Manners of Love

High Risk

“Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid . . . .” Isaiah 12:2

When I was a child, my family was one that sociologists today would call “a high risk family.” There were five of us who were financially dependent upon the salary of my mother who was a food server. In addition to mother, there were my invalid grandmother, my Aunt Louise who had Down’s Syndrome, my younger brother, Frank, and I. Our security was thin and our material comforts were few. We lived in one-half of a duplex along with hundreds of cockroaches. We had no central heat and no hot water. The landlord charged us $12.00 a month in rent. I never knew what he charged the roaches, but during the nine years we lived there, it is accurate to say that he never made any repairs to the place.

It was about a month and a half before Christmas the year that I was five years old. Mother was leaving for work when we heard a knock on the front door. When I opened the door, we all recognized the tall, thin and dour Mr. Means, the landlord. Without smiling, he said, “Is Miz C. at home?” I looked back at my mother, who had been standing in the back entrance to the hallway.

She stepped to the door and said simply, “How are you, Mr. Means?

“I’ve come for the rent,” he growled.

“No doubt you have,” she said. “Mr. Means, let’s be sure

we understand each other. I don’t have your rent. If I did have it, you would have received it on time. When I get my salary, you will be paid. Although I have been late in paying, you have always received your rent since I have been living here. You do not need to come to my front door and demand it.”

“I’m get’n’ tired ov yo’ late payments, Miz C., I want my rent now,” he threw back at her. Looking directly at him, she said “I’ve just told you that I don’t have it. But I do have a lease, Mr. Means, and it says that I occupy this house until the year is up. Right now I’d like you to get off this front porch.”

He blinked, then turned abruptly and marched off the porch. I closed the door.