On the Beat of Truth: A Hearing Daughter's Stories of Her Black Deaf Parents

10. Summer with Grandma

141 10 Summer with Grandma “Be careful of the snakes, they will wrap around your leg and just squeeze it off.” It all begins with a letter from Grandma written with a lead pencil in small legible print. Mama rips open the envelope, carefully reads the letter, and then gives it to me to read, too. It begins with a thank-you for the five dollars my mother sent her. Then she says that it is summertime now and she would like me to come down there for a visit. After all, she hasn’t seen me since I was a baby. The year is 1954. I am ten years old and will be eleven, and I excitedly anticipate my visit to Grandma, my mother’s mother, Martha Nero Brown, for the summer. Mama looks at me, guessing that her mother must be lonesome , and wondering if I would like to go. I instantly recall that Carol Ricks, who lives down the street, has left for Rocky Mount, North Carolina, for the summer. I discover this when I go to her house to use the telephone and ask about Carol ’s whereabouts. Mrs. Ricks says Carol will not return until September when school opens. When I express my surprise at the news, Mrs. Ricks says, “Why, a lot of children go down South for the summer.” When Mama asks me again if I want to go, I tell her, “yes!” because I can’t wait to experience a brand new adventure in the South! I imagine that I’ll be staying at a magnificent mansion similar to the one Mama describes when she talks about my great grandmother, Annie Dublin. On the Beat of Truth 142 “I visit grandma who live big house,” I say to mama. “No. No. My mother live small house Rockwell, N.C., not big Concord.” Mama deliberately spells out the alphabet letters, R-o-c-k-w-e-l-l, so I can see the difference between the small rural town, Rockwell, and the larger town of Concord. She says the sentence again, “My mother no live big house Concord. Her brother, William Nero, fool her. When their mother, Annie Dublin, die, she give house [to] children, Martha and William. William make my mother sign paper, give mother little money. She poor, not know. Now my mother have no house. That why I give mother money build house Rockwell.” I nod my head signaling that I understand what she is saying . But, I am too excited to really focus on the distinction between my great grandmother, Annie Dublin in Concord and her daughter, my grandmother, Martha Nero Brown in Rockwell. I run to my room to search for our worn-out suitcase , finally finding it in the back of the closet, then scramble through dirty clothes for Mama to wash and eventually pack for me. The very next day, Mama buys a round-trip train ticket for Concord, North Carolina, packs my summer clothes, and sends me off with the admonition, “Be a good girl.” I hop in the family car with Daddy, Mama, Shirley, and Barbara. I kiss them all good-bye. Sitting on the train, I wave good-bye to them as the train departs from Union Station. When I finally arrive at Concord after twelve hours, my aunt Della, Mama’s sister, and my cousin, Baby Sis, meet me at the train station and whisk me to their home, where I have visions of how much fun we’ll have. The next morning, my cousin, Pat, drives me to Rockwell to finally see Grandma again. I see the ugly dilapidated shack that Grandma calls home, and I wonder if I have made a mistake to come here. Summer with Grandma 143 Grandma hugs me and tells me to come on in as she takes my suitcase and says,“My, my. You’se so big now. I can’t believe you here. Come on in, chile. Yes, yes you sho’ ’nuff have gotten so tall. Are you sure you only ten years old? You look older to me.” I suddenly feel a little self-conscious of my size, wondering if I really am that tall. After all, she is barely five feet tall. She takes me to a room and plops my suitcase on the rickety bed. “Well, well, well. Here is Sina’s chile, Maxine. I’se can’t...