Deliverance and Scratching Them Itches

      One fine sunny day, I was outside hunting along the perimeter of our house, looking for the lizards and tree frogs that often could often be found perched up on the sunny side of the house for warmth.

During my hunt, I made my way to a section of siding underneath a window when suddenly; I heard my uncle and my mother talking in urgent disturbing tones.

      My aunt had left town for a few days to visit a friend, leaving my uncle to his own devices.

      Crouched under the window, I heard my uncle asking my mother for a kiss. "C’mon, Faye, it’ll be awright, Juanita won’t be back fer a while."

      The tone of my mother’s voice was a mixture of scolding and sharp cajoling, “What are you thinking? Jose…you’re married to one of my kin! Juanita would not cotton to your messing around on her one bit."

      "Well...Faye, what she don’ know won’t bother her none. Hell, come on, Sug, you ben without a man fer quite awhile now."

      My uncle intimating that he wanted to keep something secret from my aunt caused me to move from my hidden crouch. I couldn’t help it -- I just had to peek through the screen window to see what the secret was.

I saw my uncle standing there, gawking with that toothless, full-gummed smile on his jack-o-lantern face.

      His voice took on an even more wheedling tone, like a kid begging for cookies before supper. "Come on, girl. You ben worken’ hard - two full-time jobs, doing yer best, and yer a woman in her prime. I know that once a woman has been without a man fer a while she jus’ gits the itch."

      I slunk in closer to get a peek in at the corner of the window, hoping to hear what they were saying more clearly. I feared that I was not supposed to be listening to private adult conversations. I was terrified that they would hear my pounding heart and ragged breathing…I worried about the punishment I would endure if I got caught.

      However, I knew that something was not quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my Uncle’s manner caused instinctual alarm bells to go off within me.

      In spite of my fear, I stayed poised to move fast, to insure that my mother was kept safe. I vowed to myself that this time, I would not fail to protect her from him as I had failed to protect her from my father.

      Nevertheless, my simple child’s mind was still uncertain of what the true danger was. After all, my uncle had only wanted a kiss. On the face of it, his simple request didn’t seem inappropriate; my adult relatives often kissed each other in greeting. My mother had mentioned that he was married, but that never seemed to be an issue with my relatives when they greeted each other.

      My uncle mentioned my mother having an itch? This really confused me. How did he know about her itching? And what in the world did her itching have to do greeting or kissing him? Most disturbing, why did my uncle want to keep a greeting kiss secret from my aunt?

      I wondered, “Why did my mother have an itch from being with a man and then an itch from not being with a man for a while?” My inexperienced mind was spinning as I tried to grasp the intricacies of adult customs.

      I may not have understood why my uncle was acting so strangely, but I could tell that my mother, who was normally so tough, was not only outraged…but also a little bit afraid.

Her manner heightened my resolve to protect her.

      Now my mother’s voice became lower, more intense, "Look, Jose, I think you need to be concerned about Juanita’s needs."

      My uncle tone was self-pitying, "Well... Juanita has not made feel like a man since little Jose’s ben born."

      My mother’s voice filled with recrimination, "Jose, that is none of my business, and the gossip about town is that you’ve been tomcatting around with other women for years. You don’t need to be messing around with anyone on Juanita’s side of the family."

      Locked on to every word, I wondered, “What did my mother mean by" tomcatting"?

""Look, Sug," my uncle was now pleading, "I got an itch, an’ I know you got an itch.

I just think we could, help ta scratch each other’s itch."

      I was totally perplexed. Now, he was talking about both him and my mom suffering from itches.

      My mother’s body tensed up, her voice more forceful, "Jose, you better leave now, and if you ever approach me again, I’ll tell Juanita what you’re up to."

      My uncle’s face twisted into an evil leer. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it was possible for him to look homelier. I was wrong. He took one menacing step towards my mother and then abruptly froze in his tracks. Even though he kept his distance, my nervous system was thrumming as I was poised to come through the window if he moved a step closer. Ever since my father’s assault on my mother, I learned that relatives can and will hurt their loved ones.

I vowed that this time I would protect her with my life.