*Mama was probably using oil heat by this time
to heat the house. The wood to which she referred was probably for
the stove in the kitchen, which lasted until the year 2000. It was
the same heater that was in the kitchen before I left in 1965 and
Daddy had bought it used. It was a sturdy piece of metal and kept
a many a body warm in the winter time and cooked a many a biscuit.
**The "girl friend" was probably Jean in Monroe,
Louisiana.
***Henry Robinson was Mama’s brother, not by her mother,
however. He was TeeJay’s son, whose mother lived in Southampton.
They say Uncle Henry was the spitting image of TeeJay, black and
beautiful. I used to like the way he cocked his hat on his head
and that smile, man, that would knock you for a loop; it was so
pretty. He was smooth and drop dead gorgeous. The women probably
loved him madly, as they did his daddy Teejay. I used to stay on
the porch with him and Mama while they talked. He usually stopped
by on second Sunday after Jerusalem had its service.
****Annie, called "Bunk," was on the outs with her
husband, Amos, the father of her two younger children, Michael and
Michelle. All four had lived in Baltimore in Edmondson Village. I
lived with all of them for awhile in the basement of Lucinda’s
house on Colborne and then on Allendale until I dropped out of
Morgan State. I was always very fond of Amos, but he was subject
to doing what Mama calls "low-life" things. They all
lived there in the family house for a number of years.
