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| A Molehill is a Mountain by: Jacquelin S. McCord Book Reviews Foreword Book Excerpts |
| Meet Thais - his issue is, his dad is a Workaholic and does not spend enough time with him. |
| When We Get Straight by: Jacquelin S. McCord Book Reviews Foreword Book Excerpts |
| Meet Tesmae - her issue is, her parents are Alcoholics and will not take her to Church. |
| Fur Coats in my Closet by: Jacquelin S. McCord Book Reviews Preface Book Excerpts |
| Meet Honi - her issue is, her husband is a " Ladies' man" , and she wants him to become God's man. |
Excerpts fromFur Coats In My ClosetIntroduction |
| As a young girl, I remember my Aunt Louise and her husband, Uncle Jimmie, coming from Richmond to visit us in Green Bay, Virginia. Aunt Louise had shoulder-length black hair to match her shiny black smooth skin. She was a loud-talking, corn- starch eating, funny woman who liked to party. Uncle Jimmie was a yellow man with curly black hair and a gold cap on one of his front teeth. He was originally from Durham, North Carolina, and loved to smoke his cigars. He worked in a bakery, and she was a nurse in a hospital not far from where they lived. On their not-so-frequent visits, they would bring us lots of doughnuts and other bakery treats. |
| The memories I have of them are very vague. However, there are two things that stand out in my mind about Aunt.Louise. One is that she was abandoned by her mother and left on my grandmother's (Lottie) doorstep. At that time, Grannie recently was widowed and had no children by her first husband. She accepted Aunt Louise as a gift from God, adopted her and raised her as her own daughter. A few years later, Grannie met and married John Miller, himself a widower. He had two, sons named Ruben and Roy. Together they had five children, Mary, Sallie, Carrie, Naomi and Wilbur. Louise had Grannie's beautiful skin and looked more like her than any of her natural children. |
| The Green Bay school district in which Louise lived did not provide bus transportation for Negro students to go to high school. Those families who could afford it sent their children to boarding school specifically for Negro children located in Victoria,some 25 miles away. Grandpa and Grannie, who supported their family from the crops and animals they raised on their 39-acre farm, could not afford the tuition. They sent young Louise back to Richmond to live with an aunt where she could attend high school. Louise finished high school and went on to nursing school to become an LPN. |
| The second story I remember about Aunt Louise is that she carried a small gun in her purse. It was said that she was known to use it on occasion, like when she thought she saw another woman in the car with Uncle Jimmie. She said she took out her gun and started shooting at the car. She laughed so loud at the thought of scaring the two of them. She promptly went to the fur store and bought herself a fur coat with Uncle Jimmie's money. Another time she caught him with another woman, he bought her a fur stole. Over the years, she accumulated several beautiful fur coats. |
| My family moved to New York, and I never saw her again. One day while rushing to get to work, Aunt Louise passed out on the side walk. She was dead upon arrival at the hospital from a heart attack. My mother and her other sisters drove from New York to attend the funeral. By the time they got to Virginia, Uncle Jimmie's "friends" had taken the fur coats. Not one of Aunt Louise's sisters got one of those fur coats! |
| FUR COATS IN MY CLOSET by Jacquelin S, McCord |
| She looked in the mirror at her beautifully painted
face, Every strand of hair was absolutely in place. She pulled her new black mink a little closer, It was made in the United States and not in Formosa. Conveyed out of love, but served as a guilt decoy, This valentine gift from dear husband, LeRoi. She heard the envious talk, "Just look at Miss Thing. You can tell she's loved by a King!" The women carried on so, hemming and hawing, She found them to be downright annoying. |
| She said nothing as she sat and reflected, When was it, her first fur that she collected? Was it the weekend he sneaked across the state line? Was it Ms. Frosted Tips who took up his time? Was it the bleached blonde whose hair was wild, Or the oldie but goodie with the toothless smile? Doctor, lawyer, teacher, clerk, or beautician, Vice President, secretary, sales rep, or mortician, Dancers, rappers, and ladies who sing, No woman escapes the affection of the 'player, king.' |
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