Sticks and Stones
Excerpt from Sticks and Stones
Standing with her back to Mary, Jodie says, “I’ll be good, I promise. And it doesn’t matter that you’re—.”
“Hush, you’re already good. But you’re dead wrong about the other.”
“Mary…”
“You’ve heard those boys calling me names?”
“Yeah, but what does being queer really mean?”
“Honey, it’s just a word. Some people use hurtful words for ways they don’t understand and people they think they couldn’t like.”
Jodie pauses before saying, “Like what black kids sometimes get called?”
“Yeah, like that,” Mary says.
“Then can I ask you something really hard?” Mary nods, holding her breath. “Would you’ve ever gone off and left Miss Sarah?”
“All I can say is, in twenty-seven years, neither of us ever did—well, once for three days after I acted the total fool.”
“Then I’m staying, if you’ll let me.”
“You know I can’t take a hoe to everybody that’ll —-”
“Mary, ain’t you read in the Bible how sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me?”
“Child, that’s not in the Bible.”
“It’s not?” Jodie says, looking defeated. “But, I promise, I’m over those words.”
“Is that why it took so long for you to come back after the first time?”
When Jodie nods, Mary pauses, remembering Sarah had been troubled by their many years of silence. Yet Mary had believed it a simple argument for not setting your tail on fire. But now she wonders whether she’d been right.
“Even if we could work it out, your momma and daddy’s got the final say.”
“Shoot, my momma’s so crazy right now she won’t care, and he’s got a new family.” When Mary isn’t convinced, Jodie pleads, “Then write something down that says she’s not giving me away, just letting me stay.”