What goes on in the dark always come to light. Her mother’s words entered her head like an infection and she couldn’t answer, wondering what had given her away. Had she forgotten to fix a button? Had her skirt been wrinkled? Had she had the Jezebel look in her eyes? Who could have seen? Miss Mailley was usually the one who minded the counter during her breaks and no one else ever paid her much mind. But she knew better than to confess. It was smarter to just let her accuser tell her what the trespass had been.

“We’s friends, we talk,” Darlene said softly.

“Talk? Is that all you do?”

Darlene didn’t say one word.

“Now, Darlene, I know’d your grandmama and your mama, that’s why I let you come work here at my store …”

“Yes’m…”

“… I thought you’d treat my store like your own. Respect my business. I even let you handle money …”

Darlene could only cry for the second time that day, still unsure of what she had done. Her tears were further confirmation of guilt. Disappointed but vindicated, Miss Mailley was going to be sure to have her say.

“… I thought you was a good girl. Thought you was different from all the other niggers. Never ’spected I’d have to question you ’bout nothin’.”

To Miss Mailley, they were all pitiful. Sometimes able to act like people but really only savages at heart. She could forgive any one of them who was smart enough to ask for mercy.

“I’m sorry,” Darlene wailed, and Miss Mailley didn’t even offer her a handkerchief to wipe the snot from her nose.

“Now, Darlene, I kin help you, but you got to tell me the truth. Now was you pressured to do it?”

When Darlene didn’t answer, only cried harder, Miss Mailley was patient. Hoping for something that might get at least the girl off the hook. But despite how he had treated her this afternoon, Darlene still cared for Tuck. Believed there had to be some explanation for his behavior other than he had just used her and then thrown her away. Though nobody cared about preserving a Black woman’s innocence, she couldn’t bear to think about what the consequences could be if she told on him. After all, a White woman was involved now, at least a little bit. That involvement could step up Tuck’s infraction, even if it was just against a little Black girl.

“No, ma’am,” Darlene finally said. “It was my choice.”

Miss Mailley sighed, long and hard, shed one tear of her own.

“You gone tell my mother?” Darlene finally whimpered, a veiled confession to the wrong crime.

Miss Mailey just shook her head. “Why, I don’t know, Darlene. I just don’t know.”

After seconds of silence, her mind was made up.

“You can take off your apron and go on home now. Git on.”