Pompompom came Jasmine’s signal
knock at the front door. Nana-Lily
went to let her in. “I’m coming.”
“Did they wear hats, Cherie?”
“Like blue baseball hats with red eagles
on the front, Mommy.”
“How you know they eagles and not
some other goddamn bird?”
“Because we studied eagles in Miss
Weinstein’s class.”
Every week day morning, Jasmine
dropped off Samson at the Peaceful
apartment, known as Harlem
Central. Tulip delivered Cherie and
Bloombloom at around the same time.
Last year Nana-Lily or Daddy Peaceful
had walked them to school, and picked
them up. This year Cherie had insisted
that she could take the younger
children to school and bring them
home again, probably because she
wanted to flirt with boys. It had gone
well until today. Every week day
afternoon around six o’clock, Jasmine
(subwaying from downtown) and
O’Page (driving from private lucrative
jobs in Westchester) would meet at
Harlem Central, to retrieve Samson.
Coming from work or school, Tulip
usually arrived a few minutes later.
Only this evening Tulip’s signal knock,
pompompompom sounded first on the
door of Harlem Central.
“Wide men, like uncle O’Page,” Cherie
corrected. “Wide. And they wasn’no
cops neither. Because they shoes too
pretty.”
“Now what little game you people
playing?” Jasmine came into the
kitchen with a smirk on her face. “Did
O’Page phone?”
“What kind o shoes, Cherie?” Tulip
wanted to get angry with somebody.
She sat down next to Cherie.
“He phoned around three, said he’d be
here around sixthirty.” Nana-Lily took
all the phone calls. Daddy Peaceful
could barely remember the phone
ringing.
“What you mean somebody took the
kids?” Tulip came into the kitchen and
kissed Daddy Peaceful on his high
brown forehead. “Hi, Daddy. Where
you have them hid?”
“You didn’aks—”
“Sit down, Tulip.” Daddy Peaceful tried
to keep his voice steady.
“Sit down, shit! You mean you don’have
them hid?”
10
“Two white men just drove up and
snatched them away from Cherie.”
Nana-Lily took a sip of Valerian tea.
BRN-FALL-2012.indb 10
“Black and shiny. I tried to stop them,
Mommy.”
“Sure you did, baby,” Daddy Peaceful
assured her.
“What else they wearing, Cherie?”
“They wearing blue and red warm up
suits like the Bockers wear, only they
be so wide they filled them out.”
“You didn’tell us that, honey.” Nana-Lily
seemed hurt.
“Ask!” the adults said in unison.
“You remember anything about they
faces?” Tulip had once or twice dated
cops so she could adopt the manner.
“In the face they looked like uncle
O’Page, with splits in they chins and
yellow eyes.”
The whole family had taken notice of
O’Page’s yellow eyes. Asked about them,
he commented that many people from
his part of Europe, he did not say
Ireland, had yellow or amber eyes. They
had a folk tradition that they descended
from a mating of eagles and wolves.
“And nobody phoned yet, Daddy?”
“Nobody, Tulip.”
“Come on, Cherie.” Tulip stood up.
“Take me to the spot this all happened.”
She kissed Jasmine on the cheek. “Bye,
Jas. I’ll let them tell you what we know.
I can’t just sit here and wait. I’ll go
nuts.”
“You mean somebody really took the
kids?” Jasmine sat in the seat Tulip had
just vacated. “On the way home from
school?”
“Okay, I’ll call if I find out something.
Come on, Cherie.”
“Bye, Nana. Bye, Auntie.”
Nana-Lily escorted Tulip and Cherie
down the hall to the front door.
“Phone if you find out anything,” she
shouted after them and locked the
locks.
“Produce my child now. Don’play.”
Jasmine got up and inspected the pots
on Nana-Lily’s stove. “What you
people eat? I’m starved.”
9/7/12 11:26 PM