Lenora called Mommy on Christmas morning. She has always (since she first came to work for her) been the first to call her and wish her a "Merry Christmas".
She first came to work for us, as a young girl sometime in the early '60's. She came twice a week, Wednesdays to do the ironing, and Fridays to clean the house. For a shining few golden hours, the house was spotless, and everything was in its proper place... then the bus arrived, and the kids came home. Mommy implored us to "please, keep the house clean, at least until Daddy gets home!"
It was always an adventure to take Lenora home. We drove out of the driveway to the left, over the bridge, past Gardner's Landing and left again, down a little lane that ran along the next channel of the lake. Turning down that lane was like turning back in time...
On the lake side, amid cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, people were fishing. While on the right, men were working a lush garden, I remember how green and healthy the plants looked, a good crop of "pole beans", corn, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard greens, strawberries... I remember, too, a little shed that looked, or I imagined it looked, like a door that led to an underground root cellar that led into the hillside - probably a tool shed. Further on we drove through a series of gates, over "cattle catchers" (pipes suspended over a pit, that kept the cattle from going through the opened gate) into a compound of cabins, barns and out-buildings. The main house, "Villa de Lago" (house by the lake), owned by Mr. Williamson, is only a vague image in my mind of Spanish moss and columns, as I was mainly interested in Lenora's mother's cabin. It was a faded board, raised structure with a front porch that always seemed to be teeming with activity. Adults in rocking chairs watched children and skinny dogs playing on the steps or in the dirt yard. All of the people within sight were black, and the series of cabins could be equated with "slave quarters", which lent a frozen-in-time feeling to the place. But, though they may have worked for Mr. Williamson, they were provided a place to live, and it seemed a co-operative sense of community. In the age of segregation, it was probably a safe-haven for those who lived there.
Behind the cabins, was a low lean-to type structure which was home to chickens and, oddly enough, peacocks! Their colorful plumage lent an unexpected beauty to the gray buildings and brown dirt yard surrounding them. In the evening, we could hear them calling - a sound that startled many an unsuspecting guest to our house- "he-ELP, he-ELP!" (Lenora would occasionally bring one of the beautiful tail feathers to Mommy, who would place it in the blue-green glass decanter, where it's colorful "eye" would survey the goings-on in the living room.)
Later, when Lenora had her own children, she lived further down South Lakeshore. Her house there was a small building that was covered in tar paper, like the siding hadn't been put on, yet. For all the years I knew of, it never was "finished". I felt sorry for Lenora, having such a sad little house, and it made me appreciate, all the more, our own home.
Sometimes, when in her own pinch for childcare, or because Mommy needed her an extra day, she would bring her children along to our house. Tracy, Stoney and Sarah were very well behaved and happy to play with Carl and Janet. Sarah rode along with Carl and Kelley home from Kindergarten, because it was only a half-day, with Mommy or Mrs. Ellis driving.
Anytime Daddy came upon Johnny, Lenora's husband (eventually ex-), walking along the road, he would pick him up and give him a ride, which, I suppose, defied convention of the day, in the time of separate waiting rooms at the doctors office, and water fountains at Sears labeled "Whites Only" or "Colored Only".
Through the years, she cared for us and was a friend to Mommy. She came to work extra; to take care of me, when Grandpa had a stroke, and to help out when the babies (Carl and Janet) were born. Mommy in turn took care of her when she was sick, or in need. Though she had little money, she always brought Mommy a lovely Christmas gift. I'm sure it was something she purchased at Spartan-Atlantic (a Wal-Mart-like precursor - the type of place where you could buy things cheaply, but were ashamed to admit that you went there, or God-forbid, see someone you knew there, to which Mommy would admonish us, "well, they're here, too!"), but they were thoughtful, beautiful gifts -vases, bowls, or pictures - that Mommy appreciated and treasured.
In school, we learned that people, our own classmates included, were prejudiced against Negroes or colored people - the language of the time- and called them "niggers". They seemed to revile them, for reasons unknown, and apparently, so did their parents. I came from such a different experience, that I couldn't really understand this. Still, we picked up the bad habit of calling someone a "nigger" as a means of a put-down. I cannot forget the time one of us was arguing with another in the living room and let slip something like, "Well you're a nigger!" Our eyes all widened in horror as we realized, too late, that Lenora was there that day. The shame we felt, and the fear that we had hurt someone we loved as a member of our own family, made us all realize that words - unlike the childhood rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" - really could hurt someone. I don't think I ever said that word, that is, in today's society, known as "the n-word", again.
Lenora, eventually, was no longer our maid, but remained family, invited to all of our weddings and sharing our sorrow at the funerals. She worked at a nursing home, in the laundry, remarried - her last name is Adger, now-and lives in Greenwood. She has never forgotten Mommy or our family.
This year, she sent her card early and asked me to call her and give her my number (since Mommy's ringer is disconnected). She is the same sweet, lovely person she has always been. She said that she loves all of us, and always will. I told her we love her, too, and are so grateful for her love and friendship over the years. She says she is a sitter for Alzheimer patients, and I told her how I wished she was closer to us to "sit" with Mommy. She said, "You know I would!"
God bless her, and thank you for bringing her into our lives, especially for being the friend and help she has been to Mommy.
* the picture of Lenora (above) is from a bookmark, a token Mommy received when she went to Lenora's retirement (from the nursing home) party. The inscription is something that I know Lenora has lived by:
If I can help someone, along life's way,
Then my life will not be in vain.
Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and Holy Life. Hebrews 12:14
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