J. California Cooper - The Matter Is Life

Also by J. California Cooper

Homemade Love
Some Soul to Keep
Family
A Piece of Mine
In Search of Satisfaction
Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime
The Wake of the Wind

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

F IRST A NCHOR B OOKS E DITION , O CTOBER 1992

Copyright 1991 by J. California Cooper

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Doubleday in 1991. The Anchor Books edition is published by arrangement with Doubleday.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cooper, J. California.
The matter is life / J. California Cooper. 1st Anchor Books ed.
p. cm.
I. Title.
[PS3553.05874M37 1992]
813.54dc20

92-15970

eISBN: 978-0-307-77859-8

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1

Dedicated with Love

Joseph C. and Maxine R. Lincoln Cooper, my parents
Paris Williams, my chile

Special Others

Zora Neale Hurston James Baldwin Langston Hughes
Stevie Wonder Gladys Knight Patti LaBelle
Pharaoh Akhenaton, Eighteenth Dynasty

Dian Fossey and her gorillas

Alice Walkers horse, Blue

Beryl Markhams horse, Wise Child

My Cats
(past and present)

Siasen, Pretty Girl, Peace, Peace, Buzzy, Charlie, TuNu
Toto, Muggins, Icy, LaLa, Rainy and Wild Red.

Especially

All the people who suffer under the word Untouchable in India. You are not Untouchable. Consider the source.

To all those of you who have encouraged and supported me. I need that.

My daughter, Paris, who lifts me with her support and love.

My sister, Shy, who actually reads my work!

Warren D. Smith, who runs hither and yon, doing things for me so I will have the peace and support to do my work.

To Temma Kaplan, Barnard College, for her large, generous kind heart full of thoughtful doings. Barbara Tatum, Barnard College, for her sweet, thoughtful kindnesses.

Amistad Bookplace of Houston, Texas. Thank you Rosa and Denice for all the valuable help you have given me.

To Reid Boates and Karen and the two little sons that make Reid the most wonderful man/agent I know.

To the wonderful people of my last publisherMichael Denneny, Michele Hinkson, Sarah, Keith, all of them who were, and are, always so considerate and kind.

To the most wonderful new people of my new publisher, DoubledaySallye Leventhal, Evelyn Hubbard, Arabella, Heidi, Tina, Nancy and others, for their encouragement, faith and, yes, thoughtful kindnesses. I hope never to let them down. Martha Levin, too!

My deep abiding appreciation to Nina Mehta and her assistant, Russell Perreault, my publicists at Doubleday/Anchor, for their consistent attention to, and knowledge of, their profession and mine. They are excellent in their jobs and perfect for me. Besides being efficient, they are very considerate, kind, and quick.

Joarvonia Skipwith has been a thoughtful friend and supporter. I want to thank her.

To Jehovah God. Oh, what would I do without Him?

I give a lot of thought to the matter of Life. I mean to make mine as good and easy as possible. I stay as close to God and His wisdom as possible.

Some people say it takes courage to face the matter of death. Then we are all courageous. Facing death, inevitably, to the end of our lives. Every day.

I believe it takes more courage to face Life. To survive the everyday matters of the mind, body and heart. Every minute is of great moment in the matter of Life. There may be no small matters. A penny piece of candy can choke you to death, like a penny piece of lover can kill your soul. A person alive at two oclock may be dead at two ten, accidentally, from a wrong decision. A simple thing like boredom (which is really not simple) can create havoc in a life; it has the power to destroy. All in Life there is to decide upon is important to our living, in that it determines the quality, even the length, of our days.

Some people spend their lives in prisons.

Some, in the prison of Drugs or Sex Alcohol Loveless Unions in Hate or Greed even sell themselves, their lives.

There is Loneliness, Losing and Lack (and more).

There is Love, Laughter and Longevity (and more).

Everyone wants to matter.

Everyone wants to know what the matter is.

So I name this book what I believe.

That, Always, no matter what the matter is

THE MATTER IS LIFE

E very morning when I raise my head up from the bed, I say to myself, Another morning. Good morning! Then I slowly get up and commence my day. Cept this mornin I lay awhile to talk to myself.

I am a frightfully old woman, somewhere near up to ninety years old. I dont know and I dont care no more. Im oldern everybody else anyway!

But this day was a different kinda day cause it was the big day, a funeral day of a old, old man friend of mine who had lived to be ninety somethin years old too! Had a good life tho, cause he had a good wife, a young wife. Young for him. She bout fifty-five or fifty-six years old.

He had done married when he was forty-five or so, to a young, pretty girl bout sixteen years old. Everybody called him a fool cause of that and cause he was always laughin, smilin or teasing. Was a fine fellow to be around. A lot of fun. She, his wife, just wanted to get way from that house full of children at her home, and never enough money for nothin or nobody!

But he fooled em! He made that girl happy and kept her on up to now. Forty-five years. Somethin like that. They had some children, way grown now, and they stayed together. He been sick and down these last five, six years. But that woman cause thats what she is took such care of him, with such love that I seldom seen anywhere in my life and you already know I been here a long time.

Just think, if Id a married him, Id a had somebody to keep these old bones warm all these years my bed been empty. But he wasnt the man for me I wasnt the girl for him. I picked my own man, he died. Another one, I left that triflin fool and he was the best lover. Another one, we was together a long while, he wasnt no real good lover, but he was a good man. He died. I was tired then. Nuff, enough.

Anyway, today my old friends funeral, his big day. We all got to go, cause when you gets his age you know everybody and they know you. Sides that, his laughter made him lovable.

Anyway. What was I sayin? I aint ready for all this talkin. Cause Im sad. I hate to see people I like die, but I like funerals cause then I get to see people I aint seen in a long time. And all the new ones too. My memory was always good, aint changed a bit so I see from where all them people been to where they done come to. I like that, when it dont make me sad. You be surprised how many things I knew was gonna turn out like they did! Sure nuff!