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
“Dear Holy Mother, I really want my mommy to understand that I don’t know everything that she knows, but I am devoting my life to all that she is and believes. Please, forgive me.” Then, Lili fell to her knees and began to genuflect before all the Virgin Mothers from Nossa Senhora do Rosario to La Virgen de Guadalupe. “The breath between what I might be and what I want so much is as real as the blood of your Son, Nuestro Senhor, flowing down his arms. Please, I beg of you, help me, now.”
Even though I know what I know and I saw what I saw, be it Liliane or her mother, I’m standin’ there in Lili’s doorway half believin’ she was right. There’s no way in hell a LaFontaine woman left a room lookin’ like this. Here we got clothes, shoes, candies, books, paints, pencils, sweaters, and all kinds of papers every which way. So I say:
“Lili, you need to pray for somebody to clean this mess up, that’s what you need to do!” I had to clear myself a path so I could reach her behind.
“What are we gonna do now?” I’m askin’ cause I want to get out of Lili’s mess, Sunday Bliss’s mess and the mess Aurelia was bout to make of me if I let Lili know any of this mess was goin’ on at all.
“Well, I’m going to finish these portraits of my mommy. Then I’ve got some drawings of her new orchids to do before the light changes too dramatically.” Liliane somehow positioned herself on the bed so she could hold a pencil, look out the window, and draw as well as talk to me.
“I’m thinkin’ bout investigatin’ the whereabouts of those young boys in town you always talkin’ bout. That’s what I’m thinkin’.” Here I am lookin’ in the mirror at myself more than good, I must say. Then I turn around to look at Lili. She’s still sittin’ up there drawin’ some more pictures of her mama, Sunday Bliss LaFontaine-Lincoln. “Lili Lincoln,” I said and she didn’t turn around. “Liliane LaFontaine-Lincoln, don’t you have enough pictures of your mother?”
“Not really.” Lili’s face brightened at my mention of the woman she thought truly the most beautiful woman in the world. “Besides, we have to wait for Mommy and Aunt Aurelia to go play cards. Then, we have to wait for Papa to go wherever it is he goes.”
I’m thinkin’ to myself, are any of these people in this same house or garden or ravine, whatever this is, at the same time? Do they know each other at all?
Liliane didn’t say anythin’ for awhile. When she spoke, she didn’t take her pencil off the paper. Lili kept her focus. She was drawin’ a poppy, a single scarlet poppy by her mother’s cheek.