Saturday mornings were a mixed bag at our house and while
the tempo may change, one thing was a constant: The cleaning was going to get
done. My mother was known for her clean house! There was no sleeping in on that
1st day of freedom from school. Once that light hit you your face
through the crack in the curtain your feet better hit the floor. You definitely
don’t want moms coming in your room to get you! Oh no! Nothing good will come
of that.
See, you could tell a lot just from the hallway. If
breakfast was cooking you could get away with a quick vacuum and dust…but
somebody was gonna get stuck scraping the grits from the bottom of the pot. And while your stomach
started flipping from the wafting aroma of the onions and peppers in the homefries your ears were adjusting to the slow beats of Rick James and Teena Marie’s Fire and Desire. By the time you got
to the red phone at the end of the hall outside of the kitchen Teena was loudly
proclaiming that she wasn’t, wasn't, wasn't very nice, you know!!!! Sugar, sugar, sugar! Then,
there she is…Mom, in front of the stove, mauve lacefront peignoir set dancing
with the spoon stir motion, in tune of the now playing Teddy Pendergrass belting to the rest of the sleeping house how
good it feels when somebody loves you back! And that’s a fact!!
Mom pauses long enough to give me my assignments, “Girl
hurry up and wipe this table down and get it set before everyone gets up so we
can eat. Hurry up now.” And just like that you knew, my declaredly single mom
wasn’t single on this day and just as I finished the table set and the rest of
the family started making their way to the kitchen Natalie Cole was talking about our
love being as tall as the trees and we got. our. grub. on! Biscuits too!!
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| Mom and I, Circa 1971 |
Now, the hallway doesn’t always tell a "soon to be tasty" tale. OH NO! You could hit the hall and the fumes from the kerosene heater meet
you at the same time you are hearing that deep voice telling your soul, “Sometimes
a girl, will come and go, You reach for love, but life won’t let you know.. That
in the end you’ll still be loving her… But then she’s gone, you’re all alone…” BABY….by the time you realize it’s the Spinners you know love don’t love nobody and your momma is not in no playing mood and
yup…you are going to have to take ALL
of the china out of the cabinet for a serious dusting. You do not, I repeat, DO
NOT need instructions on this. YOU KNOW THIS. By the time you have dusted the
buildup grease from Lennox China commemorative plates and All God’s Children
black figurines you heard Blue Magic
ask, “What’s come over me” and Enchantment
bellowing out to GLORIA that
things ain’t been the same since she went away. Mommy does a quality check just
as the china cabinet door closes and through the small opening in her mouth
that isn’t holding the lit Newport she reminds you that the linen closet is
next! Since sucking your teeth is a death sentence and shuffling your feet is a
guaranteed trip to the ICU you get to folding, wondering if a quick death from
mom is better than whatever those fumes were going to do to you. While folding,
AL Green asks, “How do you mend a broken heart” and you know that your “single again mom”
is really asking herself how do I keep the heat on for these kids. The fumes weren’t
that bad, I guess.
Occasionally, Mom would pick up some overtime or grab a
house cleaning gig to pay for some school-envelope item or another and cleaning
day got pushed to Sunday. On these mornings, the red hallway carpet with the
yellowed plastic runner was more like the soul train disco line as you headed
to the living room to start on the screen door cleaning. I got at least two
spins and a dip in while agreeing with Cheryl
Lynn that I GOT TO BE REAL! Mom
stayed close while I did the screen door cleaning…No streaks allowed because everyone in
the neighborhood didn’t have a glass screen door and you have to take care of
your shit or you wouldn’t have any! That’s what Mom would say, not me. But on
those Sunday mornings she was as beautiful as Lola Falana and ready to join in
for a lil hustle with the baby of the bunch! On those mornings she was the most
beautiful. The extra cash did more than
pay for the school activity. It loosened the worry that was always lurking and weighed her down. Her
dungarees fit just right and I could see the extra earned twenties peeking from
her bra through her ribbed tank. We did the bump to A’int no stopping us now and for a few minutes we believed it. I
shifted dusting abilities from screen door to glass tables while the Maple
Sisters reminded me that I know a place… Ain't nobody cryin'… Ain't nobody
worried. We sang for a bit how they would take
me there but as I caught a glimpse of Mom lighting the incense on the long, scarred, slim wood
holders, a sure sign that the cleaning was finished; I knew I was already
there! On those days, definitely ain’t nobody worried. Happy cleaning. Real
talk.
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