Little Mae

The year was 1941; she was only five-years old when her father died. Clement Lee Walton was a short, brown-skinned man with little to no hair on his head. His nose and lips were big and wide and the muscles on his arms and legs were huge from a lifetime of hard labor. Clement was a good, decent man and a loving father to his baby girl Mae Ida. Mae had long smooth black hair. She wore three large braids in her head. Two braids in the front covered her small ears. She had one crooked braid in the back. She had a nose like her father's but not as noticeable. Her skin was brown and soft like chocolate. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of dark brown.

Clement Lee was raising two twin boys and three girls. If that wasn't enough, he also was an active member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Pike County, Alabama. He was one of the youngest deacons; he was often called, "the praying deacon." On many occasions Clement Lee would be heard praying for his family and children behind his favorite oak tree.

When Mae wasn't tending to the mules, goats, cows, chickens and other farm animals, was spending time with her father. After returning from school, finding her father would be her first priority. She loved to sit on her daddy's big strong legs while her small body would jump up, down, backward, and forward. Mae loved her daddy. Besides being entertained by her father, she enjoyed playing with her twin brothers, and attending school.

One hot summer day, after coming in the house from another hard day of work, the girls were told not to touch the black pot on the stove. This dish was prepared especially for their dad. Annie Walton wanted to make sure that her girls understood what she said. She called them one by one. "Annie Lois, Lillie Mae, and Mae Ida, do not touch this pot, do ya'll hear me? "Yes ma'am," they replied while nodding their heads.

Clement Lee finally arrived home from a meeting with the deacons. The floor cracked as he walked through the old wooden house. He set his keys down by the tiny oval shaped table near the rust, stained rocking chair. He hung his tilted black hat on the door hook. Before washing up for his later supper he wanted to see his children. The two-year old twins were happy to see their dad. They were clinging to the lower part of his legs were their way of showing affection. Lois, nine-year and Lillie, seven-year old, they were washing their overalls in a large grey tub. Mae was in the mirror brushing her hair after several failed attempts to braid it herself.

Clement Lee whispered a prayer thanking God that his family was fine and doing well. Annie was in the kitchen warming up his special dish while Clement washed his hands and face. Immediately, after he ate his head began to spin, his stomach burned like fire and his limbs were weak and wobbly. He wasn't able to hold down his food. He was too delirious to ask Annie what she put in his meal.

Annie helped him to bed. Early the next morning, before the roosters crowed, Clement Lee screamed over and over again, "LORD, HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL!" His bed was soaked from sweat protruding from his pores. A few days passed, but Clement Lee wasn't getting any better.

Annie sent word to her father concerning her husband's poor condition. Cincey Collins was a talk dark skinned man with salt and pepper hair. He would often be seen in his favorite white suit. He was well known in that part of the woods. People near and far would come to him when they were sick. He would try to help them get better. Folks in that part of the precinct didn't know if he was a real doctor or not. Doctor Collins, or the "Medicine Man," lived in a remote part of town. The sick would have to travel down the red dirt roads, through the wood and up the steep hill. They nearly dying he would go visit when he could.

Doc Collins arrived in enough time to attend his son-in-law Clement Lee Walton's funeral service. Between the heat, and the black clothing, the congregation was fanning the sweat mixed with tears from their faces. Mae wept bitterly as she sat in the middle of Lois an d Lillie with her head hung down. The twins were in and out of their seat, mostly under the pews. Clement's young body was carried from the church to the burial site in a nailed up oak wood box.

All Mae could think about was how her daddy took sick after eating out of that black pot. Mae remember hearing her daddy say moments before he died, "Whoever caused my death will be dead in thirty days." Just as Clement said, it came to pass. Exactly thirty days after he died his very own brother was killed during a bar fight. At that time Mae was too young to understand that her uncle and her mother were responsible for her father's death. Now, Annie had no husband or boyfriend. Who would help her raise the kids?

Mae thought that her world had come to an end. How could she go on living without her daddy? Who would play with her and make her smile.? She felt abandoned and alone. Her two older sisters tried to comfort her. However, no words could heal her broken heart. Mae's hurt and pain turned into rebellion. She became unruly, feisty and defiant. She didn't eat or sleep much. She stopped doing her chores and playing with her little brothers.

On one occasion after working in the field, Mae went t0 the swamp area and rubbed her entire body with poison ivy, especially her face. Annie had enough of Mae's strange behavior. Before the summer ended, Annie decided to send her to stay with her Papa, the doctor. Annie knew that her dad would get Mae's swollen face down and maybe help with the rebellion as well.

Mae loved living with her Papa. She was his little errand girl. One of her daily chores after school was to fetch the mail out of the mailbox. She was always inquisitive and curious about what she found in the mailbox. One day she carried a heavy package back to the house. It weight about as much as she did. She was strong for her age. Doctor Collins opened the package with excitement. I was a large black book.

Late in the night she would see her Papa reading that book with his small framed glasses on the tip of his nose. That large black book was all about medicine. Her Papa would read it often so he could help others get better. She also delivered medicine to her Papa's sick patients who lived near.

While on one of her daily errands, she decided to take a detour through the swamps. She played as long as she could, until she felt the ground moving. The ground turned out to be a snake. After she jumped off the snake, and grabbed the tan paper medicine bag, she ran screaming as loud as she could. The snake was about eight feet long and three feet wide. His head was the size of bull's head. Mae didn't stop running until she made it to the sick neighbor's house. As Mae described the snake to her Papa, he told her that it sounded more like an alligator than a snake. Her Papa warned her several times to stay out of the swamps.

There were many other incidents where Mae found mischief to be her constant companion. One afternoon, Dr. Collins went into town to deliver some medicine. By this time Mae had turned seven years old and he thought it would be okay to leave her for a few hours. He left Mae with specific instructions. "Mae," he called. "Yes, Papa," she replied. "Do not open the top desk drawer, I have important papers in there, I don't want you messing with them. Do you understand me?" "Yes, Papa, she replied with an innocent look. Mae waited as long as she could bare. After the dust, smoke and loud engine noise had vanished from his old beat up truck, she was in the drawer.

Underneath the important papers, she found a small green metal box. Inside the small green box were three bottles filed with liquid. Mae's curiosity got the best of her. She opened the tightly closed lids and smelled each one of them. She liked how the third one smelled it reminded her of cherries. She thought it was some special treat that her Papa was saving for her. She poured a small portion of the cherry smelling liquid on her tongue, before she knew it, she had drunk half the bottle.

Dr. Collins arrived home about two hours later. Mae was not in the house. He knew that she had been in his private drawer. His important papers were on the top of the desk with dark spots all over them. The little green metal box was missing a bottle. He ran through the house franticly calling her name. "Mae, Mae, Mae Ida, where are you?" There was no sight or sign of her. He noticed that the back door was slightly cracked. The back porch was missing two large slabs of wood. Through the open space, he could see Mae's body curled up in a fetal position.

Doctor Collins picked her up. Mae's little denim overalls were wet and dirty from the spilled cherry liquid, sweat and tears. He didn't scold her like he wanted to because of her pitiful state. Also, because he felt partly the blame. He found the missing third bottle on the kitchen floor. It took a week to get her fever down, and her stomach strong enough to hold food. The cherry smelling liquid bottle was her Papa's personal medicine for his heart condition.

After two years of living with her Papa, Mae slowly began to heal from the pain of losing her father. Mae was needed on the farm. The news that she had to return to the farm couldn't have come at a worse time. She didn't want to live with her mother. It would only bring back terrible memories. Mae didn't want to go back to the farm because her daddy wasn't there anymore. She wanted to live with her Papa until she grew up.

The "Medicine Man," tried to fill the void in Mae's little heart. He knew that he couldn't replace her father. He tried to raise her the best way he knew how. He did enjoy her company. Mae was real helpful around the house. She would clean and help her Papa cook. Her Papa taught her about gardening and many other useful things.

Mae's attitude had changed. She was more respectful and obedient. One of the best decisions Annie made was to let Mae stay with her Papa. She brought a lot of laughter and joy in his home. Mae was now seven years old and still missing her beloved father. She found security and strength while bonding with her new favorite man, her Papa. All that changed when Mae moved back.

Annie hired men to do the work on the farm that her deceased husband accomplished by himself. There were a few decent men who worked for Annie. There were others who had their own agendas. Several men came and went over the two and half years that Annie was a widow. During that time Annie met a man by the name Cicero Jones. She was tired of being a widow. She also needed help raising her children. After a few visits to the farm, Cicero asked Annie to marry him in the fall of 1943.

Cicero was twenty years older than Annie. He was a big, tall, and light skinned. His hair was curly black like most of the mulatto's. His face was round with red cheeks. His wide swollen hands would cover Mae's entire face. Standing next to Annie, Cicero was a giant. Annie was small, petite, caramel skinned woman with slanted eyes, and a keen pointed nose.

Cicero took advantage of an opportunity he couldn't resist. A helpless widow woman with five children that needed to be rescued. His marriage or business transaction became very profitable for him. His hired help and his five stepchildren were all Cicero needed to keep the farm operating.

Things had certainly changed since Clement Lee Walton was alive. Clement was a man of integrity. Clement would be turning over in his grave if he knew what was happening to his family. He was a God fearing man that loved his wife and children.

Cicero immediately let Annie know that he was the boss. Shortly, after their marriage, he began to smack Annie around. The smacks turned into punches. Annie did all she could do to hide the bruises on her face from her children. They knew Cicero was beating her. The yelling and screaming would wake them up during the night. It was hard for Annie to hide her painful scars.

Mae was ten years old when Cicero took her and her sisters out of school. Lois, Lille and Mae would walk barefoot for five miles to get to the log cabin shack. Mae was in the fifth grade. Lille was in the seventh grade and Lois was in the ninth grade. Even though they were in different grades, they shared the same room. Mae loved school, she enjoyed learning how to read and write.

Like slaves, they were forced to labor in the fields under excruciating conditions. The heat from the scourged their fragile bodies. Their wide straw hats couldn't protect them from the powerful sun. Their brown skin was darkened. Their lips were parched. Their throats and mouths stayed dry. Their tongues cleaved to the top of their gums. The sweat ran from their forehead like a down pour of rain. Their soft braids thickened. Their tender hands hardened. Their bare feet were infected with blisters and sores.

The slave master often rested his arms on his large belly while he sat on his throne. He demanded his little elves to work from sunrise to sunset. Mae's young life consisted of working in the fields and in the house. She learned how to cook and clean at the age of five. She was a field and house slave girl. They say slaves were freed after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 or were they? It wasn't from a white man's hand that this cruelty was inflicted on Mae. It was from a mulatto. It was from a man with white and black descendants. Cicero made Mae's life miserable.

Every chance she got Mae would go to her secret place in the woods. She found a place to release her anger and fear. Mae cried and longed for her daddy. She prayed that something bad would happen to her mean stepfather. There were times when she would escape to her Papa's house. She would beg her Papa to let her stay. He wanted to keep Mae, but he felt that a little girl need to be with her mother.

Her Papa was getting older. He wanted to confront Cicero about beating his granddaughter. He knew that his feeble body couldn't handle such a huge man like Cicero. It broke his heart every time he saw the swollen whip marks. He would rub some ointment on her bruises, and scars. He made her feel better. After a day or two he would send her back home.

When Mae would returned home, she was often beat again. Mae was also responsible for watching her twin brothers. She had to make sure they were doing their chores. One day Cicero found the boys playing on a dirt hill when they should have been working in the fields. While Mae was milking the cows, Cicero began to whip her. She bore Jimmy and Johnny's stripes. Her arms and legs were swollen and bruised. Mae was beaten until her blood dried up on her tiny body.

Over a period of years, this child abuse continued. Cicero Jones made Annie and her children's life unbearable. Annie realized for the second time she made a terrible mistake when she married Cicero. It was too late. The damage was already afflicted upon her, and her children.