Chapter 1 #4
“You hit her! You hit my mama. I saw you do it!” he shouted. Tears were running down his cheeks, but as small as he was, the depth of his rage shocked Mariah enough to back away.
* * *
The garage where Abel Bandy worked was just across the street from the park.
He’d seen Lilith and Tate walking toward the swings and smiled as he went back to work.
He was changing a flat tire when he heard screams and turned around.
People from all over the park were hurrying toward the swings.
Lilith was on the ground, and Tate was screaming at three grown women. He dropped his wrench and ran.
* * *
Briar’s curls were blowing in the breeze.
She’d lost her hair clip and had a bit of sunburn on her nose, but she was having the best day.
She was standing on the ladder at the slide, waiting for her turn to go down, when she spotted Tate running toward the boys who were flying kites.
She lifted her hand to wave to him, but he didn’t see her.
And then she saw him stop in mid-step and stare off into space.
At the same time, she heard her mother shouting and looked down.
Her mother was telling Tate’s mother to go away, and that she didn’t belong here.
At the same moment Tate began running back toward the swings, Briar saw what her mother did. She saw Tate’s mommy falling, and then saw her go to sleep and start to bleed.
“Briar! Briar! It’s your turn!” someone shouted, and she climbed up the last rung and slid down, but she felt sick at her stomach, like she’d done something wrong.
She’d witnessed her mother being bad. And her best friend, Tate, was crying and yelling at all of the grown-ups. She wanted to hide from the shame, but she couldn’t look away. Tate was always helping her. It was her turn to help him.
* * *
When Abel reached the scene and saw Tate with his little hands curled into fists, and his wife with the bruise forming on her face, lying unconscious and bleeding on the ground, he dropped to his knees to check for a pulse. It was there, but the blood beneath her head was still spreading.
“Lilith! Darling…can you hear me?” Her silence was heart-stopping. Then he looked up at the three women in anger. “What the hell happened here?”
The local ambulance was already pulling up at the park, and EMTs were running toward the crowd.
Tate didn’t even know his daddy was there until he heard his voice. He turned, saw his daddy kneeling beside his mother, and started crying, but his little voice was shaking with anger.
“Briar’s mama did it. She told Mama to go away. She told Mama she didn’t belong here. She hit my mama. I saw it!”
Abel rose from the grass, looming over everyone there with a look of such vengeance that Mariah feared for her life.
Panicking, Mariah turned on the tears and started shouting. “He saw nothing. He was all the way over by the kites!”
Then Briar came pushing her way through the crowd and reached for Tate’s hand. “Don’t cry, Tate. I saw it too.” She looked up at Abel. “I was at the top of the slide. I saw my mama scream at Mrs. Bandy. I saw my mama hit her. We’re not supposed to fight.”
Mariah groaned. Her own daughter had just betrayed her. “I didn’t mean to,” she moaned.
The paramedics arrived at the scene and moved Abel aside. He reached for Tate’s hand, then pointed straight at Mariah.
“You shut your lying mouth. What you did was no accident. You are facing assault charges, and you better pray to that God you talk about that my wife doesn’t die, or that you have not crippled her in any way, because if you have, I will see you in prison, or in hell.
Either way, you are going to pay for this. ”
When the local police rolled up, Mariah glared at her daughter for giving her away, then started running across the park toward home, leaving Briar behind.
A few words to the police from Abel and they ran after her, catching her before she made it out of the park.
Delores Caldwell knew she’d been part of shunning Lilith and was embarrassed to have even been a small part of this debacle. She reached for Briar’s hand. “Don’t cry, dear. I’ll take you to your daddy, okay?” she said.
“You’re Mama’s friend,” Briar said, and snatched her hand away, as if the accusation was proof that Delores could not be trusted either. Tears were rolling as Briar looked back to Tate. “I’m sorry your mama is hurt. I have to go home now,” she said, and started walking across the park toward home.
Delores sighed. “Briar, wait. You can’t go home by yourself.”
“Mama ran off and left me. I take care of myself,” Briar said, and walked away.
Delores sighed, but she could not, in good conscience, ignore all this.
Like it or not, she had to notify Roger.
She looked around for Jeanette, but she’d already made herself scarce, so she started across the park toward Lowe’s Insurance Agency, trying to figure out the best way to tell Roger that his wife had been arrested and his six-year-old daughter was walking home on her own.