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Chapters (31)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. Room in the Dark I
  6. Fawns of the Diaspora Court Liliane in Paris, While Tabou Combo Whispers “Coq Qualité” in Her Ears
  7. Room in the Dark II
  8. “I Usedta Drink, Smoke and Do the Hoochie-Koo,” or What’s a Girl to Do When Her Mother Looks Like Ruth Brown
  9. Room in the Dark III
  10. “El Bochinche” es que only Fe Cortijo Knows or All the LeBron Brothers Know If Victor-Jésus María Sang Lili to Her Freedom
  11. Room in the Dark IV
  12. And Where Is Garnett Mimms?
  13. Room in the Dark V
  14. I Know Where Kansas City Is, But Did Wilbert Harrison Ever Get There?
  15. Room in the Dark VI
  16. 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
  17. Room in the Dark VII
  18. I Know Where the E Train Stops But I’m “Sendin’ Out an S.O.S.” and I’m Not Edwin Starr Either
  19. Room in the Dark VIII
  20. “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?
  21. Room in the Dark IX
  22. Every Time My Lil World Seems Blue, I Just Haveta Look at You and Learn Eye-Hand Coordination
  23. Room in the Dark X
  24. “That’s Why I Love Her So and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I Want to Know” or Why Jackie Wilson Died in Silence
  25. Room in the Dark XI
  26. There’s No Use Cryin’ “Forever” or Hyacinthe Returns from a Very Blue Holiday for Real B(l)ack at Ya
  27. Room in the Dark XII
  28. Lollie Struts Her Stuff Thru “The Sea of Love” or the Brides of Frankenstein Catch the Bouquet
  29. By Ntozake Shange
  30. Acknowledgments
  31. Copyright

——— Then, when I started bleeding, he got all hysterical. It wasn’t much, just a little blood. I thought he was going to lose it. He says this is too much for him to take. He needs a break. I wished I’d had a gun, a brick, anything. It was too much for him. Was his body vacuumed, suctioned out of his groin like so much dirt? Did the nurse raise her eyes at him: too bad he doesn’t love you all over her face. They took the check from my hand like there was blood on it. I looked to see if there was blood on my check, but it was on my leg. And he only saw a mess. Some complication my body presented to his emotional structures that used to cover me. They used to protect me, but now with the last remnants of this baby coating my legs, he’s disgusted. Well, I’m glad. I’m glad I didn’t have that baby cause if bloody messes are too much for him, then goddammit, he didn’t love either one of us enough to be any itsy lil muthafuckin’ part of our lives. He did not. He did not. Now…that’s all.

——— That’s quite a lot.

——— Yeah.

——— Now, we know why you think parts of yourself are falling out of you. You’ve got to pick up the baby and let her come into your life. You’ve got to own her, accept her.

——— I know. I want to do something for her birthday. She’s three years old tomorrow. I figured it out. She’s three tomorrow.

——— Liliane, it may be messy, but loving and grieving don’t cancel each other out.

——— I really want to go home now. I want to build a house for her spirit to visit, somewhere close by me. Make her a home.

——— Somewhere you can visit, too. Well, it’s time.

And Where Is Garnett Mimms?