My Other Mother Page #6

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after the funeral, i mean,

after everything?

I came back for me.

This is for me.

I mean, i have to get some

peroxide and put it on there.

It's pretty deep.

Here, put the pressure

like that. Here you go.

Ok, i know it hurts.

How'd it go?

Can you drop me off here

tomorrow, alone?

Sure.

Good.

Hello?

Oh.

Hey, Granite.

You remember me?

Mary Jo?!

Mary Jo?

Seriously, you're gonna pull

this stunt again?

Mary Jo!

I hadn't finished dressing yet!

Come help me with these crates

out back.

Good morning to you, too.

You can start with them.

- Wow.

This is amazing.

You do all this yourself?

Uh-huh.

24 years.

Well, let's get loading.

I don't want to be late

on my runs.

So what is all this?

- I sell fruits and vegetables

wholesale to the smaller

grocers, the little ones.

Jam, preserves, pickle peppers,

too.

Oh, so you're an

entrepreneur.

Well, if that mean i own my

own business, yes, ma'am.

Well, let's get moving!

Come on, now!

Time is money!

Lift from your knees,

not your back.

You want me to call triple-A

or something?

Triple-Who?

Nah.

Be fine.

Just the coolant leaking again.

You know, i can drive if that

cut on your hand is hurting.

- Oh, lord, i've lived through

more than this little scratch.

I'll be fine.

Well, you cut yourself pretty

deep.

You might want to have a doctor

look at it.

Nope.

Had my fill of doctors.

You ain't never seen a woman

check her oil before?

Watch and learn.

Yeah.

You see, this right here,

that's for your steering fluid.

Check it, you know, every six

months or so.

But your oil, you check that

every three weeks, and you keep

it full, 'cause it...

- Why'd you give me away?

You just gonna ask me out of

nowhere like that?

Yeah.

Mary Jo, i need to know.

It wasn't meant for me to

keep.

Wasn't meant for you to

keep?!

I was your...

child, your flesh and blood!

Ok, so explain to me what were

the mitigating circumstances

that warranted you surrendering

custody of me?

Oh, this your fancy way of

asking me

if I gave you up for

no good reason?

Yeah, did you?

I don't want to talk about

it.

Well, you know what?

That's just too bad, because

we're stuck out here in the

middle of nowhere,

stuck in a truck together.

So you're just gonna have to get

over it.

Your manners is terrible!

Said the pot to the kettle.

That's what's wrong with your

generation... disrespectful.

In my day, children was to be

seen, and not heard.

Well, you might want to take

a good look, Mary Jo,

because I'm not a child anymore.

You...

You don't know i been through.

You just a spoiled little rich girl!

Really?

And you are a nasty old broad.

- You don't talk to me like that,

'cause I'm your...

- You're my what?!

My mother?

You're nothing but a stranger,

who happens to share my DNA.

Well...

I don't ride with no strangers!

Oh, Ok.

So, what?

You're just gonna leave me out

here in the middle of nowhere?

You know what, Mary Jo?

This getting-rid-of-me business

is getting kind of old!

Bye!

Bye!

Louis?

Yeah, she left me here

in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah.

You know what, I'm done!

I want to go home.

Hey. You faced your fears,

and you came out here.

I'm proud of you.

Hey, Abner.

What?

No, she doesn't know.

Mary Jo had a stroke.

Where's her hospital?

Ok, we're on the way.

Dr. Florez, dial 118, please.

Dr. Florez, please dial 118.

Hmm.

I like what you've done

with the place.

It's the entrepreneur suite.

- Mary Jo.

Beside, you're family,

this time.

Abner.

He knows people who work

at the hospital, so...

Well, that figures.

One busybody upper manager

is nosy.

Yeah, well...

we should probably be thankful

for him, because if it weren't

for him...

I wouldn't be here.

- Well, why did you come?

You don't like me.

- True.

But that doesn't change

who you are.

Family.

- So now we kin again?

Yeah, but don't push it.

- Yeah, we family all right.

You asked me a question,

and I think you deserve an answer.

You was born in this hospital.

When they brought you to me,

girl...

You were something.

And you was beautiful.

And you was mine.

I was a 16-year-old dumb girl.

My big mama was dead.

And they brought me these papers

to sign, i thought it was so the

state could help me

take care of you...

Welfare aid.

- But it was the papers

that released custody of me.

I couldn't read the words

right.

Freddie couldn't help.

Why?

Why?

Excuse me, miss Meyers,

but visiting hours are over.

And miss Jordan here really

needs to get her rest.

Well, we just need five more minutes.

- I'm sorry.

Doctor's orders.

- Ok, well, I'm gonna stay in

town a few more days.

I'll see you when you get out.

Can i see your arm,

miss Jordan?

Miss Jordan?

Your arm?

I'm sorry.

Hey, mom.

What's up?

What's up?

That's all you have to say to me

after two weeks?

Where are you, Candace?

I'm still in Manning.

- Why?

I mean, you all talked it out,

didn't you?

Why are you still there?

- I don't know.

What do you mean

you don't know?

Your life is here in Atlanta

with your family.

Mary Jo's family, too,

and...

She needs me.

Mom?

- Yes?

I love you. And nothing is gonna

change that.

I just... i need to stay here a

little bit longer, and then I'll

come home, Ok?

Ok.

- All right, well, tell daddy

I love him, too.

And I'll talk to you both soon.

Bye.

What is that?

- Palak paneer.

Palak?

- It's indian food.

I don't eat no indian food!

Mmm!

Well, you do now.

Oh!

Your daddy didn't like no funny

food, neither.

He was a strong meat and

potatoes man.

Whoo.

You know, Mary Jo, why does

everybody keep talking about

Freddie like he's some sort of

hero?

He was a married man who cheated

on his wife...

No!

- Who seduced a young,

uneducated girl, and then he

left her when she was pregnant.

No, no, it wasn't nothing

like that.

All that stuff happened later

on.

I met Freddie when i was

14 years old and he was 16.

When I laid eyes on him,

I loved him.

And somehow I always knew

that that man was gonna be my

husband, and he knew, too.

Candace, it was Freddie who

wanted to wait until we

was old enough to get married.

But when the waiting got hard,

i started pushing him away.

And, well, that Delores Jameson,

that little fast heifer,

she always had the hots

for my Freddie.

So she invited him to a party,

and since i'd been fighting him

so hard, he went along.

And...

she got him pissy drunk

and seduced him.

And four months later,

they had a shotgun wedding

'cause they found out

she was pregnant.

And her daddy, Deacon Jameson,

wasn't having no bastards

in his family.

- Ok, so then what?

So now he's married, and he

starts double dipping,

coming to see you and then...

No, no, he was not that kind

of man. No!

We stayed away from each other.

He came to the house 'cause he

Found out that big mama

was dying.

And he knew i didn't have

nobody.

And so that's when...

oh!

Oh, it was the most beautiful

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