We Wear The Mask (PASH)-Chap. 12
by Chrissyn
 

We Wear The Mask--part 12
 
 
 

With an apron tied around her waist, Eve was in the kitchen, at the counter. She tapped an egg on the side of a mixing bowl, and dropped the contents in, and began stirring.
Sweet potatoes, oranges, a bottle of extract, and spices were on the counter.
As Eve blended the ingredients, Chaka Kahn sang MY FUNNY VALENTINE, and Eve hummed with her. TC entered the kitchen. "What's going on here?" he asked, smiling.
"Don't ask dumb questions," Eve joked. "I've begun work on the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Or the afters."
"Afters?" TC asked.
"British for dessert."
Looking at the yams, he said, "Well, one of the afters is good old sweet potatoe pie. Yum, yum."
"I'm making two," she said. "And a German chocolate cake."
"And Grace gave you a pumpkin pie," TC said.
"And your sister brought over a lemon meringue."
"What in the world are we going to do with all this grub?" TC inquired.
Eve laughed. "I have a feeling, you'll figure out what to do with it." She patted TC's belly. "And please, do a little jogging with Sam so you won't turn to mush."
"Mush!" he joshed. "Girl, I'm as firm and solid as I was the day you married me." He flexed the muscle of his left arm.
She felt it. And made an I-don't-think-so expression. "If you say so," she responded.
He grabbed her, and she yelped at his sudden gesture.
"TC," she squealed. "What are you doing?"
He began twirling her around the room. "Just dancing with my wife. Is that a crime?"
He spun her around, hedl her close, and sang with the song, "Don't change a hair for me...Stay my little valentine...Staaay my little valentine." He dipped Eve.
"I love you, TC," she joshed, with her back arched. "But daddy-o, you ain't no Baby Face."
He released her, and she resumed mixing her pie.
"You're so animated," she said.
"Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and you know how I am about holidays."
"Yeah, like a little kid," she said, pouring some vanilla extract into a red plastic teaspoon.
"Well, my family will be together. That means a lot to me. We're all healthy, and we love each other. We've got so much to be thankful for. We're fortunate. Do I hear an amen?" he said, parroting a Baptist preacher.
"Amen," she replied.
Whitney entered the room, and smiled brightly. "Ah, the smell of cinnamon," she said. "It's frigid outside, and warm and toasty in here, and the smell of cinnamon is in the air. So homey."
TC hugged her. Eve smiled at the sight of her husband and daughter close.
"Mom, I wanted to tell you that Chad's joining of us for dinner tomorrow."
Eve frowned. "Says who? I didn't invite Chad for dinner."
"I know," Whitnye said. "I did."
"Whitney, I don't think that's a very good idea."
"Why not?" Whitney asked.
TC threw back his head and laughed mirthlessly. "I knew the Norman Rockwell moment wouldn't last forever."
"Uh, well," Eve stammered, "You know, how Simone is heartbroken about Chad...how she's hurt, he didn't become her boyfriend...I think it would be difficult for her seeing you and Chad together, making goo goo eyes. It would ruin her Thanksgiving."
Watching Eve pour sweet potato pie mixture into two pie shells, Whitney said, "Simone and I talked, and she's okay with me and Chad."
"She said that?" TC asked.
Whitney nodded.
"Good for her," TC replied. "My girl is acting like a mature young lady. Eve," he said, dropping a hint.
Eve said, "Simone, may try to deal with you and Chad, but seeing the two of you together may be difficult for her. I don't want to put a damper on her holiday."
The past few nights, Eve had been remembering her past--being raped, beat up, and verbally abused by guys whose demeanor was similar to Chad's.
Her feelings towards Chad Harris vacillated. When she had her demons under control, she had no problem with him, but when the past haunted her, she found the "street kid" objectionable.
"This isn't about Simone, mom," Whitney accused. "This is about you, and your dislike of Chad."
Eve was putting the pies in the oven. "I don't dislike Chad," Eve said.
"That's how it appears," Whitney retorted.
"I don't know anything about Chad," Eve said. "Except that he's poorly educated; has no family."
"And he's a good kid," TC spoke. "He did save Whitney's life."
"And I'm grateful to him for that," Eve said. "When his apartment caught fire, I showed my gratitude by letting him move into the garage apartment. Am I suppose to spend the rest of my life, expressing appreciation to Chad for what any decent person would have done."
"Eve, I'm not trying to turn this into a racial issue," TC said. "But I'm a black man. I've experienced driving while black...being stopped unnecessarily and being harassed by Harmony's finest...Women--white ones and sistahs--looking terrified when I past them in the dark. Women clutching their pocket books, and clicking car doors when I walked by."
Eve made a disapproving face. "TC, it's the day before turkey day, do we need this issue-oriented discussion?"
"My point is, Chad doesn't need your attitude? If he had done something to deserve it, okay. But Chad doesn't need a black woman discriminating against him, and judging him without really knowing him? Hell, Eve, you're black, you know about prejudice. At the hospital, you've encountered a few bigoted patients who didn't want you as their physician...Yet, you're doing the same thing to Chad."
"And Mom, I already extended the invitation," Whitney said.
"Well, you should have asked me before doing that," Eve countered.
"Eve, you said we have plenty of food, so Chad can help us eat some of it," TC added.
Eve shook her head. "I don't know, TC. I've invited a few of my colleagues from work. And having Chad here using poor English, and mispronouncing words could be embarrassing."
Whitney held up her hands. "Forget it, Mom," she said. Her voice shook with fury. "If Chad can't come here, fine. I won't be here either." She flounced out of the room.
Eve frowned. "Whitney," she called. And looked at TC. He twisted his mouth to one side.
_______________________________________________________

Chad was in the garage apartment. Using a lint brush, he was removing tiny ravelings off his dress pants, which he planned on wearing to the Russell's Thanksgiving feast.
There was a tap on the door. He opened it, and smiled when he saw Whitney. "Hey," he said. "C'mon in." He noticed her angry expression.
Closing the door, and barricading the frigid temperatures, he said, "You looked pis--" He shut up mid sentence. Whitney didn't like bad language. "You look angry," he said instead.
She sighed. "I am. Is it possible to love somebody and hate them at the same time?"
"Who's made you mad, Whitney?"
"My mother. Chad, when I invited you to dinner, I didn't ask her if it was okay. Not too long ago, I told her you were coming--"
"And girlfriend put the kibosh on it?"
Whitney made an apologetic expression. "Yeah... Chad, I'm sorry. I didn't think she'd have a problem with it. After all, you're living here in her garage."
"But that ain't the same as eating with her family, and being around here friends. I'm sure some of her doctor, hospital pals will be there chowing down on cranberry sauce and cornbread stuffing, and she didn't want me around. I guess I'm not good enough."
"Actually she makes oyster stuffing," Whitney said, trying to inject some levity into the serious discussion. "That was a littlle joke," she giggled.
"Haha," Chad replied sarcastically.
"If it's any consolation, my dad went to bat for you."
He smiled warmly.
"Look, you said, you were going to the hotel for the buffet."
He shrugged. "Yeah. I guess that's what I'll do after all."
"Well, I'll go with you," Whitney offered.
"You'll go with me?" he reiterated.
She nodded. "It'll be fun. After we pig out, we can go to a movie."
"Lookit, Whitney, Thanksgiving is a family thing, and you should be with your people on that day."
"I'll see them, and hug them...even my mother. But I just won't have dinner with them," Whitney said. "Chad, I want us to spend the day together."
"Whitney, I think it's cool you want to spend tomorrow with me. But your moms already don't like me...I'm sure I ain't on her Christmas list, and if you pass on Thanksgiving to be with me, that'll only make her resent me even more...I don't need Dr. Russell disliking me even more. You should be with your family tomorrow."
"Chad, I want us to spend the day together, and I won't be with my family tomorrow, and my mother is the reason for that." She crossed her arms. "I'm going to the buffet with you. And that's final."