Both Sides of the River

We had fought a war that should have been fought a long long time ago. It should have been won a long long time ago. I remember the way they treated Momma. She was a good Christian woman but they did not like her being strong willed and standing up for what's right. Momma loved church and she loved family. And they were all she had. My mother was a good woman. She loved her country but she just did not understand her country at times. Why would you give some people rights and others not. It was just plain wrong and Momma believed that. She would stand up to ministers preaching that women ought to be faithful to their husbands no matter what. Momma was my hero. And sometimes I thought my father was not my father. The way he treated Momma. Momma loved him with al of her heart but that was not good enough. And I did not like how he talk about her like she was his property. Sometimes I wanted to fight my father. Why marry her if she is your property. I confronted my father on many occasions. And then Momma got sick and I spent most of my time taking care of her. She stop me from fighting my father and from being angry with him. She made me make peace with him. And I did when I finally saw that my father loved my mother. That he was just protecting her in his own way. And when Momma died and we had her great funeral, father told me that he wanted me to get married. Then all of sudden, my father got sicked. If he would have waited for the white doctors then he would have been dead. So my friends from childhood who worked for my father looked after him that was after I had to convinced my father many times and watch him. And he check my father many times, he was a black doctor Dr. Avery. And he finally told me the diagnose and I was heartbroken over father. Father was constantly sleeping and not eating much. And I did not tell father that I asked Dr. Avery to stay in the house. Father could not move from his bed. And it happened that father got so stricken that he was bed ridden. I stood strong for my father until Dr. Avery cook for me breakfast and coffee. And we laughed a bit and we begin to hold hands and kiss. And we danced to a little music and I was shy and ashamed after kissing him. And Dr. Avery said May you got to live. May you got to live too. I don't know how long your father is gonna live. And Dr. Avery and I got so close that I could not break his heart and we made love wildly and frequently. And I was pregnant at father's funeral. And Dr. Avery pledged to work for me. And so we lived together without anyone knowing. Dr. Avery pretended to be my worker and I pretended to be sick and in need of help. And we raised a family, Amary looked like me. Amary grew up well and beautiful and she was smart like her father. As time grew on and we started to get many neighbors and as Dr. Avery started to age and I as well age. One of the neighbors came over after decades of being ignored and she suspected. She was a nosy businesswoman Mrs. Cab. And I believe she was more interested in the house than conversating with me. She always kept looking and suspecting. And she did this for months. And she finally brought over her husband Mr. Cab and they asked if my daughter Amary was educated. They were acting like they were family and I barely knew them. And they tried to fix my daughter up with their son. I finally kick them out and told them that I can no longer talk to them. And a few nights ago, the white gang burned a cross at my house, Dr. Avery came out to meet them with a shotgun. and they shot him and I called the police. The doctor said that Dr. Avery was too old to be wounded and he died from the wound. We held a small private funeral and at that funeral I swore to our daughter Amary that I would get revenge. So Mr. Cab and Mrs. Cab came back and I talked through the door. They said there will be troubled. And we packed our bags and things and had them waiting with friends. The white gang burned a cross but I got them so mad that they burned the house and we escaped. And eventually we got the insurance check for the property and Mr. Cab and Mrs. Cab turned in the white gang because they were suspected. Amery and me started over rich and up North where her father Dr. Avery came from.