Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle Read Free Page A

“Okay, folks,” Rick Martin said, his voice rising above the loudspeaker music, an old Beatles song. “Things are under control now. So go about your business, go on with your shopping.”
    “
Nobody
is going to leave this store until Cricket and Birdie go!” Carrie Smalls declared loudly.
    Deputy Martin walked over and gently took Birdie’s arm. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to come with me,” he told her.
    “If you touch my baby again, I’ll kill you, you hear me?” Cricket shrilled, and in her arms little Morganwhimpered. “You’re messing with the wrong black woman.”
    Birdie bit her bottom lip. Her eyes blinked uncontrollably. But she didn’t say a word. Mama studied Birdie’s face.
    Sheriff Abe, who had known Birdie all her life, spoke. “You come on with me and Rick now,” he told Birdie. “We’ll get this thing settled properly.”
    “I’ll kill you stiff dead,” Cricket said, clutching Morgan so hard the baby started to cry again.
    Mama’s eyebrows shot up. “Take it easy,” she said to Cricket.
    “I’ll
kill
her if she lays another hand on my baby!”
    “No harm has come to Morgan,” Mama pointed out. But she looked worried.
    “If she so much as looks at my Morgan again, I’ll
kill
her. I swear!”
    Sheriff Abe eased between Cricket and Birdie.
    “Now that you’ve got that beautiful child back, why don’t you take her home?” Mama suggested gently.
    Cricket looked down at Morgan and her face lit up. “Don’t you
ever
put your hands on my baby again,” she warned Birdie Smiley. “If you touch my Morgan again, your behind is mine and nobody is going to keep me from it!”
    We watehed Cricket sashay away, swearing loud enough for everybody inside and outside of the store to hear her. Abe and Rick waited until she was driving out of the parking lot before they led Birdie toward their patrol car.
    “Cricket isn’t the most modest girl,” Mama said to me, her eyes following Abe and Rick. “Actually, the girl is a bit on the wild side. I’ve spent more than a few hours trying to get her to tone down, think about her reputation in this town. I can’t say she’s paid much attention to what I’ve told her, though. Still, I know that she loves her baby. I’m convinced that she’d die for Morgan, if it ever came to that. No, it doesn’t surprise me, the way Cricket acted. But, Birdie—It just ain’t her nature to do something like stealing a baby from an automobile.”
    “Maybe Birdie’s crazy,” I said, looking down at my Famous Amos cookies and wondering how many calories were in the whole package. “She certainly acted like she was unbalanced.”
    Mama shook her head sadly. “I admit there must be something seriously wrong with Birdie. There’s no other reason I can think of for her to steal that baby in broad daylight and then bring her inside this store where a crowd of people would see them.”
    By now even the nosiest shoppers were moving on. Mama sighed. “You know, Simone, I’ve worked with both Birdie and her husband, Isaiah, doing volunteer work at the community center with our young people. I’ve never seen her so confused.”
    I shrugged. My mind wandered on to Cliff and the way he smiles like Richard Roundtree; the man drives me crazy. “We need to get home. I’m expecting Cliff to call,” I said, changing the subject from Birdie and children.
    Mama nodded as if she knew that my interest inthe events that had just taken place had already waned.
    I looked down into our shopping cart. We still hadn’t picked up the pork roast or the chickens. “Let’s get this over with,” I told Mama, thinking of the wonderful meals she had promised me.

CHAPTER
TWO
    A s she had promised, Mama did her thing. Our Sunday dinner was a deliciously signatured Candi Covington. After we’d eaten, Mama and I cleaned the kitchen. My father and Cliff sat in the family room drinking Heineken while Daddy told Cliff every detail of my childhood.
    I’m convinced