Shake Loose My Skin Read Free Page A

their cribs. She heard them sucking on their bottles, working hard at nourishing themselves. She knew the youngest twin wud finish his bottle first and cry out fo more milk befo he slept. She laughed out loud. He sho cud grease.
    He wuz in the bathroom. She knocked on the door, but he sed for her not to come in. She stood outside the door, not moving, and knocked again.
Go and turn on the TV,
he sed,
I’ll be out in a few minutes.
    It wuz 30 minutes later when he came out. His walk wuz much faster than befo and his voice wuz high, higher than the fear moving over her body. She ran to him, threw her body against him and held on. She kissed him hard and moved her body ’gainst him til he stopped and paid attention to her movements. They fell to the floor. She felt his weight on her as she moved and kissed him. She wuz feeling good and she cudn’t understand why he stopped. In the midst of pulling off her dress he stopped and took out a cigarette and lit it while she undressed to her bra and panties. She felt naked all of a sudden and sat down and drew her legs up against her chest and closed her eyes. She reached for a cigarette and lit it.
    He stretched out next to her. She felt very ashamed, as if she had made him do something wrong. She wuz glad that she cudn’t talk cuz that way she didn’t have to explain. He ran his hand up and down her legs and touched her soft wet places.
    It’s just, babee, that this stuff kills any desire for THAT! I mean, I want you and all that but I can’t quite git it up to perform
. He lit another cigarette and sat up.
Babee, you sho know how to pick ’em. I mean, wuz you born under an unlucky star or sumthin’? First, you had a nigguh who preferred a rich/wite/woman to you and Blackness. Now you have a junkie who can’t even satisfy you when you need satisfying.
And his laugh wuz harsh as he sed again,
You sho know how to pick ’em, lady.
She didn’t know what else to do so she smiled a nervous smile that made her feel, remember times when she wuz little and she had stuttered thru a sentence and the listener had acknowledged her accomplishment wid a smile and all she cud do was smile back.
    He turned and held her and sed,
Stay up wid me tonite, babee. I got all these memories creeping in on me. Bad ones. They’s the things that make kicking hard, you know. You begin remembering all the mean things you’ve done to yo/family/friends who dig you. I’m remembering now all the heavee things I done laid on you in such a short time. You hardly had a chance to catch yo/breath when I’d think of sum new game to lay on you. Help me, Sandy. Listen to my talk. Hold my hand when I git too sad. Laugh at my fears that keep poppin’ out on me like some childhood disease. Be my vaccine, babee. I need you. Don’t ever leave me, babee, cuz I’ll never have a love like you again. I’ll never have another woman again if you leave me.
He picked up her hands and rubbed them in his palms as he talked, and she listened until he finally slept and morning crept in through the shades and covered them.
    He threw away his works when he woke up. He came over to where she wuz feeding the boys and kissed her and walked out to the backyard and threw the manila envelope into the middle can. He came back inside, smiled and took a dollie wid a glass of water, and fell on the couch.
    Sandy put the boys in their strollers in the backyard where she cud watch them as she cleaned the kitchen. She saw Snow, their big/wite/dog, come round the corner of the house to sit in front of them. They babbled words to him but he sat still guarding them from the backyard/evils of the world.
    She moved fast in the house, had a second cup of coffee, called their babysitter and finished straightening up the house. She put on a short dress which showed her legs, and she felt good about her black/hairy legs. She laughed as she remembered that the young brothers on her block used to call her a big/legged/momma as she walked in her young