Anna Sears

Georges
In June 1957, at my childhood's frothy peak, Mama and I
took the Chief from Lamy, Ne Me!ico, to Los "n#
$eles% " porter &rou$ht our lu$$a$e to the day coach%
'(hank you, )eor$e,* said Mama, droppin$ a dime into
his startlin$ pink palm%
"ri+ona floed effortlessly past the hite linen ta&le#
cloth as I ate famous train oatmeal from a sil,er#plated
&ol placed &efore me &y a lar$e &lack man earin$ a
hite uniform and a hite smile% Mama called him
)eor$e%
-hen the desert stopped and houses $ot closer to$ether,
Mama and I sat up, put on our hats, pulled on our hite
$lo,es, closed our cosmetic cases and set them on our
laps, and sat there until the train pulled into .nion
/tation three hours later% -e had not knon there ere
so many people in the orld% " porter helped us don
off the train% '(hank you, )eor$e,* said Mama and $a,e
him a dime%
Mama and I sat don on curly metal chairs in a cafe
ri$ht in the middle of lofty .nion /tation% I as alloed
to take off my hite $lo,es and eat a piece of chocolate
chiffon pie% " dainty $entleman announced that he 0ust
had to come o,er and tell us that I as the most ell
&eha,ed child he had e,er seen% It as the happiest
moment of my life so far% I as eatin$ chocolate chiffon
pie, tomorro I ould see the ocean for the first time,
and I as, 1uite possi&ly, the most ell &eha,ed child in
Los "n$eles%
I did onder some a&out the )eor$es thou$h, especially
on the ay home to Ne Me!ico, and I thou$ht for a
hile I had it fi$ured out2 I kne /panish children
promised from &irth &y their parents to the Church and
sometimes $i,en names that shoed that intention%
3erhaps in Colored families, they named a son )eor$e in
order to promise him to the 4ailroad%
Who Killed Donald Goines?
5e's pretty $old#skinned for a 6lack child, sortin$ soiled
hites in his try#to#pass 7addy's 7etroit dry cleaners%
7onald dreams himself 6ad and 6lack and so doctors
his &i$ sister's &irth certificate to 0oin the 8orean -ar%
5e $oes at fifteen to the 9ar :ast here )olden $irls
introduce him to the -hite 6itch )oddess he'll orship
unto death%
Ne,er $ets far in crime himself2 tries to hold up a &in$o
$ame &ut his on Momma une!pectedly stands up and
starts slappin$ her nau$hty &oy; thinks he's a pimp until
he hits the small ton; runs a still, &ut the still &los up%
5is first &ook from prison2 Whoreson, his second2
Dopefiend. Ice&er$ /lim<s pu&lisher, the Man on
Melrose, turns 7onald into the mainstay of his ne line
of '6lack :!perience* riters% 7onald rites 6ad, he
rites 6lack, and they 0ust keep comin$2 three, four, fi,e
a year2 Black Gangster, Street Players, White Man's
Justice, Black Man's Grief, Black Girl Lost, ldorado
!ed, S"a#p Man, $e%er Die &lone, 'ri#e Partners,
Death List, Daddy 'ool, 'ry !e%enge(, )enyatta's
scape...7onald alays needs a fi!%
:ach future million#seller he rites makes the author,
actuarially speakin$, &ottom#line, orth less% 7onald
loses &i$ in =e$as% (he Man on Melrose steps in to
arran$e a loan to 7onald>a loan from the Mo&% "s
inter clenches don on 7etroit, 7onald smells pay&ack
in the ind and rites his ill at thirty#ei$ht% In
)enyatta's Last *it, he kills his only hero% -hen his on
7addy dies, 7onald rites 'I'm ne!t%*
(o men hit the house on the ni$ht of ?cto&er @1, 197A%
B4emem&er that date%C 7onald's oman, /hirley, dies
'shut up, &itch* style ith &ullets to her mouth% (he
killers ha,e to stru$$le ith 7onald to keep his face nice
for the picture in the casket on the co,er of the
&io$raphy the Man on Melrose pu&lishes in 197A % % %
&ut it takes only minutes to transform a prolific 0unkie
into a le$end of 6ad and 6lack % % % into a smilin$
6uddha of pure, solid $old%
DDDD
"nna /ears is the poetry editor of 'a%eat Lector% /he
has also ritten a no,el, +ile%