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The next fall all of us drove to Alcorn State and Mr. G. made sure each of was settled in before leaving. Rosa and I did not have any classes together but each Saturday we would get together on a bench under a large oak tree to share letters from home. I felt right at home in the classroom. I did have a little trouble with English literature, but who didn?t? For the life of me I couldn?t understand why anyone would want to study Shakespeare.
The next year Rosa entered her senior year and I was a sophomore. Then one Saturday morning I got the shock of my life. Someone said that I had a phone call in the lobby. I picked up the phone and it was Aunt Minnie.
She said, ?You had better come home, your father is dying.? I said, ?What do you mean?? She said Zack was coming to get me and that he would explain everything. I hung up and pondered what she had said. I packed all my belongings and went to Rosa?s dormitory. We went to sit under our favorite tree and I said: ?I am going to have to go home, Mr. G. is very sick and I am needed there.? She said: ?I am so sorry? and put her head on my shoulder.
Then I said: ?there is something else that I don?t fully understand yet, Minnie said my father was dying. Could this really be true??
We sat and talked for a couple of hours before Zack pulled up in the truck. As we began the trip home Zack explained: ?When Mr. G. first took over the farm he hired a young black woman to take care of the house, much like Aunt Minnie does now. Her name was Ramona. She was very beautiful and in spite of their differences they were soon in love. She got pregnant and they talked about what they could do. She said it could never work out and she would go to Chicago where she had family. Mr. G. told her he would sell everything and go too but she insisted it was not the thing for him to do.?
?A short time later they boarded a train for Chicago where he left her with her family. Before he left he insisted that they be married. She agreed and they were married in a small black church not far from where she was staying.?
?When time for the baby arrived Mr. G. went to be by her side. When the baby came they named him Johnny. Ramona joked to Mr. G. that Johnny didn?t look like him. They were still so much in love. Mr. G. made sure she had everything she needed before returning home.?
?About two years later Mr. G. received a letter from Ramona?s aunt stating that Ramona was very sick. He immediately caught the next train to Chicago and upon arriving realized she probably was not going to make it. She made him promise that the baby would be well taken care of. Mr. G. decided that the only way he could be sure of that was to bring you home with him.?
?Later that day Ramona died and Mr. G. stayed long enough to make sure she had a proper burial and then took you and left. Mr. G. said that you could not believe the strange looks when he boarded the train with a two year old black baby. That is how you came to be with us.?
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