Page 182 of La Dolce Vita

"What happened to him?" Mirabella asked.

"She was pregnant with, I think, Tanya at the time. Slim was a gambler. He was a good homemaker, but he had a thing for dice. He would drive as far as Richmond to get in a dice game. And he collected debts. Many of them. One day they found Slim in a ditch with his throat cut and two bullet holes in his chest. That was the trigger."

"Trigger?" Marietta asked.

Mirabella knew this tale. She may not have heard all of the stories of Bessie-Mae, but she knew this one. It was part of her grand-aunts infamy. She let Minnie share it.

"Bessie-Mae went mad. Really crazy. First, she cried and hollered about killing herself. Then she threatened to kill Mary who tried to nurse her. And then she turned to drinking and threatening to kill everyone in town. She hated the world. She would fight people in the streets. Even white people. The cops round here couldn't control her. You got to know this was right around the fifties or so. Black people couldn't raise up on white people in these parts. But Bessie-Mae could. And she would. It's like she would go from calm and sweet one minute to dynamite the next. Mary was the only one who could help her. And even when she did, everyone knew that Bessie would go nuts again."

"Back then they didn't have a name for it. It wasn't until Clyde came back from Vietnam that doctors started telling colored folk what ailed their kin. Depression. Slimbody’s death sent Bessie-Mae deep into depression. And her depression became some kind of bipolar sickness. It controlled her. Poor thing."

"She was bipolar?" Marietta asked.

"I think so. No doctor ever diagnosed her. But yes. I think so. People around these parts turn to religion for an answer. I even think Reverend Talbot did like an exorcism on her." Minnie chuckled. "I was a little girl, but I loved to hear Bessie-Mae cursing someone out. She would be so much fun with the kids too. Play like a kid with us, dance and sing with us. Before her dark moods came on and she took liquor. There was nothing like her."

"What happened to her? She's dead right?" Marietta asked.

"She's dead," Mirabella confirmed.

"She took her life. Committed suicide after your mother ran away," Minnie said.

"What?" Marietta gasped. "Why?"

"She was depressed," Mirabella said. "Guess she loved Mama too."

"She more than loved your mother. Much more." Minnie dragged over the other photo album. She pushed it over to the girls. Marietta was eager to open it. The moment they saw Lisa's baby picture, the sisters smiled. Mirabella had never seen it before. She swore the picture looked just like Eve when she was born. She pulled it out from under the thin plastic film and stared at the image of her mother. She gazed at her with such amazement.

"The reason Bessie-Mae used to give Mary her children when she traveled and sang, was because Mary wanted nothing more than to be a mother. She married your grandfather young. She was a good, dutiful wife to him. She helped him build his ministry. Mary was the sweetest of them all."

"And then she had Mama," Mirabella said.

Minnie smiled. "No."

"What do you mean no?" Marietta asked.

"Slow it down a bit. Let me tell the story right. See Bessie-Mae loved Mary, but she envied her too. Whenever Bessie-Mae would mess up, people would always say they wished she had common sense like her sister. Or folk would say something nasty about her getting the bad genes, and Mary getting all of God's grace. Church people can be the worst stuck up bunch of hypocrites ever. So for jokes, Bessie-Mae would sometimes dress like Mary and arrive at church early to receive the parishioners. They looked that much alike. Oh, she'd do her thang. Prance around and mock her sister. Then Mary would arrive and be so hurt. Deeply. But she loved Bessie-Mae and tolerated ir. Your granddaddy didn't like the embarrassment. He chased Bessie Mae off church property and banned her from returning. What man of God does that?"

"She must have pushed him too hard," Mirabella was quick to explain. "Granddaddy was a good man."

Marietta kept flipping through images of a young Lisa growing up in Apple Grove. So many pictures it was like a treasure chest of memories. Marietta wept. She barely listened as she looked at her mother. So young and beautiful. So happy.

"Bessie-Mae wanted to be Mary. And Mary wanted to save Bessie-Mae from herself. I don't know what the true story is. I only know the result. Bessie-Mae seduced your grandfather. That's what the townsfolk believe. And she became pregnant."

"That's a lie!" Mirabella slammed her hand down on the table. "A lie!"

Shocked Marietta grabbed her sister’s arm. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Calm down."

"That's enough, Minnie! Enough! Get the hell out!"

"No!" Marietta stood. "Why are you attacking her?"

"Because she's lying. That's what they do. Make up gossip. Find ways to punish me!"

"You? This isn't about you!"

"It is about me!" Mirabella shouted in tears. "They blame me for killing Granddaddy."

"How could they blame you for that? Why would they? You aren't making any sense."

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