A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy

I tell Addy there’s something over there I’d like to look at, something I’ve never seen before. I nod toward a shop up ahead and take a step in that direction. She says freedom’s full of things I’ve never seen before, her eyes bright with curiosity, and she asks what caught my attention.

We walk over together, and I point up at the big bell-shaped cages hanging above the shop door, asking what they are. Addy tells me they’re hoops for hoopskirts.

The word strikes me as so funny that I start giggling, drawing out the syllable until I sound like an owl. Addy laughs right along with me and says I sound just like her brother, Sam. Then she explains that hoops are what make ladies’ dresses stand out so wide, and that her momma, who works as a seamstress, needs yards and yards of fabric to fit a skirt over one. That is why a dress costs so much money.

I ask Addy if her momma has a hoopskirt, and she shakes her head. Ones this big are only for rich ladies who dress up real fancy.

A woman steps out of the shop carrying a package, and an idea pops into my head. Let’s go in and try one on, I suggest.

Addy looks at me like I have suggested jumping into the river and tells me we can’t do that. I ask if we need her mother with us first, but Addy shakes her head and tells me plainly that the shop is only for White ladies, that Colored folks are not allowed inside.

I feel my face go warm, wishing I had thought before I spoke. Addy just takes my elbow and steers me back toward Reverend Drake’s wagon.