It's me! Arvis Marie Taitt, author of this writing. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my novel, AROUND THERE ON SOUTH FOURTH STREET. It was published by Xlibris.com and can be found on Amazon.com too. I’ve now changed the title to: GRANNY’S PLACE (Xlibris.com). Both writings will give you the same content. I'd also like your constructive criticism about the subject matter. The email address is: arvistaitt@gmail.com

1. April Fools’ Day
It was 1958 and back in the day, the old folks still seemed to have a saying for
everything…especially in Suffolk, Virginia. One such saying was that if a baby took eleven
months to arrive on this side of the hereafter, that same baby would meet its guardian angel face
to face and be guarded and protected for the child’s lifetime. Believe it or not, there’s something
else the old folks use to say about such a mystic birth and that was that if the baby was born with
a thin membrane covering the face, not only would that child be able to actually see its guardian
angel one day but…also will have the gift of predicting the future. The ‘guardian angel’ bit of
news was of particular importance because if that child experienced the death of a loved one as
well and numerous harsh circumstances in life…the child was definitely marked for predestination
of future events. However, and most importantly of all, every obstacle in the child’s life path will
be victorious. Now…the angel would be disguised as an earthly being and would always be there
to intervene for the child when all circumstances seemed hopeless. Such it was for 13-year-old
Joyce Ann Bailey who lived in Eatontown, New Jersey but was born in her grandparent’s home in
Suffolk, Virginia. Since her military Dad was station who knows where for six months and wasn’t
present at the time of her birth, Joy’s Aunt Barbara, her Mom’s sister, both daughters of her
grandparents, Eva and Pervis Tazell, chose her birth name. Jasper, her Dad, was home in New
Jersey again. He didn’t care much for the Tazells and that Joy was born at their home but…kept
that fact to himself as he drove his family home.
“Joy”, as she was nicknamed by her Mom, was a gifted young artist and a straight “A”
honor student. She was kind of a loner. When the other girls in her class were gabbing proudly
about their diary entries, Joy was left to herself and not included in their daily babblings. But…Joy
didn’t use words, but instead drew a picture that reflected her thoughts for the day. She’d tape her
diary pages together and date the pages. Each roll represented a year of her life. So far, she had
thirteen rolls of illustrated thoughts.
One evening after supper, Joy raced upstairs to her bedroom, curl up on her bed, do her
homework and then begin to sketch a happening for the day that grabbed her attention. This
particular day was special to her because it was October, 31, 1948…her birthday and it was
Halloween. She unrolled last year’s October 31st drawing and smiled as she reminisced over her
drawing for that day. She had drawn a picture of herself dressed in the colorful clown costume her

2. Mom had creatively sewn out of bright sheets of crepe paper and that made her birthday even more
special. She wished she was as talented as her Mom about sewing. There wasn’t a pattern that her
Mom couldn’t put together.
Joy smiled to herself as she visualized a pretend day at school. She imagined a homeroom
party was held on Halloween just for her and that night she imagined that when the doorbell rang
and trick-o-treats was shouted, the neighborhood children were actually saying, but didn’t know
it, “Happy birthday, Joy.” But…for some reason…she couldn’t dismiss a nagging thought from
her mind. Joy didn’t know it but this year, something was about to change…something was in the
air. Her thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of somebody whistling. She look out of her
bedroom window but didn’t see anybody but…somebody saw her.
One evening, she and her Mom were sitting quietly together watching TV. Jasper had some
night assignment duty. During a TV commercial, Arvis said, “Joy, you’re a very special child. We
each have our own gift and you have been gifted by the Lord with something special. Always hold
your head high and be thankful no matter what you have to face in life.” Joy stored her Mom’s
word in her heart not full knowing the full meaning of what she’d said.
Next day was Thursday and the beginning of a four day Easter vacation. Joy snickered to
herself in remembering that “Resurrection Day” instead of “Easter” must be said at her
grandparents’ home.
The sun shined like never before as Joy rushed through the massive glass front doors of the
school with the rest of the screaming junior high students of Eatontown Middle School. Joy’s pace
didn’t stall one bit as the hem of her powder blue dress and her white cotton petticoat bounced
against her knees as she raced through familiar shortcuts and down long sidewalks with galloping
strides. Her heart thumbed and beat fast and hard with the anticipation of trying out her new April
Fools’ joke on her Mom.
“568…570…572 Pinebrook Road. I’m home at last.” But…Joy’s breathless approach
slowed down to halted steps as she caught sight of people getting out of loads of cars parked at the
curb in front of her apartment front door. Walking slowly now, she recognized the faces of relatives
who only showed up if there was a wedding or…funerals. Joy started panting heavily again but
not from running. As she stepped inside and walked into the living room, she sensed an air of
lingering sadness. People were seated or standing everywhere and whispering in low tones. Mrs.

3. McDonald, the AVON lady who always visited one a month, was dabbing her eyes. Apologetic
and tearful faces invaded the New Jersey apartment and that made Joy even more uneasy.
After excusing herself numerous times while cutting through the crowd of folks to get to
the dining room combination kitchen, Joy saw them seated at the dining room table…Eva and
Pervis Tazell.
“Hello, sweetmeat,” Pervis said using the nickname he always called her. He was choking
back tears as Eva grabbed her grandchild and almost smothered her with hugs and kisses.
“Granny, why are you crying? Why are all these people here? Granddaddy, what going on?
Where’s Mom? In her gut, Joy was afraid to hear the answers to her question.
Like swallowing a bitter pill, Eva said, “Baby…your Momma passed away early this
afternoon.”
Joy pushed herself free from Eva’s embrace and without thinking or looking at faces, she
blindly rushed through the living room pushing past the maze of mourning faces and rushed
upstairs to her bedroom. Sitting on the edge of her twin bed, she felt hollow inside. The April
Fools’ joke she had so carefully memorized so she could tell her Mom began to fade from her
memory. The idea of her mother’s absence and never seeing her again was mind boggling. She
was hurting inside. Her hurt turned to disappointments and her disappointments turned to anger
and frustration. Her frustration and anger turned to vehemence and the vehemence she felt turned
into a vow.
“The only other people in this whole, wide, stinking world I’ll ever care about and love are
sitting downstairs at the dining room table,” Joy vowed. She couldn’t cry. The thought of having
to come home from school to just her Dad made her feel sick inside. As she sat on her bed, she
heard someone tipping softly upstairs on the wooden steps her Mom has polished only a week ago.
It was Lois Edellton, her grandfather’s niece. Upon slowly opening the bedroom door, Lois stared
at Joy’s bowed head and assumed Joy was saying a little prayer…or something. Joy slowly raised
her hear but the expression on her face was not one of grief but of anger.
“How would you like to live in Suffolk for a little while with your grandparents, Joy?”
With a blank look on her face, Joy just stared back at Lois who was a small framed, dark-
skinned, elderly woman dressed in an out of fashion cream colored silk blouse and a black tweed
straight skirt.
“What planet did this boob fall off?” Joy thought to herself.

4. “Do you want me to help you pack a few things…or something, Joy?” she asked.
“I’m not a baby, you know. I can easily do that myself. Leave me alone, please.”
“I understand, honey.”
“Do you really?” Joy asked sadistically.
“Err…I’ll just go back downstairs and let Eva and Pervis know you’re packing and getting
ready to go back with them.”
“Fine, you do that.” Joy listened as Lois’ footsteps descended down the steps and
disappeared. She didn’t mean to be so rude to Lois. Didn’t she realize that her Mom was gone and
would never come back? No more goodnight kisses, or walks hand-in-hand on a cool evening
through the apartment complex, or watching a Million Dollar Movie while sitting beside her Mom
on the couch munching popcorn, or trying on a new dress sewed for her as a new creation made
up by her Mom, and talking about a new recipe or anything that came to mind.
An hour had gone by. Jasper Bailey was now home. Without expressing sentiments over
the loss of his wife to those in the apartment, he just let the back-screen door slam shut, walked
straight to the refrigerator, opened the freezer, took out a hand full of ice, retrieved a bottle of
Tanguray gin that sat on top of the refrigerator and fixed a drink. He used his finger to swish around
the ice cubes in his glass and closed the freezer door with his elbow. Then, across the newly waxed
kitchen floor, he dragged one of the dining room table chairs across the linoleum floor and plopped
down next to Eva and Pervis. The black rubber protectors on the chair legs left a trail over the
floor…but he didn’t care. He then plopped his shiny army boots up on the edge of the table and
seemed more annoyed than grieved that the apartment was full of people instead of smelling his
dinner on the stove. Jasper didn’t care about the angry looks coming from Eva, Pervis, and Lois.
He didn’t like them anyway. “Country bumpkins,” he said to himself. Jasper always gloated over
the fact that this was another chance to mentally punch Eva and Pervis in the face. They never
wanted him to marry their daughter anyway. A warped grin began to slowly spread over his face
as he took another swill of gin from his glass. Arvis was gone that true but it delighted him that
Eva and Pervis would never see their precious daughter again. In the meantime, Joy had come
back downstairs and made her way back into the warm arms of her grandmother.
Wanting to in some way pinch this miserable creature, Lois said, “It’ll sure be nice to know
Joy will be staying in Suffolk with her grandparents during this time of bereavement.”

5. “Who says she’s going to Suffolk? I’ll be damned if she’s going anywhere. She’ll do just
fine where she is,” Jasper slurred drunkenly. “Come on over here and give your old man a
squeeze,” he said loudly.
Dreading his command, Joy left the protective arms of her grandmother and began to walk
towards Jasper. Her stomach began to churn and she felt like throwing up. To slow for his comfort,
Jasper snatched Joy towards him roughly. She tried her best to squirm free of his vise grip.
“It’s going to be just you and me, kiddo,” Jasper grinned while breathing his gin soured
breath in his daughter’s face. Joy couldn’t stand it anymore and pulled free to the arms of her
grandmother. Pervis saw it all.
“She going to live with us,” Eva said. “In her last breath, Arvis, Pervis and me promised to
grant this one last wish for her daughter.”
“She didn’t tell me anything like that. You’re a liar, Eva.”
“Watch your mouth, boy,” Pervis said angrily to the drunken soldier.
“Oh! I know! This is some kind of trick you and Eva have up your sleeve.” Because of his
loud, drunken behavior, all heads went now turned towards Jasper.
“I don’t care what Arvis said or didn’t say. Joy stays with me and that’s that.”
“I wonder what your commanding office would say about you having a dependent without
having a mother.” Pervis asked. “Seems to me there’s a strict rule about that.”
Jasper looked angrily at Pervis but decided to conclude the verbal standoff with the Tazells
with a look that was so hateful it would have taken the rust off an old battery. He concluded his
word exchange with the Tazells by storming through the living room and visiting guests, stomping
upstairs, and slamming his bedroom door. All present knew that it wasn’t wise to mess with
Suffolkonians.