Pearl Cleage - Just Wanna Testify

Fiction
Till You Hear from Me
Seen It All and Done the Rest
Baby Brothers Blues
Babylon Sisters
Some Things I Never Thought Id Do
I Wish I Had a Red Dress
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

Nonfiction
We Speak Your Names: A Celebration
Deals with the Devil and Other Reasons to Riot
Mad at Miles: A Black Womans Guide to Truth

Just Wanna Testify is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Pearl Cleage

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by One World Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

O NE W ORLD is a registered trademark and the One World colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Cleage, Pearl.
Just wanna testify : a novel / Pearl Cleage.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52624-3
1. African American womenFiction. 2. Atlanta (Ga.)Fiction. I. Title.
PS3553.L389J87 2011
813.54dc22 2010050945

www.oneworldbooks.net

Jacket design: Kristine V. Mills

Jacket photograph: Masterfile

v3.1

For Zaron, who still makes me wanna testify

And for Bailey, Chloe, Michael, Deignan, and Will, who make me want to live forever

There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

THORNTON WILDER, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

I just wanna testify
what your love has done for me.

PARLIAMENT

When Regina Hamilton found out she was pregnant with her second child, she was so happy that she cried. She cried again when she called to tell her Aunt Abbie and one more time that night when she told Blue. By the time they told Sweetie that she was going to be a big sister, Reginas tears had stopped flowing, but she couldnt stop smiling. Blue teased her about it, but she could tell he was really happy, too. She accused him of liking her best when she was barefoot and pregnant, and he said he didnt know about the barefoot part, but loving her when she was carrying their child was about as close to heaven as he could stand to get.

That brought on a brief relapse in the crying department, but it didnt last. She smiled all the way through her first trimester and now seemed to be sleeping her way through the second. If she didnt get in an afternoon nap, she couldnt keep her eyes open after eight oclock. This put her on the same four-year-olds sleep schedule as her daughter and also put a serious crimp in her late night love life. Blue just laughed and reminded her that shed be back on a more adult schedule in another couple of weeks and then they could make up for lost time.

Regina couldnt wait that long. She arranged a sleepover for Sweetie, turned off the phone, and took a two-hour nap, then made reservations at Landons and went out and bought a new dress that complemented her pregnancy curves. Blues eyes when he saw her in it let her know that he didnt want to wait either. They lingered over the meal, enjoying a night out together, but when their server offered dessert, they both declined so quickly, Regina felt herself blush like a teenager.

Blue took her arm gently and guided her across the parking lot, which was rapidly filling up with cars of hungry people. The chef at Landons knew his way around the kitchen and the place had a growing number of enthusiastic regulars.

You could have had dessert if you wanted it, Regina said as Blue backed the big black Lincoln out carefully and turned the car onto Cascade Road. I had a nap this afternoon. Im good until midnight!

That made him laugh and she did, too. In front of them, the moon rose, glowing at the end of the street like a giant yellow ball.

My God, Regina said. It looks close enough to touch.

My mother used to call that a Cascade Moon.

Ive been here six years and Ive never seen a moon like that.

Its rare, Blue said. Something to do with the rotation of the earth.

Doesnt everything have to do with the rotation of the earth?

Exactly.

It looked like a movie moon. She half expected E.T. and that little kid on the bicycle to come pedaling across her view. Regina couldnt take her eyes off it.

Is it good luck?

He shrugged. I dont remember her saying anything about it being lucky. Mostly it was supposed to be a time when spirits walk.

What kind of spirits?

Only the restless ones, he said, reaching over to squeeze her knee lightly, but keeping his eyes on the road.

Dont laugh, she said, covering his hand with her own so he would leave it where it was. I was over at the Growers Association today and ShaRhonda and Lu were talking about vampires. Do they count?

The Growers Association was the organization behind West Ends impressive network of one hundred community gardens. Their headquarters was the nerve center of the neighborhood and Regina stopped by daily to catch up on the news.

Blue raised his eyebrows. Vampires in West End?

No, but just about everywhere else, to hear them tell it. Lu was teasing ShaRhonda about having a crush on some movie vampire guy who cant have sex with his girlfriend because he might lose control and start sucking her blood.

Blue shook his head slowly. Now, that is a brother with a serious problem.

I cant imagine why they would think that was sexy.

Probably because theyve never had sex.

Good sex anyway, Regina said.

Bad sex doesnt count, Blue said, his smile half hidden in his mustache.

She smiled back. You got that right.

As Cascade Road turned into Abernathy Boulevard, West Ends main business artery, late shoppers could be seen hurrying home with whatever couldnt wait until tomorrow, as students strolled back to their dorms clutching take-out cups of cappuccino from the West End News. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to the moon, which was still glowing like a lighthouse as they turned down Peeples Street and pulled up in front of their house. The huge magnolia that dominated their front yard looked ghostly against the night sky.

I would hate that, Regina said, leaning her head against his shoulder as they started up the front walk, arm in arm.

Hate what, baby?

Vampires in West End.

Blue laughed softly and opened the big front door. That will never happen.

How can you be so sure? she said, stepping out of her heels.

Because these vampires know I dont play that stuff.

Good, she said, nuzzling his neck, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a great big yawn.

You still good till midnight?

Absolutely! she said, heading upstairs. Dont keep me waiting!

The water felt good against her skin as she took a quick shower, while Blue closed up the house for the night. Slipping under the sheets wearing nothing but her favorite perfume, she wondered what it would feel like to be in love with Blue and not be able to make love to him. She doubted that she could do it, no matter what the risks might be.

She shivered a little at the cool cotton sheets against her skin. Good thing I dont believe in vampires. She yawned sleepily and closed her eyes, listening for Blues footsteps in the hallway, never knowing that by the time he slid in beside her, she was already snoring softly, one arm laid protectively across the gentle swell of her belly, smiling and dreaming.