February 8, 2020, Late afternoon
McArdle, Kenneth, Larry, and Whale had gone outside. Rosemary lingered with Miss Jasmine.
“That dog is so cute,” said Rosemary. “What is her name?”
“She’s Whale. It’s from a book, and not the Bible or Moby-Dick. When we have more time, I can get Larry or Kenneth to tell you the story. Would you like to tell a story, Miss Rosemary?”
“A story about what?”
“Do you know about the rape?”
“Which rape? I was raped. At Spelman.”
Hearing that almost made Miss Jasmine fall over, but Rosemary balanced her.
“You were raped? At Spelman?”
“That’s right, about sixteen years ago. Off campus. I was nineteen years old.”
“Were they arrested?”
“No, ma’am. It was dark, and some men overpowered me outside my apartment. I’m six-four and strong. But they surprised me. The only thing I knew was they were black. They ran off and left me there. Some people took me to the hospital. The police said they didn’t have any leads. I was traumatized, for sure. Mentally, I couldn’t get out of bed for a month. But one morning I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself it wasn’t anything I did to cause it. I could either be eaten by grief every day of my life or I could put it past me and accept it. That’s what I did; that’s what I’m doing. It’s not always easy.”
“Is that all?”
“Well, things were never perfect. I’ve been kind of bouncing around since graduating college, and that was almost fifteen years ago. Recently I found myself at Jackson Jackson’s. It’s down to earth, nice workers and customers, and low stress. I try to be content about life and not overthink things. And thank God I didn’t get pregnant!”
“Well,” started Miss Jasmine. “I was going to ask you if you knew about the Tallahassee rape in 1959. I had no idea about you. I am so sorry.”
“Actually, I do know about it even though I’m not from here. I had an aunt who went to FAMU in the late ’50s. She was in Tallahassee when it happened. And after I was raped, I took a class at Spelman my junior year about sexual violence against black women in the South. We read all about the Tallahassee rape in that class. So, I know quite a bit.”
“Well then,” said Miss Jasmine. “When they come back, you can tell us about the 1959 rape. If you don’t mind telling the story in front of a bunch of men, that is.”
“That will be fine,” said Rosemary. “I’m six-four. I’m a big girl now.”