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
I don’t know bout you, but I can always tell when I’m not wanted. I didn’t have no trouble readin’ tween the lines, lookin’ at the faces of the mothers of these kids, goin’ up and down my body like some niggah disease was goin’ to slip off me or my shorts onto their precious children. Do the black come off faster if your Daddy does day labor? That’s what I shoulda asked them. No matter, though. Liliane and Rose Lynne was just a huggin’ and kissin’ this one and that one, sayin’ this is Bernadette from Jersey as they went along. Didn’t hardly speak to no boys which is why I wanted to be at the joint. Anyway, they didn’t look so different from other colored folks I’d seen and grown up with, but there was something different: could have been how the girls’ hair didn’t go back, or the way they looked straight ahead of themselves all the time like there wasn’t no danger nearby. At first I thought the difference was how a bunch of foreign words dropped out they mouths between hugs and kisses, but I’m not sure. Liliane seemed to have begun to stand up straighter like something was at stake here. She moved her head from one side to the other real slow with her eyes wide open and her mouth set very serious. I hoped I could tell her Danny was on his way right behind us before she spotted him, looking about so hard the way she was. But, ain’t I slow.
Before I could get my mouth set to whisper about Danny’s plan to surprise her, Liliane ran into the arms of this fella was made of gold, I swear. I never saw no colored boy move like folks should leave him alone unless he was dangerous, you know, packin’. This fella walked cross the patio, past the silver fountain spoutin’ punch and the pink balloons and rose bushes like he owned them, but he was visitin’ just like me. Liliane jumped down from his arms. He must have been six feet if he was an inch. She grabbed his hand, come rushin’ over to me, sayin’: “Bernadette, this is Granville Simeon, a very dear friend of mine.” Well, you know, I could tell how much a friend this Granville was by the way they was leanin’ and touchin’ on each other. Lord, Danny was in for a helluva night.