Black Woman Blue

As I pulled into the driveway of the place I knew was ours, I tried to think of when things started going wrong for us. I never wanted a big house, just a nice place to lay my head in peace. I just wanted to have a comfortable place to be, when I was tired of being everywhere else. I know this is the right place because the numbers on the house say one thousand two. Everybody say the truth suppose to set you free and I can use a taste of freedom right now. So hear me when I say to you, "this is our house, but it's a long way from being home " How I wish I could step out of this car and go inside and leave Wesley out here in the car to sleep off his drunk. I can't. I can't cause I hear my daddy saying, 'I told you so.' And I hear my mama words echoing in my ear, 'you ain't got to go if you don't want to, but if you go, be woman enough to stay.'

--From the short story "Home Goings"