1930
Richland County, South Carolina
It was a still night, no breeze to sooth the sweat on your brow but had one of those chills that set in to the bones. The roads were clear and lit by the night sky alone, far too late for anyone to actually be lurking around, well almost anyone.
Elroy Booker was alone, walking the empty foul smelling allies to get home. It had been a hard year for Elroy, for the most of the free world; The Depression was hitting workers hard and Elroy knew better than to believe his job at the Taxi Company was going to last much longer. All it took was someone of 'the right color' to come in looking for work and Elroy wood be done for. Out on his ear…
The truth was it scared him, scared him that one day he'd be unable to provide for his family. To feed them, clothe them, just keeping them safe was a full time job.
It scared him straight to hell.
These where the things rattling around Elroy's head that still, cold night, until something shook him to his very core, a sound, so piercing and alarming it stopped him dead in his boots. With a wide eyed glance over his shoulder Elroy swallowed hard, turning back towards the putrid, gritty old dumpster he'd walked mindlessly passed only moments before. As he neared the sound became louder, more demanding to be heard and as his hand tossed the lid back his heart almost stopped, mouth dry as he prayed his eyes deserved him.
A baby; a small, helpless freezing infant screaming at the top of its lungs for mercy, for comfort, for love.
Elroy could barely breathe as coarse fingers moved to lift the child; he didn't understand how someone could do such a vile thing. As he took the screaming baby into his arms, into the moonlit street Elroy saw it, the dark greyish patches of small leopard like spots on fresh pink rosy skin, her dainty little ears pointed towards the heavens, he thought the child a boy when retrieving it from the dank shadows, but no, as he held her in his arms his eyes widened in disbelief at the small soft bony tail curving out from the end of her spine. She was still crying, still half covered in dried blood and placenta, not to mention the dirt from the garbage. And it was cold, and getting colder.
What was he to do?
Leave her?
No, Elroy Booker was many things but he was not a monster, for only that would leave a child to fend for themselves in this cruel callous world. So he carefully shrugged off his coat, wrapping the soft warm leather around the pink, spotted girl. He held her close in the makeshift swaddle; she must have been so damn cold, so scared. He rocked her gently as he continued on his path home and soothed her in his southern drawl "hush now little one, your safe now, sshh. I'm here"
Elroy stood outside his small, single story home for a moment, looking at the chipped blue door with a long sigh as he looked to the sleeping baby in his arms.
He walked in to his home and found it quiet but for the crackling of the small fire in the living room. He walked through to the thankfully more than tepid room to find his beautiful wife resting on the rickety old chair they bought ten years ago from a flea market. With a lick of his lips he knelt before her, shaking her hand softly to see her chocolate eyes flutter open "Louise, sweetheart…"
Louise smiled for a moment as her tied eyes found her husband looking up at her dotingly, but with a fear that made her brow frown "Elroy, what's the matter?"
"I had to Lou; you'd have done the same."
"Done what? Elroy Booker, you better tell me what the devil's going on this very second!" Louise was starting to get scared but the second she looked down, finally tearing herself always from her husband's face to follow his downcast eyes.
Louise looked at the sleeping girl with wonder and worry as Elroy explained "She was all alone Lou, left out in the cold, in the trash! They put this poor sweet little one in a dumpster, threw her away like she was nothing… just because she's different. That aint right."
"Elroy, honey, what you did is admirable, but this baby don't belong here… in the morning we'll take her to the hospital or the authority's and I'm sure someone will give her a good home. Maybe her Mama might even come looking for her. She might have just panicked, been some silly girl who got herself in trouble. Birthmarks are hardly that uncommon or a reason to leave behind a newborn." Louise was trying to be the responsible one, trying to thing with her heat when her husband didn't seem to have one, just a heart of gooey gold.
She looked at the sleeping child, saw the two sets of dark dots that framed her angelic face, the first cluster laying on the right of her forehead and brushing through her almost non-existent hairline, the second trailed around her left cheek, high past her eye and dipping under her jaw. Louise could see the baby was beautiful, birthmarks or not, but she also knew she could never stay.
So she quickly swiped the child from Elroy's arms before he could further explain, he tried, he did but his wife is a fierce and determined woman, one of the many reason's he loves her "Don't you look at me like that. Just go fish out some of Archer's old baby things and warm up some milk. Don't forget to clean the bottle; poor thing must as hungry as she is dirty."
Elroy didn't have a change to argue as Louise took the baby into the bathroom, he knew she was right, but it didn't feel right.
Once Louise had the sink warmed nicely with a few bubbles, she carefully unwrapped the girl from the worn leather coat. With a hand on her stomach to sooth and wake her "come on darlin', bath time."
As her eyes opened the child didn't cry, just looked into Louise's eyes for a long moment, letting her see the opal greenish blue and thin black of her pupil's, then she cried. Louise laughed for a moment as she picked up the baby "I know, but we got to get all that nasty off ya."
As her hand came to support the girl's bottom she felt it, the small fleshy tail "oh good lord."
"Mama?" at the small confused voice Louise turned to find her five year old rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Archie sweetheart what are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" she knew why, he'd heard the small baby girl in her arms screaming out in panic and need.
The curious boy came closer with wide eyes as he looked over the baby still clutched in his mother's arms and sneered "What is it?"
"A Baby, a baby girl." Louise smiled down to Archer, before turning to actually bathe the girl before the water got to cold. Archer leered over the sink top beside his mother and asked "what's wrong with it?"
Louise froze at the why her child spoke. 'It' like this sweet baby was one of his dead goldfish he could never take care of, like she wasn't even human. Archer looked up at his mother waiting for an answer, but it came from a deep voice behind them instead "nothing…"
They turned to find Elroy stood firm at the door, a warmed bottle and Archers old pram clothes in hand while almost glaring at his own son as he spoke, sweeping Archer up to watch Louise continue to bathe the wide eyed girl, no longer crying but staring around the room in bewilderment "you see son there aint nothing wrong with her, she's just a little different. That's all, but she's still just as special as you."
The boy frowned in confusion for a second before nodding mutely, putting his fingers in the bubbles to play with the girls little fingers and beamed brightly when her doll like hand gripped onto his finger "she likes me!"
Louise smiled at that and looked to her husband; she understood now what he meant by different, about how the world would see this child, as their boy had and folks didn't have elders like Elroy setting them straight. Well, not many anyway.
Once the baby was dressed and fed she fell into a happy slumber on Archer's chest, who'd insisted he was the one who had to feed her, before playing the sweet girl into the makeshift cot they'd assembled from a weave basket, blankets and pillows.
Elroy watched as Archer kissed the baby's head before climbing back into his own bed with a kiss from each his parents. Louise looked at her husband; saw the determined look in his eyes as she sighed from her seat on her son's bed "it's a harsh world Elroy, it's going to be even harsher now, tighter on funds to."
"Lou?" Elroy walked further into the room; hope springing his step as his wife smiled with a roll of her eyes "well, we can't just leave her out in the cold, what are we, savage's?"
"So we can keep her?" Archer smiled brightly, bouncing up from his bed.
Elroy grabbed his wife and kissed her so hard it almost hurt before smiling "that's the woman I married; logical to the bitter end."
"Yeah, yeah now get your mitts off of me in case you forgot we need a real crib and I'll stitch up some of Archer's old things until we can muster up some money for new ones, then theirs milk and diapers and a name, I'm pretty sure she aint getting by without a name." Louise ranted in with a fold of her arms, all three looking down to the dreaming girl.
"What about Edna?" Elroy smiled, eager and excited.
Louise glared at her husband "What is she eighty?"
With a shrug Archer spoke absently "there was a girl in the park once name Mae, I think that's pretty."
Elroy rolled on from his son's comment "My mother's name was Mary."
The room was silent for a moment, just a moment before Louise smiled "hhmm Mary-Mae Booker."
"Mary-Mae, I like it." Archer smiled before yarning wide; Elroy took the boy off his feet to lay him down in the comfort of his much needed bed "me to son, now get some sleep."
With a kiss on his head Elroy walked over to the ba-Mary-Mae, kissed her brow as whispered "sweet dreams my little snowflake."
His wife held out her hand to him after making sure the blankets were high and not too tight on Mary-Mae. As their fingers entwine and the door to their son-no-children's room closes to a-jar Elroy asked "Why the change of heart?"
"Because for once you were right, I mean people don't accept us just because we're chocolate instead of vanilla, how the hell are they meant to accept that little darlin' pot of strawberry?" Louise looked up to her husband, finding a big old smile on his face.
"So your saying I was right?" Elroy was beaming as Louise rolled her eyes "for once, don't get used to it… besides I always wanted a daughter."
With a knowing smile Elroy follows his wife to bed, knowing the two children just down the hall are sleeping soundly, safely, loved.
That night Elroy made a promise to himself, his wife and those kids; blood's what you bleed, but family is forever.
