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
——— But we told her. We tried to tell her. She called me at my workshop, you know, where I teach. She called me. She was so frightened. She had the secretaries track me down in the cafeteria. I jumped up and ran to a pay phone to get back to her and she was whispering that she wanted to see somebody quickly. She thought Sierra was in danger. She wanted to get out of the house, but I was at work. I said: “Come pick up my keys. You both can stay with me.” She said that he’d think of us first. That that wasn’t a good idea. I said: “Okay, come and get some money and go to a hotel.” Then she had to go. She said: “I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later. Awright?” Like she wasn’t scared anymore, like we were talking about a luncheon or something. I knew he must have come round. I knew in my bones, he must have come round.
———
——— Then, when I called her back that night, she said she was going out for dinner by the bridge with that dog, Tony. She swore she’d call me later…. When she called, she said they were going to get married. I couldn’t believe it. Why are you going to marry a man who’s jealous of your work, your friends, your child even? How could she marry somebody who made her so afraid, she’d just start cryin’ sometimes for no reason at all. No reason at all. Just tremblin’ so. I can see her now.
——— But did Roxie see anyone?
——— Well, she took your number. Then she said she didn’t want to confide in a man.
——— Yes. I recall that.
——— And she did go a couple of times to that woman you recommended, but she stopped going because Tony said anything they needed to work out they could do together, she trusted him, didn’t she? And she fell for it. She believed that fool. Jesus.
——— And not her friends like you.
——— It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, now.
——— Yes, it does. It matters immensely. You loved Roxie very much, and Sierra. There’s been a terrible tragedy that you will have to work through, realize you are not responsible for Roxie’s death. Roxie is.
——— Fuck you! What in hell are you talkin’ about? Roxie didn’t strangle herself. She didn’t put sixteen knife wounds up and down her body. She didn’t tell Sierra: “Come, darlin’, watch Tony kill Mommy.”
——— Didn’t she?
——— No. No! She didn’t. She didn’t. She did not.
——— Did she leave the house?
——— No.
——— Did she let Sierra stay with friends until she and Tony worked things out?
——— No. I told you, no.
——— Did she ask him to give her some time to herself, for her to work things out for herself?
——— No. She couldn’t ask him something like that.