Chapter 22
SOPHIA
On the walk back from the Old South Ball, Willa threaded her arm through Sophia’s while babbling with apple-scented breath against her ear.
“Wasn’t that just the most romantic time ever? I could have danced all night,” Willa crooned.
“Yeah, it was fun. You were right to drag me.”
“I knew it.” Willa squeezed her arm. “And you had a nice time with Claude. I saw you cutting a rug,” she said, her gown swishing around her ankles.
Sophia pressed back, but she was thinking more of her time with Max than with Claude.
As they turned through the quad in the direction of their dorm, Sophia saw Patty and her gang up ahead, cackling and stumbling. She watched as two girls caught Patty by the arm to keep her from tripping on the hem of her dress.
“What in the devil is wrong with her?” Willa tipped her head. Loose strands of hair had fallen from her updo.
“She’s drunk.”
“How do you know?”
Sophia had watched the Old Man stagger around on many weekends after he had finished his work. She knew the signs. “They were guzzling down spiked punch all night long.”
“Just foolish.” Willa giggled and then sighed dramatically.
“What?” Sophia asked.
“Max. He just smelled so good. Like fresh linen in a forest of pine trees. I was hoping he would try to kiss me, but he didn’t.”
Sophia tried not to grimace. “Guess he’s just a gentleman like that.”
“For crying out loud, it’s 1965, women are no longer delicate little flowers. Surely there is no harm in a tiny kiss.” Willa held Sophia’s arm tighter as she continued, reliving how Max had hung his hand around her waist on the dance floor.
“His touch made me feel all squishy inside,” she said, and while Willa gabbed, Sophia couldn’t help but think of her time alone on the bench with Max as they watched the embers burn in the fire.
His fingertips pressed against her burn mark.
Their easy way with each other. Max revealing his most hidden secret.
Sophia couldn’t stop picturing Max as a scared small child.
Germany was a long way to travel for a family.
And she had never even considered that there were Negroes living in Germany.
How had his parents gotten together in the first place?
And it was such a crazy coincidence that he had lived through a fire and she was constantly having night terrors of escaping one.
“Ladies.” Ms. Meacham stood in front of the double doors to their dormitory. “I hope you all had a divine evening. Please go to your rooms silently. Those who did not attend the dance are fast asleep, so please be courteous. You have thirty minutes to prepare for bed, and then lights out.”
The girls tried to obey Ms. Meacham’s courtesy rule as they walked down the halls and disappeared behind closed doors.
Inside their room, Sophia removed her heels.
She could feel her pinkie toe throbbing from being squished against the leather of the shoe all night.
Willa sat down at her desk that she used as a vanity and removed her clip-on rhinestone earrings.
“I’m so glad fall break is in a few days. I cannot wait to shower in my own bathroom.”
“Like your own, own? Simply for you?” Sophia turned her back as she slipped her dress over her head.
“Yes, silly. Did you forget that I’m an only child? Who else would I share with?” Willa said, swabbing a cotton ball over her eyelids to remove her eye shadow.
Sophia thought about the one bathroom she shared with the whole family. Most times the pipes clogged, and nothing but rusted water poured into the blackened tub, too stained for her to even bathe in properly.
“What are you doing over Thanksgiving break?”
Sophia yawned. “Just hanging out here.”
“You and your jokes.” Willa laughed with her mouth open. When she noticed that Sophia had not laughed with her, she said, “You’re kidding, right?”
“I… can’t go home.”
“But the entire school will be closed from Wednesday until Monday at four. You can’t stay here. They won’t allow it.”
Sophia shivered. What option did she have? If she went home, there was no guarantee that Ma Deary would let her come back. Sophia could not take that chance. She was just starting to get the hang of things.
Willa picked up a clean cotton ball, dabbed it in makeup remover, and wiped away her lipstick. “Don’t you miss your family?”
“It’s complicated.” Sophia dropped onto her bed with a thud.
Christ, how had she missed the notice that the school was going to be closed?
This threw a wrench in her whole plan. Sophia could feel panic well up in her chest. Maybe she could stockpile food and hide out in her dorm room.
Miz Peaches had been so kind to her. Sophia could convince her to pack up a few meals under the guise of needing the food for a long drive home.
Would the maintenance staff be on campus?
She wouldn’t leave her room except to use the bathroom, or maybe she could pilfer a bucket to relieve herself.
She could dump it out the window under the cover of night.
Peeing in a bucket would not be her lowest point.
Nothing could beat that time Ma Deary had put a padlock on the refrigerator to teach them a lesson, and Sophia had gotten so hungry that she had plucked maggots out of half-eaten sandwiches from the trash can in the cafeteria at school.
Willa interrupted her thoughts. “Did you hear me?”
“No, what did you say?”
“That you can come home with me. I’m sure my parents won’t mind.”
“Are you serious?” Sophia looked at Willa.
“Sure. My father’s favorite saying is ‘The more the merrier.’ There is always room at our table.”
“Thank you,” Sophia said. Comforted and slightly afraid at the same time.
On the Wednesday of fall break, all classes ended at eleven-thirty.
The cafeteria staff had set up stainless-steel coffee urns, hot chocolate, and porcelain platters of crumb cake in the lobby of the dormitory.
Sophia had wrapped several pieces of cake in a napkin and dropped them into her satchel bag for the ride.
“Let’s wait outside. I want to see if I can catch a glimpse of Max before he leaves.” Willa puckered her lips.
As Sophia stood with Willa in front of the administrative building, she watched shiny cars in shades of blue, red, and white glide through the roundabout with silver letters that declared Thunderbird, Grand Prix, and Starfire.
Sophia felt a twinge of envy as her fellow classmates were reunited with mothers in silk dresses, under blond mink, wearing enough diamonds and pearls to decorate a Christmas tree.
“There’s the car,” said Willa excitedly.
Her cape-collared coat was open, and as she waved, her miniskirt rose up her thighs, showing off brand-new opaque pantyhose.
Sophia had worn her best hand-me-down drop-waist dress, which hung below her knees, and quilted coat.
She tried not to think about how out of fashion she looked next to Willa.
A sparkling black Cadillac Fleetwood rounded the bend. The car slowed to a stop, and a tall, smooth-faced man exited the front seat in a crisp black suit with a midway cap. “Miss Willa, so good to see you.” He beamed perfect white teeth.
“Lovely to see you too, Paulie.” Willa motioned to Sophia and made a quick introduction.
Sophia smiled but thought, A driver? Just how wealthy was Willa? Sophia had seen chauffeured cars only on television, and the passengers were always white.
Paulie reached for the handle and opened the back door.
A pair of patent-leather heels with interlocking C’s on the toe touched the ground.
As the woman emerged from the car, Sophia saw that her hair fell in loose curls around her face.
She wore a purple tweed skirt suit with the same “CC” on the buttons.
The woman looked posh and expensive but slightly older than Sophia had pictured Willa’s mother.
“Grandma Rose,” Willa squealed. “I didn’t know you were coming to pick me up.”
“Darling, I wanted to surprise you.” Willa’s grandmother opened her arms wide, and Willa fell into them. “Let me look at you.” She took a step back and examined Willa. “You’ve grown, darling, and look at those rosy cheeks.” She pinched.
Sophia shifted from one foot to the other.
“Grandma Rose, this is my roommate, Sophia. I’ve invited her to come with us. She lives too far to go home for such a short break. I hope that’s okay.” She batted her eyelashes in a way that conveyed she always got what she wanted.
Grandma Rose’s nose tilted up in the air as if she had just sniffed something unsavory. Sophia watched as the woman’s eyes took her in from head to toe.
“Hello, dear. I am Mrs. Pride.” She stuck out her gloved hand.
Sophia pumped it. “Sophia Clark.”
“Clark?” Mrs. Pride said. “Are you related to the Clark sisters? Detroit is such a long way to travel.”
Sophia looked blank. “No, ma’am. I’m from Prince Frederick, Maryland,” she said. Then noticed the look of disdain that passed through Rose Pride’s eyes as she leaned in closer.
“Farmland, then?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sophia wrapped her arms around herself.
The way Mrs. Pride’s eyes cast up and down Sophia’s body, it was as if she could see the paint-chipped farmhouse with the missing shingles.
What had Sophia agreed to? Was it too late to turn back?
Perhaps hiding out in her dorm room wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
The uncomfortable look from Mrs. Pride was crushing her, and they had not even left school grounds yet. How would Willa’s parents treat her?
“Well, let’s do get a move on. We have a little ways to go, and I don’t want to get caught in traffic.
” Paulie took Sophia’s train case, which looked battered and bruised next to Willa’s coral Samsonite set, and placed them in the trunk of the car.
When Sophia moved toward the backseat, Mrs. Pride held up her gloved hand.