the bitter words leave the young woman’s twitching lips, Kelly suddenly straightens her shoulders, roughly wiping her tears away.
Hardened a long time ago, the young woman will allow her fear and agony grow into a vine for revenge ripe with bloody fruit.
Glaring at her husband, the woman sends Sally back to eat her own dinner.
“Them bastards. I want to be the one to send them to hell-ya’ hu’r me!”
“All I want yall to do is hold them down-I want what they used to brutalize that girl.”
“I want to wear their balls as damn earrings!,” Kelly yells.
Suddenly Sally runs in from the kitchen, wiping her mouth from her own dinner, quickly holding her friend and employer, one of the few white woman that has treated as an equal.
“Naw-Naw Kelly baby girl,” Sally says as she struggles with Kelly.
“Don’tcha go gett’in all riled up ova’ them bad men.”
“I’m sho’ Slick and Benjamin gon’ see justice be blood red and right.”
With her declaration, the maid looks to the men, daring each to even defy her wish.
“Aint that right fellas.....?,” she seethes.
Benjamin and Slick look to each other, both simultaneously pushing their stew away. Neither is hungry, at least not for food.
“Now hunny-love of my life and loins, that’s pretty dramatic.”
“Don'tcha think love,” Slick says sweetly as his thick Louisiana tongue tries to soothe his wife.
“Ben and I gon’ take care of them fuck’as. Ya’ need not even kno’ how or when. I guarantee ya’ that.”
With Sally still stroking her shoulders, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks, Kelly’s read rises with a hate and malice in her eyes so bright, if the devil was in the room, he would run in the other direction.
“What you say naw’....?,” she seethes, holding on of Sally’s dear hands.
“What you say naw’- answer me Slick!?”
Slick sits back in his seat, shocked. He has never seen his young wife so angry, and rightfully so.
“Darl’in...I was jus’ say’in wha’ yo’.....yo’ kno’ just said.”
“That’s kin’of extreme. We just gon’ do what it is we do-put’em in tha’ ground....”
“Wit’ all they parts...say ay ?”
Kelly knows patronization when she hears it, a stinging notion often soothed over by sweet words. Suddenly, quick as a fierce bull in diamonds and pearls, Kelly shoots up from the table, nearly knocking over her bowl of pea soap.
With her small hand, the woman-of-the-house pounds on the tabletop with a huge thud that seems to shake the house’s foundation.
Sally looks from her friend, trying to calm the young woman down. Silently.
“What say you na...?!,” Sally seethes, her voice hot like hell fire. “ Say it again mutha’fucka. Say that shit tha’ fuck again!”
Slick looks up from his uneaten stew, now cold. “I’m just say’in...,” the thug starts as Kelly cuts him off.
“Where you in that jail cell with me-was you?”
“No-you decided to take on a damn job I told you not to take in the first damn place!,” Kelly nearly screams.
“You were supposed to be here-you and Benjamin both.”
“No-not the “Blood Brothers-Righter of Wrongs’”.
Kelly stops talking, feeling her heart beat in her ears. The only person keeping her from slapping her husband’s face is Sally’s gentle stroke on her shoulders.
“Look-a hur, you bring them back to me-one at a time, tied up in twos-or in trunks. But I want them alive and on this damn table.”
“Dicks and balls in the goddamn air!,” Kelly yells.
Quickly, Sally crosses her self like the good catholic she tries to be, rushing from the room, probably to pray.
“On this very table, that is where I will take my retribution for myself as well as that girl.”
“We both gon’ have what we have com’in.”
“Do I make myself perfectly crystal mutha-fuck’in clear?,” the pretty lady of the house sneers. Fuming, Kelly’s red lips twist into a grimace that even makes Benjamin shudder as he looks up .
Both men nod, looking back at their quickly cooling beef stew, its remnants resembling something else entirely.
“Slick, I tell ya this naw’ boy. If you don’t do as I tell you, you can count yourself a single man,” Kelly mocks.
Slick has had enough, suddenly standing up quickly. “Naw hold on hur’ woman!”
Quickly, nose to nose, Kelly eyeballs the killer back in his seat.
“No you hold on hur.”
“My word is my word, and as a woman it is all I have.”
“I talked to that woman’s mama. I made promise to her that I would get the type of revenge that will set her heart at ease. You gon’ do as I say!,” Kelly orders.
“Naw!-” Slick starts right as Kelly pounds her fist on their beautiful oak table, the fine silverware trembling.
“Who got the pussy!?”.......she mutters.
Benjamin nearly snickers, looking into Kelly’s angry eyes, suddenly scared. Simmered down instantly, Slick slowly sits, nodding.
“Yeah-I see ya point baby,” he smiles sweetly. “If thats what ya’ want consida’ it done big mama.”
Benjamin looks around as Sally peeks back in, Kelly motioning the sensitive young woman over, having her clear the table. The lady-of-the-house sits back, eyeing her wedding ring, a perfect antique diamond solitaire passed down through her family, looking over to Slick, the love of her life.
Kelly smiles gently, the anger passing. “I’m sorry for my language. A lady should never use such words,” she coos, demure and lovely as ever.
Nodding, each understanding, the men watch as Kelly rises, helping Sally clear the plates and uneaten food.
After all is done, both women leave
