"Take your shirt off and get down on your knees."

Claire and I both shook our heads no and huddled closer together. I wrapped my arms around my sister and blocked Papa from getting to her.

"Jasmine, she is a sinner and she has to be punished." I held on tighter to her. "Let her go."

I closed my eyes and prayed. Please don't let Papa do this. Please...

Mama walked over and pulled me away from Claire and held both arms behind my back. I started to cry.

So did Claire.

Then she started undoing her shirt.

Papa stood over her looking twenty feet tall as she undressed and got down on her knees in from of him. He took off his belt as soon as she was all the way down and started to beat her. This was a bad one. I tried to pull out of Mother's grasp but she was too strong, like Claire.

"That boy," Papa hit Claire with every word. "Does not run my house!" They still thought she was dating Wally B. The only thing Mother saw when she stepped outside to watch Claire fight was how Wally B had wrapped his arms around her and held her to keep her from jumping back on the girl. She didn't even notice that Wally B immediately turned her over to Christian. I guess she told Papa, because this time when they caught Claire trying to sneak back in through the back door, all hell broke loose.

Papa lost it.

He started slapping Claire as soon as she walked through the door. He was shouting in her face about propriety and honor, how she was disrespecting the family name running around drinking and smoking dope, being associated with a hoodlum like Wally B. Claire wasn't any of those things. She didn't do any of those things. I did just about all of them. But they never caught me. They only caught Claire sneaking in and out of the house to see Christian.

Claire never brought Christian's name into it. She never told them that it was him that she was sneaking out to see.

Because she loved him too much.

Claire felt bad about letting Mother and Papa think that it was Wally B talking her into sneaking out late at night. Because he was good to us. But it didn't matter what people said about Wally B because they already thought the worst about him...or the best, depending on who you asked. And you couldn't change a person's opinion about Wally B. When it came to him, people's opinions were always set in stone. No one really knew Christian. That's why everyone's opinion about him tilted easily back and forth all the time. Claire hated when people thought or talked poorly of Christian, and she wasn't going to be the one to give them anything else to talk about.

She knew as well as I did that if too many people started acting like he was causing trouble and ruining girls, his grandmother would send him right back to Houston.

Neither one of us wanted that.

Claire needed him and I knew it.

I got weak when I saw Claire's flesh tear, and dropped to my knees with her as the blood seeped from her back. Finally, Papa got tired and ran his hand over his hair as he glared down at my bloody sister like she was a whore and a sinner.

An embarrassment to our family.

I crawled over to her and hugged her to me, hiding her uncovered chest.

Papa never looked away. He started to put his belt back on, but noticed the blood dripping from it and threw it to the ground. Then he lifted his hand and smoothed his wavy black hair back into place one more time before turning to leave the room. Mama ran after him. The twins had slept through the whole thing.

"I'm telling Wally B," I whispered in Claire's ear.

She looked at me and shook her head no. She was embarrassed and didn't want anyone to know. I took my arms from around her and saw that I was now also covered in her blood. I helped my sister get up off the floor and walked her slowly into the bathroom to wash off her back. Then I helped her pour salt water into the cuts. We called it "salting." It hurt like hell, but it also made the wounds heal quicker. We already knew what to do.

This wasn't her first beating and it wouldn't be her last.

The sun was coming up by the time we were finished. Claire went to bed, but I knew she couldn't sleep.

I just stayed up.

Later that day, I was sitting out behind Ray's when Wally B walked up and sat down next to me. "Peace lil sis."

"Peace Wally B."

"Why your sister cross the street when she saw me?"

I shrugged and continued to stare up at the sky.

"Jazz." Wally B waited until I looked over at him. He knew I couldn't lie to his face. "Why Claire cross the street when she saw me?"

"She didn't want you to know what Papa did to her."

Wally B stiffened and his face contorted in anger.

"What he do?"

"Beat her." I looked down at my hands. "Real bad. They caught her sneaking back in the house. Mama saw you pull her off that girl." I looked back up at him. "You had your arms around her." His face changed, but I couldn't read it. "They think she with you."

Wally B was at a loss for words. Finally, he sat back against the wall and I did the same.

"She probably cross the street because she didn't want to get beat again."

Wally B took out a joint and lit it. Then he passed it to me.

"Jazz..." I looked over at him. "I'ma fuck your daddy up one day. Soon."

I nodded. I knew that. That's why I told him. I handed the joint back to him.

"I can't control what a man does in his own house, but if I see him doin' that shit..." His voice trailed off. "If I see that shit..." I nodded again and looked back up at the sky. He didn't have to finish his thought. I already knew what he was going to do.

What the Council was going to do.

Wally B handed the joint back to me and eyed me.

"You like Remmey?" I turned red instantly, giving myself away. "Jazz." I wouldn't look at him. "You been with him?"

I looked over quickly. "No! Wally B!"

He just gazed at me. I looked down at my hands.

"Little sister...you don't want that."

I looked back into his eyes. "Why not?"

"He a good man, but he too old for you." Wally B knew I didn't care about that. After pausing for a minute like he was trying to decide whether to tell me something, he said "Remmey a killer."

My mouth dropped open. "What?"

"That's what he do. He handle things."

For some reason, what Wally B said turned me on. I couldn't explain it. I shifted in my seat. Wally B noticed and frowned.

"Slow down lil sis. Remmey the type to get you in trouble. Real trouble. Your daddy won't go for it."

I stared at him guiltily, but I couldn't control the way I felt about Remmey. I tried, but I just...couldn't. Wally B read that on my face and frowned again. Then he nodded.

He understood.

I realized then that was probably why Claire kept doing what she was doing. Despite the beatings. And maybe even why Marguerite always did what she did, too. It was...uncontrollable.

Wally B put his hand on my arm and I shivered a little, my nerves raw thinking about Remmey. He shook his head and pulled his hand back.

"Jazz. Don't create more problems than there have to be."

I looked down at my hands. Wally B always told me that when it looked like I was getting too close to one of his men. I looked back up at him and nodded, but he could see it in my eyes that this time was different.

This time, he couldn't slow me down.

I couldn't even slow myself down.

Wally B shook his head, hit the joint one more time, handed it to me and stood up.

"Peace lil sis."

Then he walked off.