Commentary

*During this period, I was living with a beautiful young woman named Jennifer in Hyattsville, whose family lived in Bethesda. I visited them once and they were probably little impressed by my prospects. Jennifer and I met in a Shakespeare class taught by Dr. Donna Hamilton, without whose assistance and encouragement I would not have finished the graduate program at Maryland. In 1981, Dr. Hamilton, along with Drs. Lawson, and Hammond, heard my defense of my master’s thesis. Lewis Lawson, a specialist in American literature, was my thesis advisor.

**Wanda (daughter of Edith and married to a fellow from Southampton we call Jones), David (oldest son of Annie and married to a Jarratt girl named Gwynn) were both having their first child; both would go on to have several children. Celestine (oldest daughter of Lucinda and a public school teacher) was the mother of Monica Watkins; Celestine would have one more daughter, who she named Jacel. James Watkins, Celestine’s former husband and the father of her two girls, was a football player at College Park. The odds was that James would go to the NFL and make lots of money. But he dropped out of Maryland to marry Celestine and settled for a position as a state trooper. James died recently; maybe it was 2001. How awful it is to have a father die so young; even worse, when that father seemed never to have fulfill his potential.

It was also during this period that Debbie, Celestine’s  whole sister, married Anthony Ferguson, a math major and graduate of Maryland State College in Princess Anne, Maryland. Jennifer and I went to their wedding. I caught Debbie’s garter. I still have it somewhere in a box. Mama also came up from Jarratt for Debbie’s wedding. I introduced her to Jennifer, but she was not very impressed. Jennifer and I never married. We broke up before I finished my master’s program at Maryland. I have not seen her since 1980. I sometimes wonder, however, what became of her, whether she ever married, had children, became prosperous; whether she found happiness, or someone deserving of her charms. For surely she deserved much more than what I had to offer. What a wonderful smile she had and so gentle. I still have fond thoughts of her and a few photos when we were in our youth and carefree.