I hate to say this, but it follows my thoughts about your resisting the bounties our Lord has laid before you, in order to take up with the most unfortunate among us. How could you take up with a man who wasn’t raised in a proper home . . . not even an orphan, just a delinquent? Even I have heard stories of the terrible conditions in the reform schools, and here my very own daughter searches far and wide, moves all the way to California, to fall in love with a man who has nothing to offer, no background, no education, no future. If you think for a minute, darling, you’ll see that all the training you’ve had is far and away more than that boy can imagine. So what is it that you’re going to learn from him? You should get down on your knees and pray for guidance. And while you’re down there, thank the Lord for giving you the good sense not to compromise yourself by living in sin. You can at least still meet some more folks who are up to you, and who’ll appreciate what a fine young woman you are. Truly, dear, try to get out and enjoy yourself. The race has had problems ever since we got here. You can’t do anything about them by staying in your house, refusing to take part in the world you belong in.

Call cousin Loreen. I told you, her step-sons are all doctors, and mighty good-looking . . . (a word to the wise).

Love,
Mama

P.S. You don’t have to tell Mitch everything I said about him . . . if that’s an open relationship, humpf. You need a closed one!!

Chapter 7

L.A. nights are not quite dark; the lights from all the freeways keep it in a zone of perpetual twilight, so Sassafrass rarely used electric lights, only candles. As she peeked from her weaving room to see where Mitch was playing his horn, the house, her house, was a blueberry-tinged house. She thought the furniture and paintings lining the walls were enveloped in a blueberry aura, and that comforted her, seeking Mitch.

“Hey Sassafrass, come catch this action!”

Mitch was in the front room. Sassafrass hadn’t approached that room by fifteen feet since Howard and Otis had left. She timorously made her way through the icy blue haunts of her realms to see what new trip Mitch had fixed on this time. She was even charmed by the idea he had called for her so soon; soon as he came in. Mitch was grinning with his horn in one hand, and a strange, accordian-shaped tube in the other.