Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange Page A

man could handle her sweet sweet meat.’ ”
    Roscoe and Regina hadn’t spied Betsey and the girls peering through the bushes.
    â€œAre you gonna kiss her now, Roscoe?” Betsey pleaded.
    â€œBetsey, this aint none of your business!”
    Regina tried to get herself back in some order, but it was no use. They’d seen too much already.
    â€œI could kiss her now. Couldn’t I, Regina?”
    Roscoe lifted Regina off the grass and into the air, sliding her down his body like a man who didn’t give a damn what the world thought.
    â€œBetsey, you know your mama won’t approve.”
    â€œPlease, Gina, a real kiss. I just love kisses.”
    Charlie shouted from the back porch, “He don’t have no business round here. Regina don’t need to be kissing nobody.”
    Regina turned round, waved Charlie off her mind. “Charlie, you mind your business and I’ll tend to mine.”
    The girls egged Regina and Roscoe on, as they came up onto the porch.
    â€œPlease, a kiss. A real kiss.”
    â€œI’ll give you a kiss, Betsey,” Charlie offered sarcastically.
    â€œCharlie, go on away, will you? Don’t nobody want no kisses from you.”
    That was exactly what Charlie was thinking. It made him mad. He’d fix em. He’d fix all of em.
    Margot and Sharon took up for Betsey, who was thinking on Eugene, of course.
    â€œYou her cousin, simple.”
    â€œShe wouldn’t want no kiss from you.”
    Betsey tried to explain it wasn’t that she wanted a kiss. She did want a kiss, but not that kind of kiss. Roscoe and Regina had graduated kissing to an art. Betsey knew beginning kisses, but she wanted big ones, like when you fall in love. Roscoe and Regina were in love. Love kisses were the best kind. There was no denying that a kiss from someone you loved was different from any other kind of kiss and should be studied up on and looked at carefully, so you could recognize it when love came down on you. That’s what love did. It came down on you like rain or sunshine. All of a sudden there’d be this sensation in all the muscles and a dizziness in your head and a reaching out for someone and love’d be all on you. That’s the kind of kiss Betsey wanted to see. True romance.
    â€œI wanna see a kiss like when you fall in love.”
    â€œYou aint never been in love,” Charlie retorted.
    â€œOf course not, I’m getting ready though,” Betsey flew right back at him. She was determined now to get this kissing lesson.
    â€œMama and Daddy don’t do that.” Allard scrunched up his face.
    â€œWhere you think they got you at,” Sharon replied.
    â€œWe don’t come from no tongue kissing,” Allard insisted.
    â€œY’all don’t understand what you been missing,” Betsey exclaimed. “Look at that. How can they breathe? How can they? Oh, when will I fall in love?”
    â€œI wanna be carried off my feet.” Margot pranced.
    â€œI wanta be fainting in the street.” Sharon lay on her side looking at the sky.
    â€œI want him chasing me every heartbeat.” Margot couldn’t stop leaping in the air.
    â€œI bet they get germs,” Allard added.
    â€œNo, Allard, people in love don’t get germs,” Betsey assured him.
    â€œNo. One of these days some boy from somewhere . . .”
    â€œHey, how bout right over here.” Eugene walked up to the porch, his eyes seeing no one but Betsey.
    â€œWell, maybe someday some boy from somewhere’ll come over to share all my grown-up ways, cause I’ma be a woman someday.”
    Just as Eugene was about to let Betsey have her wish, Charlie came out from the kitchen with Vida by his side. Regina didn’t have a minute to let go of Roscoe before Vida began her harangue.
    â€œYou know, I can’t seem to find my fan. It’s so hot around here these days, it’s a wonder a body could stand to wear