LITMIR.BIZ

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hand between her legs. As he fondled her, he blew breath as hot as steam onto her neck, murmuring: “D, you the best thing this side of the moon.”

      Afterward, he’d lean back in the chair, satisfied, slip a cigarette between his lips, strike a match, and dance the flame close to Darlene’s face. “Ain’t it beautiful?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      “But you prettier.”

      No one had ever called her pretty, not even her mother.

      She took the compliment to school and tossed it at the feet of those girls who told her she would never have a boyfriend because she was spook black, ink black, turn-off-the-lights-and-she-would-vanish black.

      Their denigration outweighed Will’s adulation, and Darlene began to experience sudden bursts of anger and uncontrollable sobbing. The peculiar look came and stayed, and soon, peering into Darlene’s eyes was like watching the sun set from behind a filthy window.

      Mayemma dismissed Darlene’s behavior as adolescent growing pains, a prelude to the arrival of her monthly friend. But if Mayemma had taken the time to really look at her child, she would have realized that Darlene was unspooling, and Will was the one pulling the string.

      Before she could put two and two together, Will up and quit Mayemma like a bad habit. He packed up his few rags and left without even a goodbye. The only thing that suggested he’d ever been in their lives was the box of Blue Tip Matches he’d left behind.

      * * *

      That day, when Harlan opened the bedroom door to find Darlene standing in the hallway, the evidence of what she had been doing was hanging thick in the air.

      “Pee-u!” Harlan sounded, fanning his hands. “You sure are hardheaded. You must enjoy getting whooped.”

      John leaped from the bed. “Goddamn, Darlene, why can’t you mind?”

      Darlene ran into the parlor and planted herself firmly between Harlan and the door leading out of the apartment.

      “Save me!” she squealed girlishly.

      “C’mon now, I don’t feel like playing.”

      Darlene pushed her lips out in an exaggerated pout.

      “Get out of his way, Darlene!” John shouted as he pounded toward them.

      Darlene raised her hands. “But I got something I wanna show y’all.”

      Harlan rolled his eyes. “What is it?”

      “Man, don’t pay her no mind,” John said. “Darlene, get outta his way before I get the belt and whoop you myself!”

      “Just two minutes,” Darlene whined. “Pleeeeasaase!”

      “You ain’t gotta—”

      “It’s okay, let’s just see what it is,” Harlan interrupted.

      Darlene grinned. “Okay, sit down, I’ll be back,” she said, before moving to the phonograph.

      The boys flopped down onto the couch, clasped their hands behind their heads, and stared at the ceiling.

      Soon, “Flamin’ Mamie” by the Six Black Diamonds filled the room. John and Harlan tapped their feet; they liked that song.

      Darlene cupped her hands around her mouth. “I won’t be back!” she yelled, and skipped out of the room.

      “What she say?” Harlan asked.

      John shrugged. “I dunno.”

       She’s Flamin’ Mamie, the surefire vamp / The hottest baby in town . . .

      The music was so loud, Harlan was sure he’d soon hear Emma shouting from the bottom of the staircase for them to turn it off. With that thought, he rose from the couch, went to the phonograph, and lowered the volume.

       When it comes to loving / She’s a human oven . . .

      A bloodcurdling yowl echoed through the apartment. Startled, both boys looked at the phonograph. A second ear-piercing scream followed, this time accompanied by violent, erratic thumping that rattled the walls.

      “What the—” John started, but Harlan was already running through the apartment calling Darlene’s name.

      Smoke foamed from beneath the bathroom door.

      Inside, Darlene shrieked in terror and pain as the ravenous flames consumed her body.

      Harlan jiggled the hot knob and John threw his weight against the door. While they were fanning smoke, shouting, and pleading for Darlene to open the door, Sam appeared at their backs and shoved them roughly aside. He hit the door, felling it with one blow.

      They found Darlene smoldering in the tub, her body lurching and shuddering with shock. Sam removed his shirt and smothered the dying orange flames flickering on her scalp.

      Emma had followed Sam up the stairs and into the apartment, but Darlene’s screams stopped her like a wall, leaving Emma cemented to the parlor floor, hugging her shoulders and trembling, as the phonograph needle skipped repeatedly over one phrase: She’s a heart scorcher / Loves torture . . .

      * * *

      Darlene languished in Harlem Hospital for weeks before transitioning.

      A steady stream of visitors came through daily, bringing with them flowers, prayers, and words of encouragement.

      Even the cruel girls from school came to see. They gathered at Darlene’s bedside, secretly wondering if beneath all those layers of gauze, Darlene was finally free of that awful dark skin—now a pinkish-white, the same color the tops of their ears turned when the hot comb slipped and seared them.

      Chapter 27

      “The service was lovely. Closed casket, of course.”

      “Of course. I wouldn’t have wanted to see that child all burned up.”

      “You ain’t never seen a burned body?”

      “No ma’am. Have you?”

      “Girl, I’m from Mississippi, stringing niggers up and setting them afire is the official state pastime.”

      “Well, I’m glad I’m from Chicago. Anyway, I wish I could have made the funeral, but you know I had to work.”

      “But you made the wake, right?”

      “No, Mrs. Trellis had a dinner party that day. She asked me to work it, even though it was my day off. What was I supposed to say? No, Mrs. Trellis, I gots a wake to attend?”

      “Who you think you fooling, girl? Just say you did it for the extra money.”

      “Well, I ain’t never said no to a dollar!”

      “You say no, and somebody right there next to you saying yes.”

      “You got that right, Lenora!”

      “Lemme ask you something, Josephine: can you imagine setting yourself on fire?”

      “’Course not! And I don’t want to believe such a thing!”

      “What a horrible way to die.”

      “Terrible.”

      “Why you think she did it?”

      “Girl, that is the question for the ages. But you know she never did seem right to me. A little off in the head, if you know what I mean.”

      “You’re kind. Bless your heart. Tell the truth now, the girl was strange. The way she just stared . . . Honestly, I didn’t like being ’round her.”

      “I felt the same.”

      “So what else?”

      “Well, the repast was at the

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