C A T C H 22 |BWWM|

Ch. 29 • Wood and Sixty Bills

Jackson, MS. February 1944
Late Saturday, 11:45 pm

Paislee

"Mama, what's goin' on?"

With frown lines drawn onto her face, Mama shook her head and put a finger up to lips. Outside there was chaos and I couldn't distinguish between evil, victorious cackles or cries for help.

"Daddy is closing the blinds and locking everything up. Take the twins to the back and if you hear the noises get louder than just stay calm and quiet."

"O-Okay," I said. I looked behind me to where Penny and Pamela were with their matching nightgowns. Each holding a small stuffed elephant and looking at me for guidance. "Hey, girls lets go to the back room and listen to the radio–"

"But I don't wanna' listen to the boring news," Pamela interjected.

"We can listen to that one station you like with the cool songs or even listen to those silly radio plays. Sound good?"

I turned back to mama as she nodded and urged me to go on. Daddy appeared from the kitchen as another set of screams could be heard and the glow from a fire that was streets down could faintly be seen through the tinted curtains. Instead of pondering, I grabbed the twins and took plenty of deep breaths. When we finally settled on the floor of the room with the radio in the center, I calmed down.

Whenever an abrupt sound of glass crashing or tires screeching sounded the twins would grip my hands. The jokes being cracked from the radio hosts couldn't even keep the young girls from trembling. A loud bang came upon the side of the house and I flinched.

"Sissy. . . What's gonna' happen to us?" Penny asked.

"Nothing. Just stay calm and listen to the radio. Here, let's play some music and sing, huh?"

My trembling hands pressed down on the button and set the radio upright. I could barely see anything due to the lights being off but I smiled nonetheless as if nothing was wrong. So we waited and waited, still hearing the frightening sounds outside until either of our parents would say it's clear. Except for when I checked the clock it was already one o'clock in the morning.

That was until I heard the horrifying sound of a window shattering and the cry of my daddy. I heard something extremely heavy hit our floor and again, my daddy's crying.

"Girls stay in here," I said sternly, even though they were asleep on the floor.

"Rose! Rosie, baby!"

Everything felt like a swirling nightmare. Mama was collapsed on the floor of our living room unconscious. Blood slowly leaked from the gash that was on her temple and I could see the brick that was lying on our floor. Tears slowly surfaced in my eyes as I ran closer.

"Mama! Did someone throw it in?" I asked daddy.

"I guess so. . . Go fetch me lots of towels and some gauze from the cabinet."

I did as told and gathered all the supplies and brought them back to the room. Daddy was checking mama for a pulse and gladly he had found one. We used the gauze to aid the gash and wrapped towels around her bleeding head. Soon she was lifted up to the couch and all she did was lay there with the evidence of the night over her body. Bloody floors, shattered windows, and consistent howling from outside was all that came to my mind. My mama was unconscious and I didn't know what to do or how to handle anything.

"Can we take her to the hospital?" I whispered.

Daddy sighed and looked at our vulnerable window. "No, that's out the picture because it's too dangerous to be outside, and the ambulance won't come over here."