Mitch thought it all very quaint till Sassafrass moved toward him & his saxophone with the weight of Oshun in her step. She pulled gob after gob of honey from Madrina Sumara’s glass, stuffed it down the bell of his horn. He still didn’t believe. Sassafrass, under Oshun’s direction, spread honey from Madrina Kai, Madrina Nashira, Madrina Mbewe all over the horn, till he had the decency to be silent.

Sassafrass wore white. She prayed. She wove cloth, not thinking who it was for. She’d fallen from grace. Mama Mbewe, Mama Sumara, Mama Iyabodé passed chickens over her all night. In the morning, she saw a vision of her Mother. She lay on a bed of oranges, surrounded by burning yellow candles, eating honey. “I think I’m going to carry these spirits right on home. I guess I live in looms after all. Making things: some cloth and one child, just one.”

Chapter 22

Dear Sassafrass,

Of course you can come home! What do you think you could do to yourself that I wouldn’t love my girl? As a matter of fact, I believe you and I could go into some kind of business . . . maybe, have a boutique with your weavings that hang and mine that serve useful purposes. (smile)

Now I want you to promise to keep on reading this letter. Right now, before you do another thing. There, you see, you probably look like you used to when you’d done something wrong. Your little mouth would curl under and that lower lip would poke out a wee bit. You poked your mouth different when you were mad. Anyway, I want to say that when girls ask out of the blue sky can they come home, it usually means they’re in some kinda trouble. That’s why I asked you to promise me you’d keep reading, no matter what. I know you throw out my letters that don’t suit your fancy—I birthed you, I know all about you. That’s why you’re in trouble now, because you took it upon yourself not to listen to your ma. So, as I was saying, if you are in trouble, you just come right on home, quick as you can. There’s no time to waste. There’s no shame in having made a mistake. Lord knows the history of the race is riddled with mistakes. Look at that Mitch. Now there’s an error if there ever was one. Keep reading. Don’t you put this piece of paper down.