a scuffle with a white fella." "He ended up breaking the guy's arm." "They took him to jail and to court." "The judge says, "Second time you hurt a white guy this year. "" "My brother says, "I don't understand, Your Honor." "What you mean?"" "He says, "The first time you hurt a white man, you told him to go to hell." "You hurt his feelings." "Now you're breaking this guy's arm." "Two white men you hurt in one year." "That's 10 years. "" "You understand what I'm saying to you?" "You can't go around hurting white folks in any form or fashion, even if you're white." "Hey, ask John Brown." "That's history, son." "You look it up." "You better do it, Shakey!" " Jimmy!" " Hey, baby." "The Dodgers played the Yankees in the World Series." "A lot of people say I sound like Jack Robinson." "I always admired him because he sounded bla..." "American." "I spent 10 years in jail learning how to sound..." "American." "All right now." "All right now." "All right!" "Are you gonna sit down at the table and have a drink with us?" "Well, I gotta go back and finish taking these fools' money, but I'll be back to wet my whistle in a bit, if the offer's still good." " You know it is." " All right." "Hey, Lackawanna!" "Are you having fun tonight?" "Well, all right." "Those two are about to work my last nerve." "But Ricky do look good in that suit." "Welcome to the stage Mr. Otis McClanahan." "Lord have mercy." "You better give it up!" "Come on now, please!" "That boy on that ax, mm!" "1956 was... it was just one of those years." "I had a gal... that I was... in..." "The hell with it, I wrote a poem... about it that can probably tell it better than I can." ""Oh I loved, loved that woman."" ""When I'm with her, I felt like a king."" " "When I'm with that woman,"" ""I didn't need a doggone thing." "Oh, Lord," "I went down to that woman's house... and knock, knock on her door."" ""She had the nerve to tell me she didn't want me no more." "Oh, Lord."" "Mmm, Lordy, Lordy, Lord have mercy." ""As I walk away, my heart in my hand," "I had the strangest feeling she was with another man."" ""I had the strangest feeling she was with another man."" ""I kicked down that woman's door." "She was naked, holding that man, making love on the floor." "I lost my mind for a time, Oh Lord." "I grabbed that butcher knife." "He jumped up in my face and I swung." "I swang that butcher knife." "I dug it into his body." "I pulled it out." "I dug it in." "I pulled it out." "Oh, oh, Lord." "There was blood, blood on my hands, and there was blood, blood on my face, blood on the walls, blood all over the place." "When I had finished swinging that knife," "I had taken... his... and her..." " life."" "Otis McClanahan, "Life stories." The blues." "Get off of him!" "Damn it." "One, two, three!" " You want some of Jimmy Lee?" " You got to bring some to get some!" "Bring it on, girl!" "Come on!" " Bring it on, baby." " Don't get that, girl!" "Jimmy Lee!" "I heard them fools cut each other's throats." "I got drunk and fell asleep at my sister Louise's house." "I'm gonna get me a couple of hours of sleep and me and Doc, we're going fishing in the morning." "You can't hurt me no more, Bill." "What, I can't go to my sister's house?" "I was looking for you to show up at Maxie's tonight." "You're the one told me you ain't need me for nothing." "That's a good thing 'cause when I do need you for me... for me, Bill," " you ain't nowhere to be found." " Woman, what you talking about?" "But you can't hurt me no more." "I'm numb." "Sometimes I look at you, don't even see you." "You touch me and I don't feel you." "But I can smell you and I know I'm alive." "That stench ain't just some other woman's cheap perfume, it's your soul, Bill." "Your rotten soul!" " Morning." " Morning." " What happened to you?" " I had an accident." "What happened to her?" " Morning." " Morning." "Doc, look what I got you." "Wow, a new fishing pole!" "That ain't just no fishing pole, that's a Zebco!" "Come on if you're going." "They'll be done cut off the fish if we don't get there soon." " Take your sweater." " Thanks." "Let's go!" "Boy, we're gonna have ourselves a day!" "Hello?" "Oh..." "Nanny, it's Junior, collect." "Collect?" "Hello?" "Where're you at?" "Where's Bill?" "Say what?" " What happened?" " What do you mean?" "You left here to go fishing with Bill and you come back shivering to death." "I wanna know what happened." "Well..." "Uncle Bill and I left and he had to make a stop." " Morning, sweetheart!" " What kind of stop?" " Just a stop." " Then what?" "Duke and I decided to go swimming." "Here I come, Duke!" " Where was Bill?" " Huh?" "Where was Bill?" " Busy." " Then what?" "We finished swimming and..." "Doc, what do we got?" " Boy, where are your clothes?" " I tell him I can't find them." " What do you mean you can't find them?" " Then he starts yelling." "Where're the reels?" "Boy, that's $200 worth of good fishing gear, you didn't watch them?" "What else you have to do?" " He kept on yelling." " Don't talk to that child like that!" "Shut up." "You don't know nothing about this." "You find them reels and call me, or you find another way home." "Bill, you just can't leave this child!" "I'll leave you!" "Give me some of that soup, woman." "If you ever mistreat this child again, man, I will blow the back of your head off." " You ain't the only one who got a gun." " I ain't gonna say it no more." "I don't care." "You can say it as many times as you want to." "You could go pull out that old gun of yours if you want," " but I tell you, be ready to use it." " I know the rules, Bill." "I'm supposed to be scared now?" "Is that what I'm supposed to be?" "I ain't no playtoy." "Better off going bear hunting with a toothpick than messing around with me, huh?" "Blow the back of my head off." "Shit." " Nanny?" " Mm-hmm?" "I'm not gonna be Uncle Bill's friend no more." "Uncle Bill loves you." "He just..." "He just act the fool sometimes." "Bill knows he did something silly and hurt you." "Nanny, I'm mad so you should be mad too." "Child, I done had my share of kicking ass, kicking down doors, breaking out windows, and acting the fool, but that didn't suit me." "I'm a lady and I'm gonna conduct myself as such." "But I ain't no lady and when Uncle Bill hurts you, I want to hurt him back." "Sometimes I hate him." "I don't ever want to hear that word out of you." "You hear me?" "I done had to deal with that poison my whole life." "It's all right to be upset, but not hate." "Now I know you're just trying to help Nanny, and I thank you." "But I've been taking care of myself for 50-some odd years just fine, and ain't had to hate, nor hurt nobody to do it." "Now, you know Uncle Bill loves you, right?" " Mm-hmm." " Mm-hmm." "Are you gonna give him another chance?" "I'll tell you something, if he do something else," "I'll hold him down and you slap him!" "After you blow the back of his head off." "Oh, Lord!" "You go to sleep, boy." " Good night." " Good night, Nanny." "Things between Nanny and Bill were calm after that." "But everything came to a head the day the social worker showed up." "Duke!" "Don't give me that shit!" " I'm gonna learn you something." " Go to hell with it." "I was in World War II when your black ass was still in Alabama picking cotton." "Fought for my country, stood on the front line with bullets whizzing by my head." "Don't tell me shit!" "Come here, Doc, read it." " Tell him what it says right there." " "The United States Army 1946." "Corporal Fred J. Cobbs, honorable discharge."" " Shit!" " Did you hear him?" "Did you hear him, ass?" "That piece of paper don't mean a damn thing!" "You still wasn't nothing." "Honorable?" "They ain't let you have no gun!" "I knowed my job." "And I did my job." "Stacking bodies." "I was stacking them one on top of the other, just like you would a 50-pound sack of potato." "Freddie, I got some people here to see..." "So I could take them and bury them with some kind of dignity!" "Something they couldn't get over here and I'll be damned if they weren't gonna get it over there!" "I'm a man!" " Freddie!" " And I buried men and I watched, they're standing right there grinning." "No, they ain't give me no gun to shoot at them, but that ain't stop them from shooting at me." "So don't you..." "What on earth is going on?" "How far did you go in school, Mrs. Crosby?" "Well, I had to start working after my mama passed." "So..." "I went to third grade, but..." "Bill here, he went all the way to sixth grade." "Hmph." "I've been looking after children my whole life, whether family or somebody else's." "Junior is closer to me than my own family." "Ruben, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" "If you want to." " You have excellent grades." " Thank you." "Excuse me, would you like something to drink?" "No, we're fine, thanks." " Do you like living here, Ruben?" " I love being with Nanny." "But are you happy here?" " Shh, quiet!" " Mrs. Carmichael asked you a question." "I have a lot of fun here." "Everybody is my friend." "They teach me stuff." "Sometimes I teach them stuff." " Stuff?" "Like what?" " Like how to play Pokeno, and the harmonica, and history stuff too." "Like about the Negro Leagues, or like when the white people beat up Nat King Cole." "Would you like to live in a regular house?" " What regular?" " You know, a regular old family, with a big yard and a garage..." "We have a yard and Uncle Bill has a garage." "Think you'd like to look at some of these other places?" "No thank you." " I'm happy here with Nanny." " Doesn't hurt to take a look, Ruben." " All right, come on." " I beg your pardon?" " Let's go." " Bill." " Let's go, I say!" " Bill." " Mr. Crosby, we're just..." " Get your ass outta here!" " Move!" " I'm sorry." "Bill gets a little wound up." "We'll definitely talk to you, Mrs. Crosby." "They must be crazy talking to Junior like that." "They ain't taking that child nowhere." "See, that's what's wrong with your brain." "They're liable to come back and snatch him up" " 'cause they think you're crazy." " No, that's why they ain't coming back, 'cause they know I am!" "And before I let them take my best buddy out of here, they're gonna have to take me outta of here first." "'Cause we got some more fish to catch." "Right, Doc?" "I never heard any more talk about me moving away ever again." "I guess it's just like Nanny said... sometimes a man and a woman have an understanding that no one else understands." "Nanny gave every drop of herself to people." "Outstretched arms reaching for her, expecting Nanny to put a stop to their fall." "Who knock?" "Who knock, I say?" "Nanny, it's Laura." "Laura, what you doing with them babies out here this time of night?" " Mom." " Come on." "You're gonna catch your death." "Come on." "My biggest fear was that Nanny would give all of herself away..." "Let me look at you." "...there wouldn't be anything left for her." "Let me see." "Come on, baby." "Let me see." "Lord, have mercy." "Jesse keeps beating on me, Nanny." "I can't take it anymore." "He slapped me with the back of his hand." " I'm a mess." " Here." "Put this ice on your mouth." " Want me to take you to the hospital?" " No." "Well, I could make a bed for the kids right here on the couch, and y'all can just stay right on up here with me." "He'll come looking for us tomorrow, Nanny." "He knows I'll come here." "You let me take care of that, hmm?" "You just hush and keep that ice on your mouth." "Your babies have got to get some sleep." " Nanny, what's wrong?" " Get back in bed, boy." " But what's wrong, Nanny?" " You hear what I say?" "Go on, get back in bed." "Go on now." "I'm just so tired of this, Nanny." "L-I can't..." " I can't." " I know." "Nanny got you." "Come on." "Come on, let it out." "It's gonna be all right." "That's some pretty catfish." "That's a pretty catfish there." "Oh wow!" "Junior, skin the catfish." "Snapping peas, now these idiosyncrasies are strictly Negro custom..." "Man, go on away from here with that silly talk." " "Go on away"?" " Go on away." " I live here." " Go on away." ""Go on away"?" "That isn't even a proper sentence." "See?" "I spent more than a year at..." " "Boogaboo" College." " Tougaloo College." "I'm not afraid of my education!" "I understand the psychological workings of animosity." "Shakespeare called envy... the green-eyed monster." "Nanny!" "Nanny!" "Nanny!" "Ryan and Crystal's dad just..." "Miss Rachel, I come for my family." "Sit down, boy." "Are you hungry?" "I don't need to sit down, Miss Rachel." "Just tell Laura I said to come home." "I got a fresh pot of neck-bones back here and some..." "Where's she at?" "!" "Wherever she at, you're gonna have to go through me to get to her." "Now go on, knock me down." "Go on." "If that's the only way you know how to do things, knock Nanny down, 'cause I can handle it." "I ain't got no beef with you, Miss Rachel." "With all due respect, you all up in-between me and mine." "No, what I'm up between, is right and wrong." "Now when that gal come up in here in the middle of the night, half-dressed with her babies in tow, blood all over her swoll-up mouth," "I was there for her and I ain't gonna turn back now." "So if you wanna give me a dose of what you give her, bring it on 'cause if you ever touch that child again, baby, we gonna dance." "Now, when she's ready, she'll call you." "I'll tell her you was here." "Laura decided she didn't want to go another round with the Golden Gloves champ." "So that winter, Nanny huddled them all in her Lincoln and took them to Toronto to be with Laura's mother." "And of course, Nanny took me along for the ride." "I was nervous the whole way thinking," ""Man, Nanny don't know how to act in front of no rich white folk."" " Tea?" " Yes, thank you." "Thank you for saving my daughter's life." "Anybody would have done the same." "Young man?" "You got a cold Pepsi cola?" "Tea." "Yes, thank you." "Miss Rachel, I understand that you're the mother of the community, always an open hand, and an open heart." "Thank you." "Mm." "These are delicious and you don't skimp on the butter." "Ruben?" "Mm." "These cookies are delicious with lots of butter." "Come on, I'll give you my secret recipe." "It was almost like a fairy tale." "Laura's mother treated us like royalty." "It was the first time that I thought about how tired Nanny must really be." "And I couldn't help but think, "In a couple of hours," "Nanny's gonna be right back in the middle of whiskey and piss, vomit and blood, madness and mayhem." "They gonna give me my goddamn keys!" "They're mine and I want them." "I ain't afraid of no Viet Cong." "They're gonna give me my keys or they're gonna have to kill me." " What's the matter, child?" " Oh my God, he lost his mind!" "Nanny, I'm gonna call Bill." "I'm gonna go get his sister!" "Revolution is your every action." "Revolution is your every word." "They gonna give me my goddamn keys!" "Damn it, boy!" "I'm gonna call the police!" "Shakey, let me talk to him!" "No, I ain't gonna leave you in here with him!" "Go, I say go!" " Nanny, go on!" " V.C.'s got my goddamn keys!" "I want my goddamn keys." "Baby, now come on." "Sit on down." "Them beans are almost ready." "They're gonna have to give me it or I'm gonna have to kill somebody!" "Nanny!" "I want my goddamn keys!" "Shh..." "Revolution, revolution or war..." "There go your keys." "Okay, now sit on down, huh?" "Sit down, now, and they'll shut up all that noise." "Here, come on." "Sit down." "Eat that cornbread till them beans warm up." "Hey, baby brother." " Are you all right, Nanny?" " I'm all right, baby." "Bill." "Bill!" " Son of a bitch!" " Bill!" "Are you all right, woman?" "I'm all right, Bill." "I'm all right." " Nanny?" " Hmm?" "Do you ever get afraid of death?" "Death is your friend." "When this long hard journey is over, and I'm too tired to go on, Death will say, "I understand."" "Then there'll be no more trouble, no more pain." "How long have you been taking care of people, Nanny?" "Since I was a child." "There's always been a part of me that wanted to try to fix things... and people, try to make them feel whole again." " That's why you got this rooming house?" " Not exactly." "That just kinda come to me." "I was working out at Woodlawn for this white couple... had two beautiful boys." "On Saturday before my day off, I'd bake cakes and pies so they'd have some sweets after their Sunday dinner." "The lady of the house was so impressed, she said," ""Rachel, you don't have to do this." "You could be home." "This is so nice!"" "I said, "Well, I'm just looking out for my boys."" "Then she told me if I was gonna make cakes," "I had to make one to take home to my family." "Well, one Saturday..." "I'll never forget it." "She lit into me." ""Where're you going with that cake?" "!" "I can't afford to feed you and your whole family every week!"" "Then she stormed off one way, and I dropped that cake on the table and stormed off the other." "On my drive home, there was so much turmoil inside of me." "I could..." "I could still feel the warmth from the goodbye hug them boys give me, and I held on to it 'cause I knew that'd be the last hug they was ever gonna give me, 'cause from that day forward, I was gonna be my own boss." "And that I was." "Bought me a little place on Simon Avenue." "The place had five bedrooms." "I rented four of those out, took my car, started a little shuttle." "That lead to a cab stand." "Then I got this place here." "That made two rooming'-houses, a cab stand, and a restaurant." "God has truly blessed this little ol' gal from a tobacco farm in Virginia." " Why didn't you ever had any kids?" " Oh, I had 'em." " I had a little girl." " You did?" "Mm-hmm." "With my first husband Dick Johnson." "Mm." "She was my heart." "I named her Lillian." "But God took her early on." "She wasn't no more than three years old." "Had a bout with that pneumonia." " You never talked about her, Nanny." " No." "That was the hardest thing" "I ever had to face in my life." "You know, they say" "God don't make no mistakes." "I know one thing:" "It took me a long time to get on speaking terms with God after that." "But, you know, then I came to realize that even though God took that one that was so special for me..." "He filled my life up with so many others." "But most of all... most of all," "He give me you." "Now get back on that job, mister." "Don't wanna leave them kitchens undone." "When Nanny first took me in, she made a vow to see me through school." "Little did I know that going into one world would signal the end of another." "My father went to have a simple bypass and never made it out of the recovery room." "He had always been there for me." "Alean was still battling her demons." "When it finally looked like she might be winning, she was gunned down in a drive-by and killed." "My sophomore year, Nanny was diagnosed with breast cancer." "When Death came by to visit Nanny, she told him, "God ain't done with me yet, so move on down the line."" "Stay on the speed limit." "The year I graduated, we found out that Uncle Bill had lung cancer." "Within six months, he was gone." "Businesses all up and down Wasson Avenue started closing down, 'cause for every door integration opened, it meant the closing of another in the community." "Maxie's, The Flame, The Rim... the vibrant world of Lackawanna I'd always known, started to fade away." "Come on." "Mm-hmm." "Thank you, sir." "That's fine indeed." "Fine indeed." " Come on, Nanny." " Mm-hmm." "We better get you home." "You know they're waiting on you." " All right." " I'll get you over there soon." "Probably start marching over here for you." "Yeah, come on, come on." " Let me get your cards here." " All right." "Here she come!" " I want some tea." " I'll get you some tea." "Surprise!" "Y'all trying to give me another heart attack?" " How're you doing, Nanny?" " Hey, baby." " Nanny, you look good." " Thank you." "Welcome back to your palace, madam." "Told y'all she was coming home." "Where else was I gonna go?" "Anybody check on Miss Francis lately?" "Richard..." "Oh Lord..." "Boy, you know who I'm talking to." "Uh, uh..." "Junior, come here." "Stop by there and take her a plate." "Pauline, Miss Madeleine, her wake tomorrow, ain't it?" " Mm-hmm." " So while you're out there..." "Nanny, you can't take care of these people." " You're sick yourself." " Baby, go and do what I ask you." "I'm all right." "This is what I do." " Hmm?" "Go on now." " Yes, Mama." "Ooh, Pauline what you got over there smelling so good?" "Everything!" "I know how you like the chicken and dumplings," " so I got that." " Mm-hmm." " And I fried up some porgies." " Ooh..." "I got us some greens and some turnips, and some mustards, and some macaroni and cheese, and for dessert," " your favorite!" " It is." "Coconut layer cake!" "Girl, you done outdone yourself, baby." "I'm gonna go check on something in the kitchen..." " Mother." " Yes, baby." " Come here." " What?" "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you, Nanny." "Thank you, Nanny." "Thank you." "To take fragments and make them whole, that's what Nanny did." "Piecing together, pulling together a community." "The people of 32 Wasson Avenue wanted me to have more, amount to more than they did." "So they gave me that bit of themselves that they felt was their best." "And the blues I heard and the stories they told will live inside of me forever." "Lord, have mercy."