Practicing What You Preach. Vanessa Davis Griggs
a blessing to me. I definitely don’t want to start a family feud at my reception just because I grouped folks at the wrong table. I want this to be a joyous time for everyone. No family drama.”
Gayle looked as though she wanted to say something but she wasn’t quite sure how to bring it up. Angela must have picked up on it as well. She put the paper down on the coffee table. “Gayle, what’s wrong? Is there something else on your mind?”
“I was just thinking about Grandmother and something else she asked me to do. I thought that what I’m about to say was going to be a lot easier than it’s turning out to be.”
“What is it? Tell me,” Angela said.
Gayle scooted forward. “It’s about your grandmother.”
“My grandmother? Great-granny talked to you about my grandmother?” Angela had a puzzled look on her face. I felt wrong for being there, so I stood up and tried to find a reason to leave and give them some privacy. Angela looked over at me and shook her head as though she knew I was trying to exit. For whatever reason, she was asking me not to go. Maybe she did understand how much work we had to do and how far behind this was making us. I sat back down and continued with what I was doing. “What did Great-granny say to you about my grandmother?” she asked Gayle.
Gayle took a deep breath and released it. It was as though she knew what she was about to say would be extremely difficult both to say and to hear.
“Grandmother asked me to see if I could find your grandmother, her daughter, if I ever got the chance. She told me her name. It’s Arletha.”
“She said her name?” Angela asked. “No one in our family ever said her name. Not as long as I’ve been on this earth. It was as though she never existed. No one spoke of her; no one had ever even told me her name. So my grandmother’s name is Arletha?”
“Yes, Arletha Williams would have been her birth name.”
“Did Great-granny tell you where she is? Was she in contact with her? After my mother died and Great-granny took guardianship of me, I asked her, when I was older, about my family. She wouldn’t talk about my grandmother. She said she didn’t know whether she was alive or dead, but either way, her daughter had chosen not to be part of our family, so there was no reason to ever discuss her. As far as I know, my grandmother never came back to Asheville, and you already know that Great-granny was a homebody who rarely veered far from Asheville’s city limits.”
Gayle took Angela’s now trembling hand. I had already perked up when I heard the name Arletha. Arletha is not a common name. Interestingly, I happened to know a woman named Arletha. She lived in the community where I grew up, several houses down the street from our house. Her name was Arletha Brown.
“Do you know if she’s alive, and if so, do you know where she might be? Did Great-granny tell you that much?” Angela began to wipe away a few tears that were now rolling down her face. I could tell this was an emotional discussion for her. I couldn’t imagine not ever having known my grandmother, especially if she was still alive.
“Grandmother didn’t know. She just asked if I ever got a chance, for me to see if I could find out anything. One of the problems I ran into is legal records. All of grandmother’s children were born at home. You know her mother was a midwife, too. And even though Grandmother’s children’s births were recorded, back in those days, birth certificates and records weren’t kept as meticulously as they are these days. Grandmother once told me that a midwife was required to send in the birth records logged in some kind of a small book, but there were times when it might not have been sent in. Those people’s births were not properly recorded. I haven’t been able to find anything on an Arletha Williams, or an Arletha Black for that matter.”
“Why would you look for Arletha Black? Great-granny was a Black but she married a Williams.”
“It’s possible, not that I’m saying it’s the case, but it’s possible Grandmother might have had Arletha before she married,” Gayle said. “If she did, it would have been recorded as Arletha Black. I’ve been searching for Williams, but I’m a realist, too.”
I thought it was interesting that the Arletha I knew had a last name that was a color, Brown, and this Arletha could have been a color, Black.
Gayle continued explaining. “I did what I could, given my other obligations at the time, but I’ve run into nothing but dead ends.”
“So you don’t know any more than any of us. Except Great-granny did at least tell you her name, which is more than she ever told me. And you’ve known all of this since Great-granny died and you never said a word to anybody? The least you could have done was say something to me about it,” Angela said. “I don’t have anybody like the rest of you do. If there’s a chance my grandmother is alive and still out there, I would like to have known that before now.”
“Angel, it’s not like you kept in touch with any of us after you moved down here. Besides, Grandmother asked me not to say anything to you unless and until I was able to locate Arletha.”
Angela leaned forward and pursed her lips. “So you’ve located her?” She held her breath.
“No,” Gayle said. “And I had all but quit looking. Then I was talking with a woman, a relative of Sarah’s actually, after the will was read. She counseled me on how bad secrets, especially a secret like this, can be for everyone involved. She felt I shouldn’t keep this to myself or from you. She felt you at least had a right to know what I knew.”
Gayle stood up and took a few steps away from Angela. “When I was telling this woman about it, I just happened to mention Arletha’s name. She then told me she’d met a woman in Birmingham, Alabama, named Arletha. Since Arletha is not a common name, it was something to follow up on. She had her phone number, and she gave me that number.”
Angela stood up and walked over to Gayle. “Here in Birmingham? That Arletha lives here? So have you called yet?”
Gayle nodded as she sat back down on the couch. “I have.”
“And what did she say?”
“She asked if this was some kind of a sick joke, then she hung up on me. When I tried calling her again to explain myself better, she told me to stop calling and harassing her. She said if I called her house again, she would report me to the proper authorities and let them take care of me.”
“It’s her,” Angela said as she began to pace back and forth in front of the sofa like a caged lion. “I just know the Arletha you called is my mother’s mother.” She turned and faced Gayle. “Well, we’ve got to go see her. We have to find out for certain, once and for all. We owe that much to Great-granny.” Angela began to pace again as she continued, “We need to go see her today. That’s what we need to do. There has got to be a way to find out where she lives.”
As soon as Angela said that, I looked at all the work we had left to do and the little time we had left to do it, and I realized how unwelcome a distraction this was.
“I checked to see if there was an address listed in the phone book for her, and there’s not. Besides, Angel, you’re getting married in a few days,” Gayle said. I slowly began to exhale and thanked God for Gayle’s voice of reason during this volatile time.
“That’s one of the reasons why I was debating whether or not to mention this now,” Gayle said. “The timing is all wrong.”
“Give me her phone number.” Angela held out her hand. “I want to call her myself.”
Gayle got her purse, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Angela. “Chances are this woman isn’t your grandmother, Angel. Now don’t go and let this interfere with the life you’re about to embark upon with Brent. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to you just yet.” Gayle shook her head. “I knew this would be a mistake.”
“Yes, you should have.” Angela headed for the phone. “And I’m calling her right now.” She picked up the phone and held it. A smile came over her face.