Chapters (31)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Room in the Dark I
- Fawns of the Diaspora Court Liliane in Paris, While Tabou Combo Whispers “Coq Qualité” in Her Ears
- Room in the Dark II
- “I Usedta Drink, Smoke and Do the Hoochie-Koo,” or What’s a Girl to Do When Her Mother Looks Like Ruth Brown
- Room in the Dark III
- “El Bochinche” es que only Fe Cortijo Knows or All the LeBron Brothers Know If Victor-Jésus María Sang Lili to Her Freedom
- Room in the Dark IV
- And Where Is Garnett Mimms?
- Room in the Dark V
- I Know Where Kansas City Is, But Did Wilbert Harrison Ever Get There?
- Room in the Dark VI
- Zoom Went the Strings of Liliane’s Heart, But Arsenio Rodriguez Could Have Told Her the Music Sounds Just as Sweet When We’re Blind and Still We See
- Room in the Dark VII
- I Know Where the E Train Stops But I’m “Sendin’ Out an S.O.S.” and I’m Not Edwin Starr Either
- Room in the Dark VIII
- “Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby” or Wouldn’t It Be Great If the Lead Singer of The Crests Wasn’t a White Boy and I Could Be My Mother?
- Room in the Dark IX
- Every Time My Lil World Seems Blue, I Just Haveta Look at You and Learn Eye-Hand Coordination
- Room in the Dark X
- “That’s Why I Love Her So and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I Want to Know” or Why Jackie Wilson Died in Silence
- Room in the Dark XI
- There’s No Use Cryin’ “Forever” or Hyacinthe Returns from a Very Blue Holiday for Real B(l)ack at Ya
- Room in the Dark XII
- Lollie Struts Her Stuff Thru “The Sea of Love” or the Brides of Frankenstein Catch the Bouquet
- By Ntozake Shange
- Acknowledgments
- Copyright
Can you imagine callin’ your pa “Daddy” and you sixteen years old? But worse than that, was that Roxie girl cooing Papa like she wasn’t an American or somethin’. I was at a total loss for Lollie and Hyacinthe. They were from St. Louis, or so they said. Far as I know they might’ve been visiting from the Outer Limits. I mean, the South is the South, and my family had relations and cousins down there in the Carolinas, I think, but how young colored girls could be so full of themselves, I’ll never understand. Lollie was the one I liked the best, I guess that’s cause she had dyed her hair platinum blond and wore it in a real close bob like Twiggy. I liked the look, you know what I mean? Hyacinthe on the other hand must believe that a whole heada nappy hair runnin’ wild is what it takes to enter The Kingdom. I have never seen no niggah gal’s hair so wild it looked like it must stink. Liliane said I was bein’ judgmental, but hell, we are judged by the company we keep.
Since Liliane’s mother had passed, the Judge gave her most anything money could buy. It was a shame, too, cause can’t nothin’ and nobody take Mama’s place. Liliane tried to be cool about it, you know, how much she misst her mama. The other girls and I, we made a pact to try to help Liliane really enjoy her sixteenth birthday, since we in a way was all she had to depend on for female stuff. The Judge thought arranging for all of us to come for Liliane’s celebration might lessen her loneliness, but I’m here to say couldn’t nobody or nothin’ calm Liliane’s spirit.
Seems like Hyacinthe had a brother was hot shit in Missouri, and found Liliane fetchin’, you might say, but those girls was on the phone to Missouri, Nassau, and Mississippi like these boys was right around the corner. I thought Hyacinthe must be feelin’ pretty low, cause not one of these silly girls was interested in her at all, only her brother, Sawyer. Lollie and Liliane was beside themselves, talkin’ to this fella, but the most ridiculous conversations were between Rose Lynne, Liliane, and Granville. Talkin’ to niggahs out of the country, Jesus, I know the Judge hadn’t planned all that. He wanted us to keep Liliane’s spirits up, not help her get her panties off.