AllFreeNovel
Share Us
While I wait, I take stock of the changes. In the distance, I can just make out the outline of a large structure. The Acworth plantation house, I think. This island has a lot of history to the Black people for miles around. And even here, not all of it is necessarily good.
A school bus lumbers up, letting off a small group of tourists, cameras around their necks, snapping pictures of everything they see. They are Black, but not from the area, because they gawp at everything in sight.
"Will you look at this place!" an old man hoots. "It's untouched by time. Carla, come over and take a picture by the store with me."
It takes everything inside me to look away and not roll my eyes. He probably doesn't realize that treating Hogs Hammock like it's a historical curiosity rather than a living, breathing, vital community is kind of heartbreaking.
When Delta finally comes out of the store, I can't wait to start the golf cart's engine and pull away.
Aunt Delta clutches the metal railing and gives me a prying glance. "What got into you?"
I screw up my face and sigh. "Nothing. I was just thinking that I'm glad I know where I'm from, that's all. I just watched some tourist who acted like he was visiting Colonial Williamsburg or something."
"Ah." Delta puts a comforting hand on my arm. "I hate that the village relies on visitors to stay alive. If I had my way, the state would pay for the upkeep. Tourists ruin the experience of being here, sometimes."
I wait a beat. "I guess you get tired of tourists, hmm? Since you run the Vintages and our main source of income is tourism."
Delta grunts a laugh. "I know that's right. I've been running it for long enough to know that we butter our bread from tourist dollars."
I scrunch my face up. "And you don't get tired of that? Sometimes I feel like I live to serve."
"Look at me." Delta peers down her nose, pinning me with her gaze. "You are descended from strong Black folk. Our people worked the lands, tended the houses, and rose up when we had the chance to. They were warriors. They made us all but unbreakable. So don't you ever let other people make you feel small or less than. You stand tall, just like our ancestors. You hear me?"
A lump forms in my throat. "Loud and clear, Aunt Delta."
She purses her lips and looks off into the distance in a way that makes me giggle. We aren’t here for much longer. Aunt Delta has a stop to call on someone from her church, an older lady that has been out sick for several weeks in a row.
I sit in the golf cart as they visit, fanning myself. I find myself chewing over Aunt Delta’s words.
You stand tall.
I don’t feel that tall working at Gem’s. I like the job, but it doesn’t exactly lean toward a lot of self-respect. Then again, what job would? I can’t think of any job but being someone’s mom.
And if I am going to be a good mom, I need to learn to communicate effectively about what’s going on.
I think about the situation with Aunt Delta and her land. Chewing my lip, I already know what I’m going to have to do. I’m just going to bite the bullet and ask Aunt Delta what is going on.
I wait until we are back in the car, headed back home, to bring up the IRS predicament. "Have you had any luck talking the IRS into a payment plan?"
Delta's lips twist with a sour emotion. "The agent said that if I make a lump sum payment of fifty thousand dollars, then we can talk about payment plans."
"Fifty thousand?" I gasp. That is SO much more than I thought! "Auntie, how much money do we owe them?"
Delta shifts in her seat and looks out the passenger window. "A lot.”
“Well, how long has it been since you haven’t paid taxes?”
Delta’s mouth draws together. “Six years.”
I clutch the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles turn white. What the hell was she thinking?
"Where are you going to come up with that kind of money?" I ask.
She narrows her gaze. "I don't know. Maybe you could borrow it from your fiancé."
"River?" I ask, astounded. "Absolutely not. Even if he had that kind of money, I would never ask him to give it to me."
"Lend it," she corrects me. "You're not asking him to give you the money. It would just be a loan until... we work something else out."
