THE WATSONS BIRMINGHAM— - WELCOME TO CASITA 5TH …

1 THE WATSONSGO TO BIRMINGHAM 1963 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 1 This book has been optimized for viewing at a monitor setting of 1024 x 768 Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 2 THE WATSONSGO TOBIRMINGHAM 1963a novel byChristopher Paul CurtisDelacorte PressWatsons Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 3 Published by Delacorte Press, a division of Random House, Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, BroadwayNew York, New York 10036 Copyright 1995 by Christopher Paul CurtisAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storageand retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted trademark Delacorte Press is registered in the Patent and Trademark Office and in of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataCurtis, Christopher WATSONS go to Birmingham 1963 / Christopher Paul :The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the WATSONS , an African Americanfamily living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabamain the summer of [1.]

2 Afro Americans Fiction. 2. Family life Fiction. 3. Prejudices Fiction. and sisters Fiction. 5. Flint (Mich.) Fiction.] 1995[Fic] dc2095-7091 CIPACW atsons Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 4 This book is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Herman and Leslie LewisCurtis, who have given their children both roots and wings andencouraged us to soar; my sister, Cydney Eleanor Curtis, who has beenunfailingly supportive, kind and herself; and above all to my wife,Kaysandra Anne Sookram Curtis, who has provided a warmth andlove that have allowed me to laugh, to grow and, most importantly, Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 5 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 6 AcknowledgmentsThe author wishes to extend his sincere thanks to the following: theAvery Hopwood and Jules Hopwood Prize of the University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor, for much-appreciated recognition.

3 The staff ofthe Windsor Public Library, especially Terry Fisher, for providing astimulating and supportive atmosphere in which to write; WelwynWilton Katz, for her valuable help;Wendy Lamb, whose skill as an edi-tor is matched only by her patience; Joan Curtis Taylor, who foreverwill be a powerful exemplar of strength and hope; Lynn Guest, whosekindness and compassion are a restorative to a person s faith inhumankind; and particularly to my dear friend Liz Ivette Torres(Betty), who can t possibly know how much her friendship, sugges-tions and insights have thanks to my daughter, Cydney, who makes me feel like ahero just for coming home from work, and to Steven, who is withoutdoubt the best first reader, critic and son any writer could ask , a salute to Stevland Morris of Saginaw, Michigan, who sovividly and touchingly reminded me of what it felt like to be sneakin out the back door to hang out with those hoodlum friends of mine.

4 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 7 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 8In memory ofAddie Mae CollinsBorn 4/18/49, died 9/15/63 Denise McNairBorn 11/17/51, died 9/15/63 Carole RobertsonBorn 4/24/49, died 9/15/63 Cynthia WesleyBorn 4/30/49, died 9/15/63the toll for one day in one cityWatsons Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 9 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 10t was one of those super-duper-cold Saturdays. One of those daysthat when you breathed out your breath kind of hung frozen in theair like a hunk of smoke and you could walk along and look exactlylike a train blowing out big, fat, white puffs of was so cold that if you were stupid enough to go outside youreyes would automatically blink a thousand times all by themselves,probably so the juice inside of them wouldn t freeze up.

5 It was so coldthat if you spit, the slob would be an ice cube before it hit the was about a zillion degrees below was even cold inside our house. We put sweaters and hats andscarves and three pairs of socks on and still were thermostatwas turned all the way up and the furnace was banging and soundinglike it was about to blow up but it still felt like Jack Frost had movedin with of my family sat real close together on the couch under a blan-ket. Dad said this would generate a little heat but he didn t have to tellus this, it seemed like the cold automatically made us want to gettogether and huddle up. My little sister, Joetta, sat in the middle and allyou could see were her eyes because she had a scarf wrapped aroundher head.

6 I was next to her, and on the outside was my was the only one who wasn t born in Flint so the cold wascoldest to her. All you could see were her eyes too, and they were1I1. And You Wonder Why WeGet Called the Weird WatsonsWatsons Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 1shooting bad looks at Dad. She always blamed him for bringing her allthe way from Alabama to Michigan, a state she called a giant was bundled up on the other side of Joey, trying to look at any-thing but Momma. Next to Dad, sitting with a little space betweenthem, was my older brother, had just turned thirteen so he was officially a teenage juve-nile delinquent and didn t think it was cool to touch anybody or letanyone touch him, even if it meant he froze to death.

7 Byron hadtucked the blanket between him and Dad down into the cushion ofthe couch to make sure he couldn t be turned on the TV to try to make us forget how cold we werebut all that did was get him in was a special news reporton Channel 12 telling about how bad the weather was and Dadgroaned when the guy said, If you think it s cold now, wait untiltonight, the temperature is expected to drop into record-low territo-ry, possibly reaching the negative twenties! In fact, we won t be seeinganything above zero for the next four to five days! He was smilingwhen he said this but none of the Watson family thought it was all looked over at Dad. He just shook his head and pulled the blan-ket over his the guy on TV said, Here s a little something we can use tobrighten our spirits and give us some hope for the future: The tem-perature in Atlanta, Georgia, is forecast to reach.

8 Dad coughed realloud and jumped off the couch to turn the TV off but we all heard theweatherman say, .. the mid-seventies! The guy might as well havetied Dad to a tree and said, ready , aim, fire ! Momma said. That s a hundred and fifty miles from home! Wilona .. , Dad said. I knew it, Momma said. I knew I should have listened to MosesHenderson! Who? I said, Oh Lord, not that sorry ve got to let me tellabout what happened with him. Momma said, There s not a whole lot to tell, just a story about ayoung girl who made a bad choice. But if you do tell it, make sure youget all the facts right. We all huddled as close as we could get because we knew Dad was2 WATSONS Birmingham 11/1/01 9:39 AM Page 2going to try to make us forget about being cold by cutting up.

9 Me andJoey started smiling right away,and Byron tried to look cool andbored. Kids, Dad said, I almost wasn t your guys came realclose to having a clown for a daddy named Hambone Henderson.. Daniel Watson, you stop right there. You re the one who startedthat Hambone nonsense. Before you started that everyone called himhis Christian name, Moses. And he was a respectable boy too, he was-n t a clown at all. But the name stuck, didn t it? Hambone Henderson. Me and yourgranddaddy called him that because the boy had a head shaped justlike a hambone, had more knots and bumps on his head than adinosaur. So as you guys sit here giving me these dirty looks becauseit s a little chilly outside ask yourselves if you d rather be a little coolor go through life being known as the Hambonettes.

10 Me and Joey cracked up, Byron kind of chuckled and Momma puther hand over her mouth. She did this whenever she was going to givea smile because she had a great big gap between her front teeth. IfMomma thought something was funny, first you d see her trying tokeep her lips together to hide the gap, then, if the smile got to be toostrong, you d see the gap for a hot second before Momma s handwould come up to cover it, then she d crack up only encouraged Dad to cut up more, so when he sawthe whole family thinking he was funny he really started putting on stood in front of the TV. Yup, Hambone Henderson proposedto your mother around the same time I did. Fought dirty too, toldyour momma a pack of lies about me and when she didn t believethem he told her a pack of lies about Flint.