Dick Gregory - 11 Jun

Its a sad and beautiful feeling to walk home slow on Christmas Eve after youve been out hustling all day, shining shoes in the white taverns and going to the store for the neighbors and buying and stealing presents from the ten-cent store, and now its dark and still along the street and your feet feel warm and sweaty inside your tennis sneakers even if the wind finds the holes in your mittens. The electric Santa Clauses wink at you from windows. You stop off at your best friends house and look at his tree and give him a ball-point pen with his name on it. You reach into your shopping bag and give something to everybody there, even the ones you dont know. It doesnt matter that they dont have anything for you because it feels so good to be in a warm happy place where grownups are laughing. There are Daddies around. Your best friends so happy and excited, standing there trying on all his new clothes. As you walk down the stairs you hear his mother say: Boo, you forgot to say good-by to Richard, say good-by to Richard, Boo, and wish him a...

Then youre out on the street again and some of the lights have gone out. You take the long way home, and Mister Ben, the grocer, says: Merry Christmas, Richard, and you give him a present out of the shopping bag, and you smile at a wino and give him a nickel, and you even wave at Grimes, the mean cop. Its a good feeling. You dont want to get home too fast.

And then you hit North Taylor, your street, and something catches your eye and you lift your head up and its there in your window. Cant believe it. You start running and the only thing in the whole world youre mad about is that you cant run fast enough. For the first time in a long while the cracked orange door says: Come on in, little man, youre home now, and theres a wreath and lights in the window and a tree in the kitchen near the coal closet and you hug your Momma, her face hot from the stove. Oh, Momma, Im so glad you did it like this because ours is new, just for us, everybody elses tree been up all week long for other people to see, and, Momma, ours is up just for us. Momma, oh, Momma, you did it again.

My beautiful Momma smiled at me like Miss America, and my brothers and sisters danced around that little kitchen with the round wooden table and the orange-crate chairs.

Go get the vanilla, Richard, said Momma, Presley, peel some sweet potatoes. Go get the bread out the oven, Dolores. You get away from that duckling, Garland. Ronald, oh, Ronald, you be good now, stand over there with Pauline. Oh, Richard, my little man, did you see the ham Miz White from the Eat Shop sent by, and the bag of nuts from Mister Myers and the turkey from Miz King, and wouldnt you know, Mister Ben, he...

Hey, Momma, I know some rich people dont got this much, a ham, and a turkey, Momma....

The Lord, Hes always looking out for my boys, Richard, and this aint all, the white folksll be by here tomorrow to bring us more things.

Momma was so happy that Christmas, all the food folks brought us and Mister Ben giving us more credit, and Momma even talked the electric man into turning the lights on again.

Hey, Momma, look here, got a present for Daddy. A cigarette lighter, Momma, theres even a place to scratch a name on it.

What you scratch on it, Richard, Big Pres or Daddy?

Nothing, Momma. Might have to give Daddys present to old Mister White from the Eat Shop again.

She turned away and when she turned back her eyes were wet. Then she smiled her Miss America smile and grabbed my shoulder. Richard, my little man, if I show you something, you wont tell nobody, will you?

What is it, Momma?

I got something for you.

Oh, Momma, you forgot, everythings under the tree.

This is something special, just for you, Richard.

Thanks, Momma, oh, thanks, howd you know I wanted a wallet, Momma, a real wallet like men have?

Momma always gave each of us something special like that, something personal that wasnt under the tree, something we werent supposed to tell the other kids about. It always came out, though. Garland and Id be fighting and one of us would say, Momma likes me better than you, look what she gave me, and we both found out the other got a secret present, too.