Legend of Buddy Bush (9781439131824) by Shelia P. Moses

tobe here when the phone rings for the first time, and so do most folks on Rehobeth Road.
    Mr. Charlie drives up to get Grandpa as folks gather in the yard.
    â€œBye, Grandpa. Bye, Mr. Charlie. When y’all get back we will have a telephone.” They laugh at me and wave good-bye.
    Most folks didn’t go to the fields today. A lot of white folks told field folks to stay home today, fearing trouble. If they don’t let Uncle Buddy out on bail, there just might be trouble on Rehobeth Road. So they are all here to see the phone man. Everybody knows we are getting a telephone because I told Chick-A-Boo, she told Randy, Randy told Miss Blanche, and the rest is history. She told everybody. Miss Blanche is a nice lady and she can sing like an angel. She likes to talk, but only about good stuff. She is always proud when coloreds do well, so I know she couldn’t wait to tell all of Rehobeth Road about the new phone.
    Folks are here like we are holding the state fair in the yard.
    Grandma is not going to let all these folks in thehouse. Nobody but Miss Doleebuck, who just walked in the door. Everybody else is just standing around in the yard, looking at the truck, looking at the back door, waiting for the white man who is giving us a connection to the world to come out.
    They know they will not have to ask Mr. Bay to use his telephone again in life. He has made his last colored quarter. Grandma told me last night that she will only charge a nickel, if it ain’t long distance.
    The time is moving so slow. So slow that the morning glories are starting to go back into hiding and the dew is drying up. Grandma pays us no mind as she and Ma go around back to pick more strawberries.
    I carry water out to the folks waiting. They talk about everything, but mainly they talk about Uncle Buddy. Word has gotten around that Grandpa is going to try to get Uncle Buddy out today, and folks are whispering that Uncle Buddy ain’t hardly getting no bail.
    The phone rings for the first time.
    It is the telephone man testing the line.
    I realize that this is the first time in my twelve years on this earth that I have ever heard a telephone ring, except on Grandma’s TV. Everyone in the yard fall silent like they are in prayer meeting. The telephone man’s job is done and we now have life to the outside world. Life without paying a quarter.
    After the white man finishes loading his equipment in the back of the truck, he leaves without even looking into the face of one colored person. I hate to leave all the people who have come over for the excitement, but I have to go inside to see our new telephone.
    When everybody starts to leave, I wave good-bye and almost run into the house.
    The telephone is yellow. Yellow just like the white man’s truck. I walk over to the coffee table in the living room to get a better look. It’s ringing. Lord have mercy.
    It’s still ringing. Who would be calling us already?
    I pick up our telephone for the first time.
    â€œHello, Jones residence.” I say it just like the white women on TV.
    â€œHello, this is Mrs. Margaret Anderson, with Carolina Telephone Company, just checking the phone line.”
    â€œI think it is working fine,” I announce like an adult.
    â€œOkay miss, welcome to Carolina Telephone Company.”
    â€œThank you,” I answer like I had ordered the phone service myself.
    Just as I am hanging up, Grandma and Ma come in the sitting room. Ma is mad at me for answering that telephone and you know what? I don’t care. When I touch this phone, I feel good.
    â€œPattie Mae, this is not our telephone. Why are you answering it?”
    Grandma saves me.
    â€œHoney, she can answer it every time it rings for all I care. I ain’t too crazy about having no phone. It ain’t nothing but something to worry me to death.”
    â€œAll right, if it’s okay with Ma Babe, it will be your job to answer the phone when we are here. But if any