NELLE 7 | 2024
—An excerpt from MaDear’s Memories
A lot of babies died back then of disease, influenza, chicken pox, small and every other kind of pox. Grandma was the mother of a whole lot of chillren, but she only raised eight. Three daughters—Louvenia, Ruth, and Ethel and five sons— Jimmy, Frank, Lucious, LeRoy, and Nate. The others died when they was babies. Grandma said the children was born, but they wouldn’t live no time.
See, back then, they didn’t have good medicines and things. Sometimes the mama be done worked hard out in the fields chopping cotton and what have you. A whole lot of times the babies would be born dead or either die right after.
You take my little brother Venter Junior, he lived to get, oh, I reckon about a month and a week old. The baby was born, but Mama say she had a dream that the baby died. And it happened just like she say. He lived a month or so and then he got sick.
My sister Scrap was holding the baby that morning when he had a spasm. Just commenced to jerking. And so Scrap was finna throw the baby down and I got the baby and he had another something.
Papa was out in the fields plowing. Mama had a piece of cloth that she used when something done happened at home and she wanted him. She waved that rag and he come running.
He say, “What’s the matter Mamie?” Papa called Mama, “Mamie” and Mama called him, “Mr. Hunter.”
She say, “Something done happened to the baby. He looked like he having a spasm. Hitch up the buggy right quick and go get Mama.”
Well, Grandma got there time enough before the baby died. She said, “Give me my baby. What y’all done did to my gran’baby?”
Mama say, “We ain’t did nothin’.” The chillren was holding the baby and all at once he just commence to jerking like a dog when he having a fit, you know.”
Grandma took the baby, rubbed his little head, pulled up his dress—‘cause the baby had on a little dress. And in a minute, he had another one of those things and he kind of throwed up. And what he vomited up looked like an egg.
Me and Scrap was standing there with our little eyes bucked and I say, “He ain’t ate no egg.”
Grandma laughed. But in a few seconds the baby commenced to breathing harder and, in a minute, he was gone.
We hollered. Oh! We hollered. Papa hollered just like a woman. He said, “My little boy. Got three little girls and I prayed for a little boy.”
By Mama say she seed it in the dream before the baby was born that the baby died. It was born, but he died.