Jackson, Mississippi
1966
Toni
I have been in bed all week, terribly sick. I am nauseous and I can't seem to stay awake for more than a few hours at a time.
"Toni?" I heard following a knock. I groaned as an answer before I saw my father walk in. "Daddy." I smiled. He is usually gone for weeks at a time, so to see him truly brightened my day.
He sat next to me and rubbed my forehead. "No fever, what's wrong?" I covered my mouth feeling the urge the vomit but it went away. "I've been throwing up a lot. My nose is stuffed and I am so beyond tired."
"That sucks, sweetheart. Do you need anything from the kitchen? Soup?" I nodded and smiled, "Soup would be great, Daddy." He kissed my forehead before leaving out the door. Before I even realized, I was sleeping again.
Lucas
"And then he came over and said 'listen here, you not gon' bowl in my potatoes'." Marjorie laughed at her own joke. Marjorie is the town's backup maid. If a maid is sick, Marjorie fills in because white people don't trust sick black people.
I miss Toni, though. She's been out all week sick. I haven't seen her since the day before she got sick, and then she was feeling sick. We both brushed it off and spent some quality time together before my parents came back. But, now, I have to see her.
"Miss Marjorie, tell my parents that I've gone out, it's getting stuffy in here. I need some air." She nodded and kept telling Mae Beau some pointless story about the olden days. I gathered my bag and some snacks before leaving to go see Toni.
Toni
I heard my beeper going off, but my soup was too good to leave. This is the first thing that's stayed down all week. "Knockedity-knockedity." My Aunt Rosa Mae appeared making me smile.
"Hi Auntie, what a lovely surprise. What are you doing on this side of town?" I asked putting my soup down. We hugged when she sat on the bed beside me.
"I heard my baby was sick, so I had to come over and bring some remedies." She had a bag laid out on the bed. "Open it, go ahead." She insisted.
I went inside the bag and pulled out five things: medicine, teabags, these little baggies, a bottle of pills, and a... pregnancy test. I looked up at her with my face twisted up. "Here, I don't think you meant for this to be in the bag." I said holding it up for her to take. She pushed it away and nodded, "I did."
"Toni Michele, you are not child. You are a woman and as much as I hope you aren't part taking in such mature events, I can never be sure." She said.
I sat there looking at the pregnancy test. I have to pee on it and let it sit for ten minutes. That's such a long time to just sit there and ponder on the thought of being pregnant or not. "Auntie Rosa Mae, how does a woman get pregnant?"
She snickered and grabbed one of the unfamiliar baggies. She rubbed it between her hand as she answered, "When a man and woman has sex, and the man ejaculates inside of the woman, she has high chances of becoming pregnant, especially if she's fertile at the time."
I had so many questions, because my illness seems to have not been an illness after all. "What is ejaculate?" I asked. She looked up at me with furrowed brows.
"Lay down." She ordered. I did as told before she placed the little baggy on my sinuses. "Feels good?" I nodded peacefully beginning to breath again.
"Ejaculation is when a man released a substance of white or clear sperm. Sperm is what gets you pregnant." She said. "In five minutes, we're gonna do the test and while we wait, you'll drink some tea and take a pill." She walked out after speaking.
