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 first Liliane and Rose Lynne got my friend Danny in a heap of trouble. Him just trying to be nice to his honey and all. See, Liliane didn’t want to be on no White Team no more than she wanted to drop dead, but she didn’t have the backbone to stand up for herself. Once Rose Lynne scoped the deal, she convinced Liliane to stop frontin’ and let the other colored people know she was forced to be a White Team girl. That way, she and Rose Lynne could still have a great time at the Victory Dance for the Blue Team.
The score was 53–27; Blues ahead. Like I said the Whites were gonna eat the dust, like they oughtta. So less they won everything: Modern Dance, Jazz, Folk, Gymnastics, and Acrobatics, they might as well have stayed home. Ha! Danny’s mama and his cousins’ mamas was all Blue Team, too, so he couldn’t have gone to a White Team any kinda party without folks thinkin’ he was pussy-whipped. Now I’m not sayin’ I know for truth, but I think Mrs. Lincoln locked that child’s brain and pussy somewhere in her house til wasn’t no more niggahs on the planet. Anyway, Danny and Rose Lynne convinced Liliane that she was going to the Blue Team party for three reasons: 1) her boyfriend’s folks was Blue; 2) Rose Lynne wanted to meet Danny’s cousins; 3) Liliane didn’t wanta associate with losers who were the White Team. Simple.
The Judge had finally let Danny come visit Liliane in his home cause, much to his surprise, Danny was an industrious son of a bitch. Danny worked as a caddy at the golf course by the Judge’s home where, guess what, the Judge could not play golf unless he was some white lawyer’s guest. See, the Judge showed up on the green with his golf bag and all, justa huffin’ and puffin’. The other caddies had run like lap dogs to their reg’lar white men, but Danny he laid back. Then he offered his services to the Judge with a real twinkle in his eye. Now the Judge knew that Danny didn’t boot-lick no white man. That was enough pedigree for the Judge, but not for his wife. She tagged along on all their so-called dates like she was one of them women in “Zorro” sent by the king to look after the booty. Still, alla this contributed to the success of the plan; to skip out of the gym and get to the Blue Team party before Liliane’s mama could figure out anything, ’cept that the girls was with Danny and Danny was a nice Negro fellow trying to better himself. Who could ask for anything more?