Commentary

* "Arthur" is a common expression for arthritis. Mama worked on a concrete floor at Jarratt Motel as a cook for thirty years. Much of that time she earned $18 a week; before she retired she made less than $50 a week for six days work. **I sent Mama my certificate of graduation (B.A. degree in English) from University of Maryland. That fall I received a graduate fellowship to continue my studies in the English Department. For awhile I stayed in Silver Spring with Madame Meijer’s oldest son, who had a TV repair shop in his house. I stayed with him several months rent free with free meals. It became a difficult situation for we had little in common and then I moved into the basement of a white Protestant church in Silver Spring. But that did not work either and lasted only a few months.

These were terrible emotional times. I had gotten a girl pregnant and she felt the need to have an abortion. Morally, it made me feel low as a snake’s belly. But, I suppose, it was the best thing for both of us. I was in no situation to marry; nor did I have the economic means for such responsibilities.

***Under the encouragement of Daddy, Edith moved back from Baltimore to Virginia with her four children. Daddy had a house built for them next to the family house. Robert Lee, her oldest son, suffered from mental illness. After his mother’s death, his illness became worse. He often wondered off without letting family members know of his whereabouts. He eventually ended up in Texas in the 1980s where he was locked up in an institution permanently. Some say he threatened to assassinate then President Ronald Reagan and people in authority took him seriously. In a Texas institution Robert Lee was beyond our reach and we were powerless to help him further. We remember him dearly, but for most of us he has passed into the realm of the dead.