Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone

4. We Have Launched, Where Shall We Anchor? ~ September 1947–May 1950

4. We Have Launched, Where Shall We Anchor? ~ September 1947–May 1950 ~ E unice idolized her older sister Lucille, who seemed more like her mother than Kate did. Kate was working twelve- and fourteen-hour days cleaning houses on top of her church duties, so it fell to Lucille to teach Eunice how to dress and wear her hair. She walked her to school and talked to her about boys; one or two of them always were around seeking Lucille’s company—and Dorothy’s, too. Four years older than Eunice, Dorothy was pretty and spirited in her own way. Temporarily defiant when her mother and teachers vetoed her plan to wear a strapless gown to a school function, Dorothy consented to wear a borrowed dress whose poofy sleeves were tasteful yet still met her sense of style. A photo of Eunice taken when she was twelve, perhaps for school or for another recital Miss Mazzy had organized, shows a casual pose but a serious mien. She is leaning over the back of a chair, her left hand placed over her right. She is wearing a simple dark blouse. Her hair is short and slightly curled in the front. The haircut accentuates her high forehead, round cheeks, and full lips, which hint at a smile. In the upper-left-hand corner, she wrote an inscription that suggests an uncommon seriousness of purpose for someone not yet a teenager. “All music is what awakes within us when we are reminded by the instruments; It is not the violins or the clarinets—It is not the beating of the drums—Nor the score of the baritone singing his sweet romanza; nor that of the men’s chorus, Nor that of the women’s chorus . It is nearer and farther than they.” Though Eunice was as interested in boys as her girlfriends were, she was too shy to act on her feelings. But when a new family moved into the neighborhood, Mr. and Mrs. Whiteside and their son Edney, Eunice was smitten. The family had actually lived in Tryon for a few years, and Mrs. Whiteside had helped Kate right after Frances was born. But Eunice was sure she didn’t know Edney, who was four years older, and she was even more sure she had never seen such a handsome boy. His Cherokee Indian heritage gave him tawny skin, shiny black hair, brown eyes, and an oval-shaped face. “I just looked at him and got torn up,” she recalled. Eunice didn’t speak to Edney at first, and he was busy anyway, helping his parents around the house. But because the Whitesides belonged to St. Luke and Edney was in one of the choirs, Eunice could steal a glance or two every Sunday. Her heart leapt the day she saw him glancing back. After church Edney asked if he could walk her home. Of course, she said, thinking to herself, “He could have rolled me home in a barrel if he wanted.” It wasn’t long before the teenagers met every Sunday after church to ride bicycles and stop at the Lyleses’ store for ice cream. Edney would buy a pint, “and she would eat it all,” he said. Kate had eased up on her Sunday routine, so the family wasn’t in church all day anymore . When Eunice and Edney came to the house, which J.D. and Kate enjoyed because they liked Edney, Kate still kept a watchful eye and ear on activities. If the kids were at the piano and the spirit took them into “real” music, Kate came in the room in a flash to steer them back to spirituals and hymns. After Edney bought a green 1939 Chevrolet, their Sunday afternoons became more adventurous. As soon as church was over, they 40 · p r i n c e s s n o i r e might drive an hour or so north to Hendersonville or perhaps over to see Edney’s grandmother in the little town of Edneyville, which was right in the middle of apple country. “We had a good bit in common ,” Edney explained, “because I was kind of a loner, and I think she liked being alone.” Eunice loved their quiet times together. She leaned her head on his shoulder, sometimes running her fingers through his hair and sti- fling the urge to kiss him, she later wrote, “for fear...