Chapter 1
Poppy

"Poppy!" Mr. Parsons hollars my name from the front of the store, causing me to hit my head against a shelf, "What's taking so long? Mr. Jackson needs his medicine."

I search nearly every shelf but can't find what the man came to the shop for. Mr. Parsons keeps every bottle of medication he has in alphabetical order. It's Thursday, new bottles usually don't arrive until tomorrow; so its a possibility that Mr. Jackson may be a day too early.

After concluding that the man's medicine isn't in the store, I slowly make my way back to the front of the store where the two men were chatting. Stopping a couple of feet behind Mr. Parsons, both of them turn to face me and look at me with mild interest.

"Don't just stand there and look stupid," Mr. Parsons chastises me, "where's this gentleman's medicine?"

I rub the spot on my head where I hit it and tell him in a low tone, "It ain't back there."

"What do you mean it ain't back there girl? Did you even look like I told you to?" he glares at me with his green eyes as if I have a reason to lie.

"Yessir I did look like you told me to, but it ain't back there."

Pursing his thin lips, he pushes past me and goes into the back to check for himself. Mr. Jackson's eyes are fixated on mine as I stand there frozen. He looks at me like I'm no more than the scum on the bottom of his shoe.

"How's your godmama doing girl?" the words slur from his mouth so quick I barely understand the man. His red rimmed eyes beam into mine as he held onto the counter with both hands for balance. Based on the redness of his eyes along with his inaudible speech, he'd been drinking.

The tension in the room is so thick it can't be split with a butcher knife. I've known this man since arriving in Gainesville ten years ago and he still hasn't taken a liking to me. Which is to be expected considering the circumstances.

"She's doing alright," I say dismissively, tearing my eyes away from him.

Moments later, Mr. Parsons returns with a small package in his hands. He hands the package to Mr. Jackson with a genuine smile plastered on his face, "Here you go sir, sorry about that."

"No problem Mr. Parsons. Perhaps you should think about hiring some better help around here."

He chuckles, "Poppy can do her job just fine; she's just lazy is all. You know how those people are?"

"You take care Mr. Parsons."

"Same to you."

After the man leaves the store, I sense Mr. Jackson's slight anger with me as I look at the clock above. I only had five more minutes before I can go home and I was going to quietly sweep up like he usually has me do until he coldly calls my name, "Poppy."

Sighing, I turn to face him as my heart races inside my chest and stomach begins to knot up. He has one hand on his belt buckle and his eyes darkened as he looked at me with hunger in them. Holding on to the broom, I gulp silently when he instructs me, "Go to the back girl!"

I stand there for a couple seconds; my eyes ricochet from the door back to him. Just a few more minutes before I can go home. I can either risk my job and make a run for it, or stand there so he can just push me to the back. He was a whole head taller than me and weighed three times my size. I can't fight him off which is why I never do.

"Girl, do as I say this instant and go to the back now!" he demands.

I let go of the broom and it drops to the ground with a loud thud. Slowly, I walk to the back room with him close behind and he slams the door shut.

Prince

"Auntie, Poppy ain't a child no more. We can eat without her," I try to convince my auntie.

She always manages to have dinner whenever I come home late but can never do it when Poppy doesn't. Miss Lenora is sitting across from my auntie with her legs crossed and hands clasped together waiting patiently and silently.

"Boy, how can you say that?!" she hisses, "that girl is just a part of this family as you are, and you want us to have dinner without her?"

"You don't always wait for me," I make a point.

She glares at me with those beady brown eyes and she raises her voice, "Boy, that's because you're old, and a man. Poppy is young, and a woman. Big difference."

It's funny how I'm considered to be so old considering I'm only nine years older than the girl. Yes, she used to be my student when I came back from the university to teach at the local school, and from those three years of me being her teacher I can tell you the girl was far from being dumb. Even though the choices she's mad this far have been questionable, but still none of my business.

"If she's still at Parsons store, maybe you should go down there and check on her," Miss Lenora suggested.

Now, she knows me and that man loathe each other. I'm not too friendly with any of the local whites, but some are more tolerable with that man. Why my auntie would arrange for that girl to work for him when she was just fifteen is beyond me.

"I ain't going to that store. Only when ya'll need me to bring you something from there, but I ain't going just to drag that girl home. If she's caught up with work, so what? It happens to me all the time."

"Boy hush up! Don't pretend that you be caught up grading papers all through the night. I've been seeing you with that Lou girl. She's been taking up a lot of your time."

"Auntie!"

Of course, I can't get nothing past her. Lou's been my girl for six months, and yes I enjoy being with her. The time I'm not teaching, or taking care of my auntie or Miss Lenora, I'm with her and I enjoy every minute of it.

"What boy, there's nothing wrong with a man enjoying the company of a woman. Lou doesn't look bad at all, and it's 'bout time you found someone you like."

"I guess," I tell her looking at the mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and bread that's just sitting on the table in front of us getting cold.

Looking at the clock that sat on the wall above the stove, it's getting awfully late. Although it's not unusual for that girl to show up late from working at that store, I can see why my auntie's worried about her.

"Prince honey, go to Parsons store and tell that girl its time for her to come home."

"No auntie, you know me and Mr. Parsons is like oil and water. That's how bad we don't get along."

"Mr. Parsons is one of the few good white men in this town. It ain't like I'm asking you to go drinking with the man. I just want my goddaughter home so that she can have a nice dinner with her family."

"Auntie..."

"The longer it takes for my goddaughter to get home, the longer it'll be before any of us eat."

"Fine," sighing, I get up from my seat at the table and go to retrieve my jacket from the coat hook.

Babysitting a twenty-year-old who had the chance to go to a major university and leave this town is the last thing of my list of things I can be doing with my spare time. Poppy was my problem four years ago, but when she received her high school diploma and outscored even the white kids on her state tests she stopped being my problem.